By Elaine Rassel
The little black therapy dog made its appearance at the Board meeting. Even though this was a RU item, I felt it was important to state some of the things that a policy for therapy dogs was needed before the dog could be at school.
Therapy Dog Program—The District supports the implementation of a Therapy Dog Program. A therapy dog is a dog that has been individually trained and certified to work with its handler to provide emotional support, well-being, comfort, or companionship to District students.
Research has shown that therapy dogs support psychological and academic growth while increasing social skills and self-esteem in children and adolescents. According to the Alliance of Therapy Dogs, therapy dogs have been trained to provide emotional support which positively impacts reading skills, emotional functioning, problem-solving, and communication skills. In addition, the use of therapy dogs may decrease stress and anxiety, improve confidence, and increase overall academic achievement in students.
Therapy dogs do not meet the definition of service or assistive animals. Therapy dogs will be owned by the District, or a staff member of the district, and be trained to provide support and comfort in the school setting under the direction and control of a trained handler. No other animals shall be used in connection with the Therapy Dog Program.
Policy—The following requirements must be satisfied before a therapy dog will be allowed in school buildings or on school grounds: (1) The dog must have documentation of completed vaccinations from a licensed veterinarian. (2) The handler/owner must maintain control of the dog at all times. (3) The dog will be present at the school for the sold purpose of providing academic and/or emotional support to students. (4) The dog must complete and have documentation of a therapy dog certification program recognized by the Alliance of Therapy Dogs (ATD), Therapy Dogs, International (TDI) or the American Kennel Club (AKC) within the first year. (5) The therapy dog must be clean, well groomed, in good health, and housebroken. (6) The use of a therapy dog must be approved by the Principal and the Superintendent.
Parents/guardians and staff will have ten days to notify the school of any concerns after receiving a letter from Principal or Supt. Recommending that a therapy dog come to school. (This could be a concern of a child or school employee having allergic reactions or animal phobias—that would require having the dog at a different location when this child or employee is present.
The owner (District or handler) must submit a copy of an insurance policy that provides liability coverage for a therapy dog while on school property to the Principal.
The Policy includes Health and Vaccination, Training and Certification, Control, Identification, Health and Safety (to those around it), Damages (owner or handler is solely responsible and liable for smelling first, No treats or food; Gentle petting; and Be calm and caring).
Exclusion or Removal from School for a Therapy Dog wold be if the handler does not have control of the therapy dog; the therapy dog is not housebroken; the therapy dog presents a direct and immediate threat to others in school or the animal’s presence otherwise interferes with the educational process.
There were also 12 items on Professional Therapy Dog Handler Ethics that were included in the Therapy Policy.
Public Forum had Robert Donlin addressing the Board on the bussing of Oyens students that are enrolled in Le Mars Community School.
Resignations from RU were Mike Widerholt who is a Bus Route Driver; Penny Mc Bride (Para), and Joe Mohrhauser (Business Manager). Chris Johnson was hired as High School Assistant Baseball Coach.
Early graduation were approved for Taytem Pedersen, Olivia Flewelling, Leandra Klinker, Cody Simons, and Abram Bruns.
It was approved the request to the School Budget Review Committee (SBRC) to request allowable growth funding to make up for the deficit in the special education budget in both districts. Request for RU was $283,347.92 and for MMC was $175,155.23.
A new floor scrubber was approved with either rent-to-own or if it would be cheaper to buy outright.
In order for MMC and RU districts to be able to access federal funds for the Schools Safety Grants to enable the districts to purchase new/updated camera equipment for both districts, there were six required policies that the board had to pass. (These policy numbers were listed in last month’s board meeting—701.03; 701.04; 705.01-R(1); 705.01 R(2); 7123; and 712-R(1). It was approved.
MMCRU Middle School/Remsen Elementary Principal Toby Young reported the following: The end of the 1st Quarter is Friday, October 20. The school year has gone very well and I appreciate all the work our staff and students have put in to make it such a great start.
Jr. Football, Volleyball & Cross-Country have come to an end with all programs showing growth throughout the season. JH Boys basketball practice will begin on Thursday, October 19 with their first game on Monday, November 13.
PD/School Updates—FAST Testing (TK-8)-Fall Testing window results (Reading and math) will be shared at the Nov. board meeting. Our building and district PD’s continue to focus on CKLA, PBIS, MTSS, PLC’s and curriculum alignment.
Our Remsen building applied and received 1 grant from the Plymouth County Foundation. The grant is for $6,000 for our backpack program to provide food for students/families in need.
PS-8 Grade Enrollment—Certified enrollment was submitted on October 12. I will present our fall Certified enrollment data at our November meeting.
District Professional Development is Oct. 25 with 2 hour early dismissal. Teacher Work day is November 2 and 3. District Professional Development is Nov. 8 with 2 hour early dismissal. Parent/Teacher conferences are Nov. 9 and Nov. 14 with 2 hour early dismissal (4 p.m.-8 p.m. each day). There is NO SCHOOL on Nov. 17 (Teacher Comp Day).
Upcoming State Reports/Events: Preschool Desk Audit is due Dec. 15 and Universal Desk Audit is due Dec. 15.
Current Openings at Remsen—JH Wrestling Coach; Elementary Paraprofessional; Substitute Teacher’s and Substitute Paraprofessional’s.
MMCRU-Marcus Principal, Brandon Weisert reported the following: This year conferences are on November 9 and November 14. We are preparing for a very busy month of November. We will be moving the elementary building on November 2 and 3 which is a very exciting but stressful time for everyone because we need to be back up and running for the following Monday.
During the past moth, I have been working on state reporting. I have completed the MMC Certified Enrollment and SRI. Now that Certified Enrollment is wrapped up, I will begin working on our Preschool and K-12 Desk Audits with Mr. Young and our preschool teachers, as well as Fall BEDS.
1st quarter is coming to a close on October 20 and we are going to be piloting our new report card in JMC. Our Marcus and Remsen elementary staff worked together to put together consistent report cards between both buildings. For Marcus, this will be a new process because we have not used JMC for this before. In the long run, this should streamline our process and allow us to click a button to email report cards to parents quickly and easily.
This past week we have begun wrapping up our Fall sports. Cross Country had their War Eagle conference meet with Kaden Galles (1st), Lucas Braun (2nd), and Audrey Etter (14) earning all-conference recognition.
Special Olympics bowling went to Sioux City and Kaysen Ankenman, Regan Konz, McCartney Pierce, AJ Russell, Tessa Weiler, and Jaxon Woodall qualified for state bowling in November. Football, Volleyball, and Cross Country are all wrapping up regular season and preparing for postseason play.
Summary Comparison for Certified Enrollment 2023
Description
Current Previous Change
Resident Public Students Attending your District (1)
249.50 256.70 -7.20
Resident Public Students Attending another Iowa Public School (2,3)
215.30 208.30 7.00
Non Public Shared Time and CPI Students Dual Enrolled District Classes (4,5)
.47 .22 .25
Non Public Shared Time and CPI Students Enrolled for PSEO Classes (4,5)
.00 .00 .00
Residential Facility Students Enrolled for District Classes (5) .00 .00 .00
Actual Enrollment (7)
465.27 465.22 .05
Non-Resident Public Students Attending your District (8,9)
115.00 108.30 6.70
PK-4 Students Attending Your Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program (10)
9.00 11.50 -2.50
Total School Age Students Provided Instructional Programs/Services by your District
364.97 365.22 -0.25
Limited English Proficient Weighting (13)
.42 .00 .42
Actual Enrollment is total of lines 1,2,3,4, and 5
Total School Age Students is total of lines 1,4,5,8, and 9
Important Dates: Oct. 19 is Cross Country State Qualifying Meet
Oct. 20 is End of First Quarter
Oct. 20 is 1st Round of State Football
Oct. 24 is Fall HS Concert (Band and Choir)
Oct. 25 is 2 Hour Early Dismissal (Building Paraprofessional Development)
Nov. 8 is 2 Hour Early Dismissal (District Professional Development)
Nov. 9 & 14 are 2 Hour Early Out & Parent-Teacher Conferences (4-8 p.m.)
Nov. 17 NO SCHOOL (Teacher Comp. Day)
Current Openings: Head Archery Coach; Head Softball Coach, Assistant Bowling Coach, and Substitute Teachers & Paraprofessionals
Superintendent Dan Barkel reported the following: Much of this month has been spent reacting and dealing with the resignation of SBO (School Business Official) Joe Mohrhauser. Former SBO, Joe Mohning deserves a lot of credit in doing the payroll and coming in after his own work hours to help Chelsea and myself with financial issues. Also, Sandy Downing, retired SBO at Le Mars Community has also been helping us during some days. Board Secretary, Chelsea Ruden has stepped up big-time to aid us through this time without a full-time SBO. We have begun interviewing for the utilizing the services of Joe and Sandy on a part-time basis so that the new SBO will have Frontline in place to automate the payroll process. I’m hopeful that we can accomplish that for the new person in that position.
Construction continues on the elementary/daycare area especially in Marcus. The plan is still to move in on Nov. 2 and 3. We will be utilizing all school staff to help move materials from the old Marcus Elementary into the new building. We hope to have everything largely moved out on Nov. 2 so materials in the old elementary building will commence on Nov. 6. At RU, the building committee met with representatives of CMBA Architects and EDA Engineering to finalize the plans. I anticipate that bids will go out for the RU project in late Nov. or Dec.
School board elections will take place on Election Day, November 7. Good luck to all of the candidates. Since we have districts that encompass more than one county, the canvass for the election takes place after our scheduled Nov. board meeting. So, the new boards will be seated during the December meeting.
The IASK (Iowa School Board) conference takes place on Nov. 15-17. Thank you to all of you who have agreed to attend and also for those of you who have volunteered to be part of the delegate assembly.
We have several policies that need to be enacted for the School Safety Grant tonight. These need to be in place for us to access the federal funds for the grant. It means $50K for each school building, so that means $100K for each district. Most of these funds are earmarked for replacement and improvement of our old camera systems in both districts. I have spent many hours this past month over the phone with Charlene Reinsch of AG Witt to make sure our application will meet the threshold of the federal guidelines necessary for securing these funds. We also need to pass a policy for having a therapy dog in our buildings. We have a dog nearly ready to go for the RU site. Our insurance carrier, EMC insurance, needs a school board policy in place in order for the liability to be covered in our insurance policy.
King, Reinsch, Prosser & Co., the CPA firm who conducted the audit for the RU district for over twenty years dumped our districts due to the following reason: “We have evaluated the facts and circumstances and determined that the employment of Joe Mohrhauser as the District’s SBO subsequent to his retirement from KRP creates an independence issue described in the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct which cannot be resolved.” Fortunately, it appears that I have been able to secure the services of another auditing firm, BerganKDV, out of Urbandale, Ia, who will do the audit remotely during late January/early February with the goal being still making the state deadline of March 23, 2024. I haven’t signed anything yet, so this information may be premature. Stay tuned.
We are still looking for a long skinny indoor space that can be heated in the winter months for holding archery practices. Thus far, I have not been able to secure a building or space. If you have information on a potential site that the district could rent, please let me know. Currently our archery equipment is being stored in the back room of the alternative school in downtown Marcus.
Please mark your calendars for January 29, 2024 for a board finance Workshop to discuss school district finance and strategy for MMCRU. The timing with a new SBO in our districts is good timing. We plan on beginning that workshop at 5 p.m on that date.
We held a meeting with our marketing consultants on Thursday, Oct. 12. Out of the meeting came a commitment to….
Thank you for all of your encouragement during this time of transition in our school districts. Change is never easy, and transitions can be difficult, but we are staying the course and are striving to make MMCRU an even better place to learn for our students and communities.
The Marcus, Meriden, Cleghorn Board of Education met in joint session with Remsen-Union Board of Education on Monday, October 16, 2023 at R-U Media Center at Remsen. R-U Board members present were: Loutsch, Tentinger, Penning, Krier, and Harpenau. Absent: No one. MMCRU Board members present were: Staab, Olson, Leavitt, and Dreckman. Absent: Prunty.