By Elaine Rassel
Monday night (Dec. 18), the three new Board MMCRU members from the November election, were seated. RU’s Board member elected was Justin Tentinger and MMC’s elected members were Dan Erickson and Kristie Letsche. Going out member from RU was Sara Krier who was not present at the meeting. Those Board members leaving MMC were Karla Prunty and Danae Dreckman. They received “many thanks” for the years they served on the MMC Board.
Election of Presidents were Laura Staab for MMC and Jason Loutsch for RU. Luke Olson was elected for Vice-President for MMC and Talon Penning for Vice-President for RU.
Oaths were administered to Board officers as well as to the Board Secretary, Chelsea Ruden and SBO (School Business Official) Ginell Wetter.
Boards for MMCRU will rotate locations and will meet at 6:30 p.m. on the third Monday of the month.
Building Committee Members are Luke Olson and Belinda Leavitt for MMC. Board members for Bargaining for RU are Travis Tentinger and Jason Loutsch. Dan Erickson and Laura Staab were MMC Board members for Bargaining. Kristi Letsche was appointed as Board representative to Cherokee County Conference Board.
The MSA (Modified supplemental Amount) At-Risk/Dropout Prevention Resolution was approved. Also approved was the Examination of Financial Balances.
A representative was present to discuss the Adoption of Plans/specs/Form of Contract for Ur’s Building Project. This was approved.
Kelsey Campe’s resignation of para position at MMC was approved.
The sale of a used bus from RU was approved with a minimum of $1,200 sealed bid.
Information on this bus: It is a 2002 65 Freightliner passenger/school bus; Model is a Thomas with 247000 miles and Engine Hrs of 8418. The bus has a 5.9L Cummins engine starts and runs great. It has an Allison automatic transmission and shifts great. The bus passed the 6-month inspection which was in November. It is currently being used on a bus route.
MMCRU-War Eagle Conference Cashless Admission had no action taken.
Toby Young, MMCRU Middle School/Remsen Elementary Principal, reported the following: The end of the 1st Semester is Thursday, December 21. things have gone very well this semester at both the Elementary & Middle School . Thank you to our staff and students for making it a great first half of the year and I look forward to a successful 2nd semester.
The MMCRU Remsen Elementary received a Commendable Rating (56.59) & the Middle School received an Acceptable Rating (50.94) from the Iowa School Performance Profile. The state average is 54.81. I will discuss our rating more at the board meeting. Website-Iowa School Performance Profile at www.iaschoolperformance.gov
Our Elementary & Middle School have been participating in our 12 days of Christmas to finish out the semester. Fun activities for our students and staff have taken place each day and our students and staff have really enjoyed it. Our staff and students have also provided gifts to families in need, which has also been a highlight.
JH Boys basketball season has gone very well, with both 7th & 8th grad teams showing growth throughout the season. The season ends on Tuesday, Dec. 19 with a home game vs Ridge View. I would like to thank Coach West and Coach Gengler for their work and dedication to coaching our middle school team.
JH Girls Basketball & JH Wrestling will begin when we return from Christmas break.
H hope everyone has a blessed Christmas with family/friends and a Happy New Year!
Upcoming Elementary/Middle School Events are: Dec. 18 JH Boys Basketball vs HMS; Dec. JH Boys Basketball vs Ridge View; End of the 1st Semester is Dec. 21. No activities for the Dead Week of Dec. 22-28. January 2, 2024 is Teacher Work Day. The First Day of the 2nd semester is January 3, 2024.
Current Openings at the Remsen Building: JH Wrestling Coach; Substitute Teachers and Substitute Paraprofessionals.
Brandon Weisert, MMCRU-Marcus Principal reported the following: I wanted to express my gratitude for our school counselors, Cherokee’s school counselors, and the AEA Crisis Team who were able to be in the Marcus building most of last week to help our students through some difficult times. I sent the admin team at Cherokee an email of thanks because they allowed their counselors to be with us as much as needed last week. I also want to acknowledge our staff for being courageous and flexible with student needs throughout the week.
The end of 2nd semester is Thursday, December 21. This week the high school will be completing semester exams and will be running a modified schedule to complete semester finals on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The elementary will operate on their normal schedule.
On December 7, Ms. Hansen led a wonderful elementary school Christmas concert. Each grade level sang a song with their classmates and then joined another class to sing one together and then wrapped up the concert with an elementary and crowd song. We had a great turn out, most of the 200 chairs set out and much of our bleacher seats were full.
I wanted to share our School Performance Profile ratings from the state. The high school and elementary school both were listed as “Acceptable”. I would like to note that the elementary’s rating improved from “Needs Improvement” and a big reason for that is due to our growth in ELA last year. Growth in Math and ELA are a major area of emphasis this year and are being targeted in our MTSS planning each day. In the high school, we are targeting some areas identified in conditions of learning to try and impact that rating.
Winter Activity Participation Breakdown: Basketball Cheer (12); Girls Basketball (24); Boys Basketball (31); Bowling (8); Wrestling (13); Wrestling Cheer (6); Archery (22) and Speech (68).
Important Dates Coming Up: December 19-21: High School Semester Tests; December 21 is end of 2nd quarter with a two-Hour Early Out. December 22-28 is an Extracurricular Dead Week. December 22-January 3 is Winter Break. January 2 is a Full-Day Professional Development (for teachers). January 3 is the 1st Day of 2nd Semester and January 10 is a 2-hour Early Out for Professional Development.
Current Opening in Marcus are Preschool Paraprofessional; Elementary Paraprofessional and 3 Route drivers for 24-25 School Year.
Superintendent Dan Barkel reported the following: All that we do as a school district was overshadowed by the difficult loss of Boston Colling. We mourn his loss in the Royals community, and we ask everyone to support the Colling family in their grief.
Tonight is our reorganization meeting following the November elections. I want to congratulate Dan Erickson and Kristi Letsche for their election to the MMC board and also Justin Tentinger for his election to the RU board. We also want to thank Karla Prunty and Danae Dreckman for their many years of service to the MMC board, and also Sara Krier for her many years of service to the RU board. Thank you for your faithfulness to our districts, and for your leadership in helping these two districts come together for the benefit of our students.
Construction continues in Marcus. Wiltgen is finishing up the multipurpose gym space along with the stage area, and they have gotten into high gear on the industrial technology addition. In addition, with the favorable weather as of late, it appears that the chances of having a functional parking lot for the elementary school/daycare is looking better. Little Royals Daycare plans to begin operations on January 8. Tonight the RU board votes to approve the plan for building improvements for the RU building. The timetable is for bids to be received in a special meeting on January 25.
On December 5, Dan Erickson, Kristi Letsche and myself attended the IASB New Board Member Onboarding Workshop in Sheldon. It was worthwhile and thought provoking.
Again, Please mark your calendars for January 2 9, 2024 for a Board Finance Workshop to discuss school district finance and strategy for MMCRU. We plan on beginning that workshop at 7 p.m. on that date. It will be led by Shawn Snyder and Jan Miller-Hook of IASB.
The admin team is in the process of securing bids for a different website provider in order to enhance the image and marketing potential of MMCRU. More information will be provided when we get closer to making a decision.
Numerous meetings have been held for the past three months to finalize the School Safety Grant process for updating the camera system for both districts. We have finally been given the green light from the federal government, and after we secure the necessary third bid for the systems, we will finalize the grant process for funding the systems.
The admin team has been meeting too provide leadership for improving science assessment results as well as improved science curriculum enhancements. Our goal is to improve science assessment performance district-wide in this year’s round of ISASP testing.
It has been great to have a full-time SBO (School Business Official) in our building again. Ginell is catching on to the gig very quickly, and is also working hard to catch up from lost time. She and sandy Downing are working hard to get Frontline up and running in January. Chelsea Ruden is simply trying to stay ahead of the bills in the transition along with all of her other duties. I am thankful for her hard work during this difficult transition phase.
Thank you, board members, for all of your encouragement during this difficult time of of loss at MMCRU. We mourn with the Colling family.
The MMC Board of Education met in Regular Boar Meeting jointly with RU at Remsen-Union Media Center on Monday, December 18, 2023 at 6:30 p.m.
R-U Board members present were Loutsch, Penning, T. Tentinger, and J. Tentinger. Absent was Harpenau.
MMC Board members present were Staab, Olson, Leavitt, Erickson, and Letsche. Absent: No one.