Personnel, scheduling, purchases top MAC board agenda
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The Mount Ayr Community Schools board of directors covered a wide range of topics at its regular meeting Monday, April12.
Personnel
The board approved several hiring recommendations:
• Dustin and Kinda Larsen as cross country coaches;
• Anthony Maldonado as assistant baseball coach;
• Derek Lambert as middle school football coach;
• Brandie Ruggles as prom sponsor;
• Jodi Lawrence as pre-school teacher.
The board also accepted a series of resignations:
• Ansley Katz as 7-12 band and vocal instructor;
• Stephanie Weeda as special education instructor;
• Debbie Yoder as superintendent’s secretary.
• John Ford as high school wrestling coach;
• Robert Schafer as high school night time custodian;
• Lisa Darrah as elementary associate;
• Beth Christner as pre-school teacher;
• Tracy Giles as assistant drama sponsor;
• Sally Young as middle school coach;
In addition, the board approved raising the pay of activity bus drivers to $13.50 per hour effective next school year.
Elementary scheduling
Elementary principal Chris Elwood informed the board of the plan to go to a hybrid departmentalization schedule in fifth and sixth grades next year.
The plan would have those students meet in their home rooms for instruction in math and reading to begin their day.
Later in the morning and for the remainder of the day, students would go to different teachers for science, social studies, writing, and exploratories, including keyboarding, coding, STEM, and other subjects.
The exploratory classes would last nine weeks each.
Elwood explained the plan would get the fifth and sixth graders out of their seats and moving throughout the day.
He added the introduction to schedule would also better prepare them the departmentalization they would encounter as they enter seventh grade.
Purchases
The board approved several purchase agreements at Monday’s meeting:
• Apple Computer – $302,261.75 for 365 MacBooks, 30 10-inch iPads, 73 iPad sleeves;
• GameTime – $74,242 for pre-school playground equipment. The new equipment is similar to the existing playground apparatus on the elementary playground but on a smaller scale.
The playground itself will be fenced off at the north end of the elementary playground. Entrance will be gained from the northeast building doors as well as from a gate to allow for community use.
• Dannco – $7,895 for volleyball standards. The cost includes installation.
• Access Systems – approximately $3,000 per month on a 60-month lease for copiers in the district.
The new agreement saves approximately $70 per month over the current contract by eliminating some copiers and making black and white copying the default setting.
Other business
In other business, the board:
• approved the district budget for the 2021-2022 school year;
• learned graduation ceremonies are again planned to be held outdoors at the football field May 16. High school principal Bill Huntington said the high school gym would be prepared to hold the ceremony in case of inclement weather.
• approved two out-of-state student trips.
The first is a trip to Omaha, NE to attend a performance of the Broadway show “Wicked” at the Orpheum Theater April 28, 2022.
The second is a tentative trip to Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, MO for this year’s senior trip. Seniors are expected to make a final decision on their trip destination in the coming days.
• learned that the 4-year-old preschool students will be in class Mondays through Thursdays next year.
He added the Junior Raiders program will provide child care for the pre-schoolers on Fridays.
• heard a plan from district superintendent Jason Shaffer to replace the main doors at the high school and elementary school with security doors.,
The doors would remain locked throughout the day with admittance gained through an authorized key card.
Visitors to the building would be required to buzz in to the office for admittance.
Shaffer said the doors could be electronically programmed to alert administration if doors remained open for extended periods. He added the programming feature would allow for instantaneous lock-down if the need arose.
• chose the Tyler Insurance Agency to service the district’s property-casualty insurance for the coming three years.
