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Board action clears way for construction of regional Career and Technical Education center serving multiple school districts.
By Darrell Dodge
MOUNT AYR, Iowa — The building of a Career and Technical Education building will move forward following action at the Monday, October 10 regular meeting of the Mount Ayr Community Schools board of directors.
The directors approved a series of contracts related to various facets of the construction process. These included Greenfield Contractors – $459,800; Joiner Construction – $166,308; Sticklers Inc. – $417,739; Burkett Construction – $526,956; Midwest Fire Automatic Sprinkler – $41,500; Camblin Mechanical – $464,000; and Bartlett Electric – $209,200.
District Superintendent Jason Shaffer remarked that the area south of the junior high parking lot, including the southernmost row of parking spaces, will be fenced off soon to allow construction to begin as soon as possible.
In a related matter, the board approved a contract with the Southern Iowa Council of Governments to help write a grant proposal to the Iowa Economic Development Authority for funding of the majority of equipment needs for the CTE building. The cost of those services totals $10,000 plus incidentals.
When completed, the CTE building will provide career and technical instruction for students in Mount Ayr, Diagonal and other neighboring school districts.
Personnel
The board accepted resignations from Nathan Nickle as high school softball coach, Josh Vanderflught as middle school baseball coach and Josh Brewer as assistant high school baseball coach.
The board approved the hiring of Alexa Anderson as middle school softball coach and adjusted the contract with preschool aide Ella Vanderflught to go from four days to five days.
The list of volunteers approved at Monday’s meeting included Jim Murphy with basketball and Bryce Shaha and John Ford with wrestling. Brock Shaha was also approved as a wrestling volunteer pending certification.
Parent-teacher conferences
The fall session of parent-teacher conferences will be held Tuesday, October 21, and Thursday, October 23 from 3 to 7 p.m., with early dismissals for students at 1:25 p.m. both days. School will not be in session Friday, October 24.
Other business
In other business, the board:
• Approved the motion to charge families $30 for late-notice drop-ins to the Junior Raider program on early-out days. Families who provide notice at least 24 hours in advance would not be charged this fee.
• Approved the agreement with Southwest Iowa Drivers Education to provide that instruction. Superintendent Shaffer noted that the fee per student will increase to $400 on January 1, 2026.
• Approved an out-of-state field trip for the Mount Ayr band to march in the Homecoming parade at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville.
The next regular session of the Mount Ayr school board is set for 5:30 p.m. on Monday, November 10 in the board room.
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