Board of Education Summary

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING

October 14, 2013

The Board of Education accepted the resignation due to retirement of Richard Russell. Mr. Russell has been teaching eighth grade math for the past several years.

Sara Smith’s appointment to the kindergarten teaching position was confirmed. Mrs. Smith joined the elementary staff last week and has been a wonderful addition to our staff. She has made a positive impact already and we know the kids will enjoy her style!

Katy Destatte was appointed to the Great Start Readiness Preschool Assistant position. She is starting this week.

Student enrollment is around 1,434 and the budget was developed on an estimate of 1,426. Therefore, a positive budget swing is expected and it appears that the teaching staff will receive step and longevity increases effective in January.

The Board of Education authorized the administration to move forward on Phase Two of the Track Construction Project. Phase Two includes finalizing the blueprints, developing the construction documents, bidding out all work, and making recommendations for the bid award. Foresite Design of Berkley, Michigan was selected to complete the work for $2,500.

The Policy Committee completed their review of the first draft of the NEOLA Policies for the Board of Education. The revisions have been sent to NEOLA and then they will forward the second draft back to the District. The Policy Committee will meet at that time to go through everything one last time before forwarding the manual to the full Board.

The Building and Grounds Committee met and approved the construction of two outdoor learning laboratories and a greenhouse. Volunteers assembled the greenhouse on Saturday, October 12, 2013. Feel free to walk behind the welding shop and examine it. It looks very nice and will be useful for our student projects.

Mr. Dykstra and Mrs. Schlump highlighted the Educator Growth and Evaluation Process that has been developed and implemented in Ida. Student achievement data is used throughout the process.

Once approved, the meeting minutes are posted on the district web-site at www.idaschools.org.