ACSD Board approves salaries for support staff and purchase of land near current bus barn

by Brianne Eilers

The Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) Board of Directors met for a special meeting Wednesday morning, May 6. The meeting opened with a public hearing regarding the purchase of property, by the school district, located at 308 Fifth Street NW, just south and adjacent to the current school bus parking lot across the street from the district bus barn.
There were no written objections, but the question was raised at the meeting by Dave Davies as to why the district would want to purchase this property when ACSD had already sold the former junior high practice field to the north of that bus parking area to the City of Waukon last year. The answer was that the City bought the former practice field to possibly use it as a water drainage retention area and for recreational programs in the future. With that sale, ACSD was also able to use the soccer fields located west of the schools for junior high football practices, which the district feels is a safer option for those junior high players instead of having to trek the several blocks to that previous practice field location.
Purchase of the property at 308 Fifth Street NW will also allow for the bus barn to have more parking for buses and drivers, as well as for the removal of the trees around the bus parking lot. In the past, branches from those trees have caused some damage to buses, as well as obstructed visibility of the parking lot, allowing easier access for vandals. Later on in the meeting, the Board approved the purchase of the property for $36,000.
The Board also approved support staff salaries for the 2015-2016 school year as follows: para-educators .50 on base, no step; bus drivers $35 on base, plus $1.00 per hour increase for activity trip and miscellaneous driving; patrol .50 per day; custodians .45 on the base, plus a step; secretaries .50 on the base, plus a step; central office .75 per hour; mechanics .75 per hour; nurses $1,875 per year and cooks .60 on base, plus a step.
The Board also accepted the resignation of Dan Diercks from his position as Waukon Senior High School Principal. As reported in the May 6 edition of The Standard, Diercks has been hired as the Superintendent of the Oelwein Community School District, to begin July 1 of this year. The Board thanked Diercks for his service to the school district.