EACSD Board of Directors discusses legislative priorities, other items in regard to upcoming school year
by Susan Cantine-Maxson
The regular monthly Eastern Allamakee Community School District Board of Directors meeting was held Monday, July 18 at Kee High School in Lansing. Board members Bruce Palmborg, Bobbie Goetzinger, Melanie Mauss and Board President Heather Schulte were present along with Board Secretary/Business Manager Marian Verdon, Superintendent Dr. Dale Crozier and Kee High School Principal Mary Hogan. Board member Kelli Mudderman and New Albin Elementary Principal Chad Steckel were absent.
After the adoption of the agenda, the usual and customary authorizations were approved. They included July consent items: minutes of the June meeting, bills for June and July, the Secretary’s Financial Statement, and the Activity and Food Service Reports.
The Board approved bids for milk and bread for the upcoming school year. Prairie Farms was the only bid received for milk and orange juice. Milk prices went down slightly and orange juice prices went up. The bread bid was awarded to sole bidder Sara Lee/Bimbo Bakery.
One teaching contract was approved for Deborah Sullivan, grades 5-8 Special Education and other assigned teaching duties.
Board President Schulte asked that the administration present information about the bullying and harassment policies for the August meeting. Principal Hogan said it would also be good to review the disciplinary rubric and other instruments used to determine disciplinary action. Principal Steckel will explain the policies used in the elementary school.
In addition, Principal Hogan will put together data from the end of the year survey. She plans to contact Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick and Amy Holtz from the Keystone AEA about in-service training for crisis management and ALICE. This has been done in the past but Hogan would like to increase teacher training in these areas. ALICE stands for Alert, Lock Down, Inform, Counter, Escape in the event of an active shooter or other such emergency.
In his Administrative Report, Dr. Crozier presented three pieces of information to the Board. Several teachers had proposed that a multi-tiered support system be adopted to replace what is currently called Response to Intervention in reading and math. The program individualizes curriculum for students who are not proficient in reading and/or math so that they become proficient. This measure is connected to the third grade retention if students are not proficient. Crozier’s concern is that the program is quite expensive. He advised that since the legislation enactment of the retention program has been postponed until 2018 that the district take additional time to look at the program and how it might be implemented within the district.
At the August meeting, the district will hold a hearing on internet use by students, which is required by the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA). To continue funding for certain aspects of the e-rate that the district receives, the Board needs to review policy and forms.
Pertaining to legislative action, the Iowa Association of School Boards asks districts to pick four areas they would like to see addressed by legislation. Dr. Crozier proposed four areas which the Board agreed with. Those areas include: Continuation of sufficient incentives to continue sharing programs; Transportation equity funding; Funding for four-year-old education programs; and Drop-out equity funding. Dr. Crozier explained that there was an extensive list of issues and that each district chooses areas which are of importance to them. He further explained that the issues that larger school districts face are different from the challenges of small rural districts.
