EACSD Board of Directors hears report on district enrollment, updates on current and future programs
by Susan Cantine-Maxson
The regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Eastern Allamakee Community School District (EACSD) was held at Kee High School in Lansing Monday, October 17. The Board approved two requests for overnight trips for student organizations.
Ray Rankin, FFA Advisor, and three FFA students presented information regarding the 2016 National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, IN taking place October 18-22. The Spanish Club will also be traveling to Guatemala for an 11-day trip in the summer of 2017.
The Board also approved the auditing contract with Kay Chapman, CPA PC for fiscal years 2016, 2017 and 2018 for $6,800, $6,900 and $7,000, respectively. The Board received and filed the October 1, 2016 Certified Enrollment, which noted that enrollment district-wide decreased by 2.6 students.
The EACSD Administration then presented information on the district’s enrollment data specific to race, gender, social-economic and disability. Kee High School Principal Mary Hogan discussed the current enrollment in courses at the high school with emphasis on those that would typically be more popular to certain student characteristics, such as welding and Family & Consumer Science. She explained that all high school courses are available to all students, and that all students, regardless of race, gender, social-economic and disability, are eligible to enroll in any and all courses offered by the curriculum. Hogan also noted that the current trimester sees a very even distribution of students in the courses.
New Albin Elementary Principal Chad Steckel stated that at the elementary school, all students are in the same courses throughout the day. He explained that the Title I enrollment numbers need to correlate with the free and reduced-priced lunch percentages. The Board approved the Disaggregated Enrollment Data report.
Approval was given to a contract for Neil Galema to serve as an assistant coach for junior high football for half of the season. Contracts were also approved for Nick Mooney and Patrick Wagner as shared activity facilitators, following the resignation of Steckel from that position. The Board expressed its appreciation to Steckel for all of his work as the past activities coordinator.
In his Administrative Report, Principal Steckel began by thanking an anonymous donor who donated 17 new iPads to the elementary school. He said the fall sports season will be coming to a close within the next week and that winter activities will be starting up within the next two weeks. Steckel said he will be attending a chronic student absenteeism meeting in Des Moines Tuesday, and that Unity Day is Wednesday and brings awareness to bullying. He said Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) will start November 14 and that November will also feature Donuts with Dads and Veterans Day.
Principal Hogan informed the Board of a parent education meeting being put on through Keystone AEA November 2. The title of the class is “Steps for Growing Respectful and Responsible Kids”. She said local parents can attend the meeting through the ZOOM system within the EACSD. Hogan also said she will be meeting with Gena Gesing of NICC to continue their work with Career Planning. There will be a Career Business Fair at Nutmeg’s Café in Lansing December 7 where students and local businesses will be in attendance to bring awareness to mentoring and job shadow opportunities.
EACSD Superintendent Dr. Dale Crozier reviewed the AEA PD Online profile of savings and the benefits for the district. Rural School Advocates of Iowa (RSAI) will be meeting and their main focus is transportation inequities among Iowa school districts. Dr. Crozier said he and board members Heather Schulte and Bruce Palmborg met with Alliant Energy to discuss the plant’s future in the Lansing area. Alliant gave a presentation on how energy is created and also discussed the Lansing plant and how it operates.
Dr. Crozier also reported that the house to the east of the fitness center would like to build a garage on its property, but that the building code states that the new building would need to be six feet from the district's fitness center property line. Dr. Crozier explained that the current building plan has the garage just five feet from the property line, and that he is having Roger Mohn look at the integrity of the wall between the properties to make sure it will not be compromised.
Dr. Crozier reported that NICC is creating a sector board with the Allamakee, Postville, MFL/MarMac and Eastern Allamakee school districts to work with the new legislation regarding Career and Technical Education. The new legislation would like to see the schools share programming similar to a regional academy rather than each district have its own.
