EACSD Board of Directors addresses some personnel matters, sets May 20 as budget amendment public hearing date
by Susan Cantine-Maxson
The Eastern Allamakee Community School District (EACSD) Board of Directors held its regular meeting Monday, April 15 at Kee High School in Lansing. Board President Heather Schulte called the meeting to order. Additional board members in attendance were Bobbie Goetzinger, Melanie Mauss, Kelli Mudderman and Bruce Palmborg. In addition, school personnel included Superintendent Dale Crozier and Board Secretary Janet Heiderscheit.
After the agenda adoption, the board authorized the usual and customary reports of the April consent items, minutes of the March meetings, bills for April, Secretary’s Financial Statement, and the Activity and Food Service Reports.
There was no old business so the board moved on to new business, which included the appointment of Mary Hogan as the Level I Investigator and Dr. Dale Crozier as the Level I Investigator Alternate for reports of student abuse. The board also approved the appointment of Mary Hogan as the Affirmative Action Coordinator with Dr. Dale Crozier as the Affirmative Action Alternate.
Next the board approved graduation candidates for the 2018-2019 school year, which will include 26 graduates. This year’s graduation ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, May 12 at 2 p.m.
The board accepted the resignations of Clay Olson from his position as Assistant Varsity Football Coach and Quinn Brennan from his position as Junior Varsity Baseball Coach, for the summer of 2020.
An additional approval included the overnight trip for the Kee High School baseball team from May 31-June 2 this upcoming season for a traveling trip to AGWSR on one day and then a stay in Fort Dodge followed by games with Newell-Fonda and Kingsley-Pearson. This would give the team an opportunity to play teams in a different part of the state with similar records. Kee baseball coach Jim Mauss also explained that a trip like this helps to ensure team bonding and team relationships. He said it is difficult to schedule non-conference games in the area because many schools of similar size have fewer students participating and are limited as to how much they can play positions, such as pitchers.
The board approved the Technology Services Contract Agreement with Keystone AEA. The board also approved the district’s Wellness Policy.
The board also approved a policy revision which included Series 500: Student Records Access policies 506.1 through 506.4. Initially, that policy was flagged by the Department of Education because it was over five years old, as policies which are over five years old need to be re-examined. The rest of the policies will be updated this summer.
Purchases approved included 55 Dell student laptop computers (from the LOST fund - Local Option Sales Tax) at a cost of $22,304.27 and the purchase of Fortinet FortiGate 101E (from the LOST fund), which provides electronic firewalls and similar electronic security for the school district, at a cost of $3,791.46.
The public hearing date for the 2018-2019 Budget Amendment was set for May 20 at the 7 p.m. board meeting. This usually includes budget adjustments for food service.
Dr. Dale Crozier explained to the board that several students qualified for All-State Speech this year. He said he has heard very good reviews for the band, vocal and drama/speech departments recently through contests and performances. Testing has taken place in the district. This is the first year that the school has gone to electronic testing (except for New Albin Elementary).
Dr. Crozier reported that Police Chief Conrad Rosendahl was the speaker at this year’s Prom Banquet, noting that his speech was well received and very inspirational. Seniors will be leaving on the class trip to Washington, DC shortly. Legislatively, Dr. Crozier hopes that local option sales tax (LOST) will be renewed until 2051.
