NORTH FAYETTE VALLEY COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT

BOARD OF EDUCATION 

 

Minutes, Regular Meeting of the North Fayette Valley Community School District Board of Education, Monday, June 14,  2021, in the NFV Middle School Library, 23493 Canoe Road, Elgin, IA  52164

 

NFV Board of Education: Julie Ahrens, Stacy Cummings, Eileen Schlawin, 

Marc Rue, & Emily Koch.   LaCreasha McNeese and Carolyn Roys were absent.

Others: Superintendent: Joe Griffith, Business Manager: Sue 

Thoms; Principals:  Travis Elliott & Lori Westhoff; Curriculum Director:  Betsy Nefzger; Staff: Brittinae Nelson, Gabby Dobbs; Public: Rick Hofmeyer, Megan Molseed – media;

 

President Cummings called the Regular Meeting of the NFV Board of Education to order at 6 p.m. and Julie Ahrens led the board and audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Roll Call of Board members: Ahrens, Cummings, Schlawin, Koch, & Rue.   McNeese and Roys were absent.

 

The agenda was approved as presented with the addition of the following:  Resignations: Corey Mincks – building cleaner and Neal Bentley – XC coach.  Schlawin/Ahrens Motion Carried 5-0

 

Public Forum:    President Cummings welcomed and invited comments from the public.  Rick Hofmeyer addressed the Board regarding the critical race theory stating that this is incompatible with American History.  History needs to be taught just not in a manner that this theory does.  

 

Motion to approve the consent agenda with the following items:

• Minutes of the May 10 & 14 regular & special meetings
• Review/approve invoices
• Approve Financial Reports
• Approve Resignations: Erica Gronowski – MS Special Ed, Mark Nuss – Varsity Track Head Coach, Corey Mincks – Building Cleaner, & Neal Bentley – XC coach (pending a suitable replacement)
• Approve New Hire: Chris Miller – Assistant HS Principal/Activities Director and Jade Daughton – 9th Assistant Volleyball Coach
• Transfers:  Kim Kleve – MS Special ed from MS English, Ashley Becker – FE 4th grade to MS English, Molly J Holthaus – MS Science to FE 4th grade, and Rachel Strong – MS AG/Project Lead the Way to MS Science

  Ahrens/McNeese  Motion carried 5-0

 

COMMUNICATIONS

Principal reports were received.  Lori reported that graduation went well.  Summer school is going on right now.  Touch screen monitors are up and running.  Boys soccer qualified for state this Spring and a number of track participants qualified for state.  We are well into the baseball and softball seasons.  Travis reported that there was lots of activity at the end of the year.  Summer school will start in July.  It was a tough year and the summer break was welcomed.  

 

The Curriculum Director report was received. New computer science standards have been put into place. Training of the staff is happening through the AEA.  NFV will strengthen our alignment with the new standards throughout the year.  Additional professional development is taking place as well throughout the summer.  

 

Business Manager Thoms gave an update on the end of the year activities in the office.

 

Superintendent’s report included the following: 

WUE HVAC project:  This is off to a great start.  Lower level ceilings have been removed.  The staff did an amazing job preparing for this project.

 

ESSER III: Waiting for plan descriptions from the state on this.  We have an internal plan ready to go including summer school, after-school programming, interventions, as well as the offset of General Fund expenditures for the next few years.  We will present a formal plan in July or August for Board consideration.

 

Legislative Updates and Priorities:  Supt Griffith handed out a packet and reviewed these.  Student mental health, special ed funding in actual costs, educator quality, supplemental aid for schools, and elimination of unfunded mandates are the areas that come to the forefront.  

 

OLD BUSINESS

None.

 

NEW BUSINESS

The Board approved sharing agreements with South Winn for HR – Jami Hollinrake (40/40) and Curriculum Director – Betsy Nefzger (70/30 of a .95 FTE contract).  The curriculum sharing is a 22-day increase from last year.  Schlawin/Rue  Motion Carried 5-0

 

The Board approved increasing the adult lunch price to $3.95 – a $0.05 increase for next year.    Rue/Ahrens  Motion Carried 5-0

 

The Board held the first reading of the 2021-2022 Staff Handbook.

 

The Board reviewed the following summer projects:  

• Repair and reseal of several parking lots at the Valley site and the High School –   Prairie Road Builders bid of $37,129
• Sewer line repairs at the Valley site – Clines bid of  $10,000 
• Replace air conditioning units for the High School Library and 2 classrooms – Winona Controls bid of $9,200 
• Roof repairs and replacement at the Valley site –  Moss Roofing had the low bid on both sections in the amount of $125,000 & $102,000  

The Board approved these summer projects.   Ahrens /Schlawin    Motion Carried 5-0

 

The Board approves change orders for the WUE HVAC project for the following:

• elimination of an external electrical shutoff
• elimination of an external underground vault to house geothermal connections
• Increase the fire sprinkler system from 4-inch mains to 6-inch mains to increase the available flow

The Board approved the change orders.  Rue/Schlawin  Motion Carried 5-0

 

Principal Westhoff presented options for graduation in May of 2022.  Friday evenings do have conflicts next year so she is proposing Sunday, May 15th.  The Board approved the May 15th date for graduation next year.  Schlawin/Ahrens  Motion Carried 5-0

 

DISCUSSION There will be a 4:00 pm tour of the Fayette building, before the next board meeting.  The meeting will take place in the HS Library.

 

Motion to adjourn at 6:43 pm.  Rue/Koch  Motion Carried 5-0

 

______________________________ _____________________________

Stacy Cummings, President Sue Thoms, Business Manager