At Monday’s School Board meeting, the Operations Committee made several suggestions for use of the Fund 46 monies available for the district to use. (Scroll past the video for more article text)
Fund 46 is a Capital Maintenance Fund — monies have been put by the district into this fund for the last five years and, by law, could not be used until at least five years have passed. Some of these items are deferred projects Maintenance Director Roger Palzkill has been wanting to tackle for some time.
The Operations Committee presented the following slate of potential projects:
1) Purchase adjacent elementary land $ 64,000
2) Replace north exit doors in ms/hs gym $ 29,000
3) Lights in ms/hs gravel parking lot $ 16,000
4) Blacktop ms/hs gravel parking lot $ 54,000
5) Blacktop ms/hs main driveway $ 142,000
6) Replace girls locker room floor $ 30,000
7) Paint ms/hs gym $ 27,000
After much discussion, the Board unanimously approved the following capital maintenance items to be paid for out of Fund 46: $64,000 for the elementary land purchase (approved at a previous meeting); $29,000 to replace north exit doors in the middle/high school gym; and $142,000 to re-blacktop the main middle/high school driveway.
(Go to the 32 minute, 30 second mark)
Other business:
— The Board voted unanimously to approve the special education and regular education open enrollment recommendations as presented for the 2020-21 school year.
Per state statutes, the non-resident school board shall determine the number of regular education and special education open enrollment spaces available within the school district in the January meeting of the school board.
Regular Education Recommendations: https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicItemDownload.aspx?ik=45719172
Special Education Recommendations: For the purpose of accepting non-resident open enrollment applications for the 2020-2021 school year, the following program limits are established for the District’s special education programs:
Early Childhood (ages 3-5): 8
Elementary cross-categorical grades K-1: 8
Elementary cross-categorical grades 2-3: 8
Elementary cross-categorical grades 4-5: 10
Middle school cross-categorical 6-8: 12 per teacher
High School cross categorical 9-12: 15 per teacher
The reasons for this are as follows: (1) There is a small degree of assumed error when making enrollment projections. (2) At the time when open enrollment requests are approved, special education evaluations are still being completed and more students will likely yet be identified. (3) The District continues to experience student transfers into the District through the start of the next school year.
Based upon these program limits, at this time, there is the following special ed availability:
1 space available for open enrollment at the early childhood level
3 spaces available for open enrollment in the elementary grades K-1
4 spaces available for open enrollment in the elementary grades 2-3
3 spaces available for open enrollment in the elementary grades 4-5
9 spaces available for open enrollment in the middle school grades 6-8
7 spaces available for open enrollment in the high school grades 9-12
Because of the current numbers of students with identified needs, current staffing levels, current contracted service levels and space available, the district will not accept open enrollment applications for students with a vision impairment or a deaf/hard of hearing impairment.
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— Tim Ruppert of HSR provided an update on the elementary addition/renovation project.
The project will be sent to the state on February 4 for final review. Bids documents are scheduled to be posted February 13, contractor pre-bid walkthrough February 20, and bids opened March 5.
Ruppert also discussed the bid alternate process, which he said is common for construction projects. This allows budget flexibility on bid day, competitive bidding options, and ability to hold pricing to add as project progresses.
Some of the potential alternates Ruppert presented included:
- Site paving of northern teacher/ staff parking lot
- Additional windows in cafeteria
- Replace finishes/ casework in art and music room
- Mat hoist/ scoreboard
- Replacement of 1991 era restroom finishes on both levels
To view the latest floor plans, visit: https://mineralpointschools.org/elementary-renovation/
(Go to the 15 minute, 45 second mark)
— The Board voted unanimously to approve the revision to Policy 133 that deals with filling board vacancies. The additional language says a candidate must receive at least one vote in order to move on to the next round of voting.
(Go to the 28 minute, 45 second mark)
— The Board voted 6-0-1 (with Basting abstaining) to approve the credit card statement and bills payable. (Go to the one hour, seven minute, 30 second mark)
— The Board went into closed session for discussion of performance and evaluation of the superintendent.
— The next regularly scheduled meeting is Monday, February 10 at 6:30 pm.