The Broadus School Board trustees met for their monthly meeting Monday, with all trustees in attendance and a full docket of agenda items scheduled for the evening.
High School English Teacher Jacy Collins spoke regarding ongoing work with the 2024-25 school calendar. She also spoke on the subject of work study for high school students, the subject of which had been a topic of discussion in the January meeting. Collins commented that students should be encouraged to take the variety of additional classes offered in the school such as art and photo editing, as an alternative to more lengthy work study. She commented: “Kids have their whole lives to work. We have lots to do here, and we need to encourage students to use these extra classes while the opportunity is available.”
One option with the work study proposal last month would make work study available for students as young as sophomores.
The board accepted the resignation of long time JH/HS science teacher Wanda Smith, effective at the end of the school year. They also accepted the resignation of Amy Minow as concessions stand manager.
The board made several hirings, including Dwight Oylear as assistant track coach, and volunteer track coaches Stacy Hagedorn, Kristie Lanke, and Sharky Hansen, as well as Rick Gatlin and Hattie Arithson as assistant and volunteer golf coaches. Sophie Irish’s application for substitute teacher for the elementary was accepted.
Second readings of a host of board policy updates were discussed. One item of note was policy 1420 – which requires schools to complete and maintain meeting recordings, and comes about as a result of MT House Bill 890, “An act providing for increased transparency and accountability in government by requiring certain government entities to record their public meetings in audio and video format…”
Essentially, as of July 1, the school board will be recording their meetings via audio and video, and will make the meetings available for remote public comment.
There are currently three board trustee positions coming open; a motion was approved to hold a trustee election in the coming months.
The school’s comprehensive needs survey was discussed, the results of which were available on the meeting but were not yet up online at the school’s site as of Tuesday morning.
A motion was approved to purchase several “technology” items, including printers for classrooms, updated Chromebooks, and a device to film the board meetings which is expected to cost over $1,000.
Next on the agenda was discussion of the major facilities projects in the works. Since the last board meeting the high school went through major heating problems during the January cold snap, with six “unit ventilators” – essentially the in-room heaters, going down in the process. A backup boiler to heat the school was discussed – the current backup unit is basically an antique and non- operational, and a backup was considered to be a definite need should the primary coal fired boiler go down.
A new boiler would be propane powered. In the future, a new boiler at the elementary would also be propane powered (though that project is on hold until current projects are completed). A large propane tank would likely be buried at some point in the future and a line trenched to power both boilers.
Additionally, the sewer project at the elementary was discussed, which will require a major renovation over the summer, tearing up a great deal of cement in the hallways and rebuilding the bathrooms. In the summer of 2024 the “West Wing” of the school is expected to be completed, while the “East Wing” which holds the majority of classrooms will be completed in a subsequent year, as the project was deemed to be too complicated and time consuming to complete all at once.
Additionally, a carpeting project in the high school library and hallways was discussed. In high traffic areas portions of the carpet are worn threadbare and taped down, and are in need of replacement. A carpeting project at the elementary was discussed but will be on hold until the sewer project is complete so as not to lay down new carpet and potentially have to tear it back up, or track it up during the construction project.
Superintendent Hansen noted that the building reserve fund currently has funding for these projects.
A unanimous vote approved the purchase of the facilities projects, those being a backup boiler at the high school, the purchase of six unit ventilators, the elementary sewer project (West Wing) and carpeting at the high school.
Cost estimates for the projects are 400-500 thousand dollars for the west wing sewer project, $289,000 for the boiler, $46,000 for carpeting, and around $60,000 for unit ventilators, with insurance picking up a portion of the ventilator cost.
The board approved the hiring of Principal Denise Ternes and Clerk Dixie Mitchell for the next school year.
The March school board meeting was rescheduled to Wednesday, March 13th due to a superintendent’s spring meeting held during the normal second Monday of the month.
The superintendent’s evaluation was then held, and the meeting adjourned.
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