NRHEG School Board
By REED WALLER
Staff Writer
Staff and faculty members involved in the school’s PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) initiative spoke before the school board at last Monday’s regular meeting, expressing concern over behavior problems on the school buses, particularly the shuttle buses.
“An unstructured situation presents the most problems,” one representative explained.
They expressed approval of the district’s placing of security cameras in the school buses, but pointed out that this was not enough. The cameras make it possible to monitor bad behavior, but it’s after the fact, and PBIS is about promoting positive behavior on the spot. They believed it would be helpful to have paraprofessionals on board as supervisors.
Supt. Wellen explained that such an action should take the form of a request from Elementary Principal Doug Anderson.Anderson submitted the request when he delivered his report. Request was granted.
Kitchen/Cafeteria/Commons gets go-ahead
The board approved the resolution to state their intent to issue General Obligation Capital Facilities Bonds, for the financing of the Kitchen / Commons renovation project. The bonds will be solicited, purchased and underwritten by Northland Securities on behalf of the district, and the closing is expected for May 22.
The advantage of using a broker like Northland Securities is that the district can shop for a competitive rate. The downside is that Northland is not obligated by law to protect the District against risk, such as ISG/Honeywell in the past. But the maximum amount of the debt is still regulated by state law.
Timeline for project
The project team reviews of the Kitchen / Cafeteria / Commons project have been completed.
Construction documents have been issued as of March 1, and a pre-bid meeting and walkthrough was conducted March 6.
Bidding for the bond issue will begin Tuesday, March 19, and the best bid will be approved by the Board at their March 25 meeting.
Construction will be completed sometime in August.
No reductions in sight
February is the time when the board authorizes the administration to make reductions for the upcoming school year.
This year none are planned at this time.
AFSCME settlement
The AFSCME staff master agreement has been revised to bring it into step with the teachers agreement. Unused lower grades were deleted and a new step was added at the top. The total two year package represents an increase of 4.21 percent.
Proposal to Recall Sparby
While the district searches for a new High School Principal to replace retiring Paul Cyr, it is required to give certain consideration to released administrator Paul Sparby. It was requested that the district provide Sparby with a salary and benefits proposal for this position.
After some discussion, it was determined that all disclosure requirements are already being covered, and the request was denied.
The next regular meeting of the NRHEG Board of Education will be Monday, March 18, 2013 at the New Richland Media Center, at 6:30 p.m.