Greene County School Board 4_18The Greene County School Board met Wednesday night in regular session.

The Board approved purchasing land for the new high school, career academy, gymnasium and performing arts center project. The Board approved to purchase 49.92-acres at $17,250 per acre for a total of $861,121. The Board also has a stipulation that within five-years, they could purchase the final 34.7-acres at the same purchase price of $17,250 per acre. The land is located west of American Athletic Incorporated and is owned by Mike and Kathy Bravard.

The Board also approved the second reading for a new board policy for online fundraising campaigns; hiring Nolte, Cornman & Johnson as the district’s auditor for the 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-2020 school years; a service agreement with the Iowa Department of Administrative Services as presented, a rental agreement with a private individual to use the parking lot at the Rippey baseball field for $300; setting the public hearing for the 2017-18 budget amendment for May 16th; a new structure for high school science classes; along with a couple of fundraising requests; and changing spring break for next school year to March 18th through the 22nd. Additionally, the Board approved a list of sales tax and physical plant and equipment levy (PPEL) fund projects. Those include: purchasing 250 Google Chromebooks for the middle school, 75 desktop computers for the high school, and upgrading the phone system at the high school for a total of $136,049.

The Board then approved all filled coaching contracts for the 2018-19 school year, along with a 1.75-percent total package increase and a 2.25-percent total district cost increase for administrative contracts. The Board also approved to phase in a fulltime activities director position over a three-year period. Next school year, the position would be 80-percent activities and 20-percent strength and conditioning. The 2019-2020 school year it would increase to 90-percent activities and 10-percent strength and conditioning. The 2020-2021 school year would be 100-percent activities.

The Board also discussed bringing back the Iowa Job for America’s Graduates program, but took no action on the topic.