The Greene County School Board met Monday night.

The Board heard an update on the hospitality program from instructor Donna Carhill and two students. They presented an event they helped prepare for on October 31st for a wedding at Whiterock Conservancy and “An Evening at Ram Restaurant” earlier in November.

The Board then heard an update on the student construction program from instructor Chad Morman. He said his eight students have most of the exterior plywood done along with installing most of the wooden trusses. His goal is to start putting shingles on the house by Thanksgiving.

A representative with Iowa Central Community College spoke to the Board about their regional academies. Looking to establish one regional academy in each of their territories so that each school district is no more than 30 miles away from the building. They are looking to build an academy in the southwest region with Greene County, in Lohrville. ICCC would offer a number of seats to each district for that district to purchase. They would offer classes that aren’t already offered in other school districts. The school districts in the southwest region include Greene County, East Sac, Southeast Valley, South Central Calhoun and Manson Northwest-Webster. The Board took no action on the topic.

Board President Dr. David Ohrt spoke about the state that the community is in. He said sometimes as a Board they make difficult decisions and there are people who won’t like it and thought it can turn into a toxic environment. He pointed out that he thought there was a good relationship with the media in terms of getting the word out about their decisions, but didn’t like how the local newspaper chose to put innuendos and insinuations about different topics. He challenged everyone to create a positive environment and he pledged to write two ‘thank you’ notes every month to send to random community members.

The Board then approved the modified supplement for open enrollment and English Language Learners to the School Board Review Committee for $106,000 of additional allowable growth funds, five fundraiser requests, the winter sports official list, the SBRC administrative cost for River Hills Consortium for $2,989, a resolution for the professional learning communities and the employee voluntary retirement policy.

The Board also voted five to two in favor of a proposed purchase agreement with Greene County for the former National Guard Armory building. The Board agreed to pay $250,000 to the County to take ownership of the building as a new bus barn by July 3, 2017. The Board added a contingency that the deal will be official if water and heat were operational in the building. The two “no” votes were Ashley Johnston and John McConnell.

Finally, Superintendent Tim Christensen said they are holding a joint school board meeting with Paton-Churdan at 5:30pm in Churdan on Wednesday, November 30th.