The Greene County School Board met Wednesday night in regular session.
The meeting started with the Board reviewing the bids to sell $5.5 million general obligation bonds toward the new high school and career academy project. The bids included: Robert Baird and Company from Milwaukee, Wisconsin with a purchase price of $5,888,000; Bernardi Securities from Chicago, Illinois with a purchase price of $5,794,000; and D.A. Davidson and Company from Denver, Colorado with a purchase price of $5,772,000. The Board approved Robert Baird.
The Board then approved the second reading of a new board policy of assistance animals to align with federal law to allow for assistance animals and those animals training to be assistance animals to be allowed inside school buildings. The Board also approved a revised policy to allow for animals to be in classrooms as presented.
The Board then heard an update on the FFA farm project with agriculture classroom students. It was mentioned that once the crops are planted, the students will have crop scouts in the summer monitoring the progress and condition of the crop at their site, which is near the new high school and career academy site. As for cash flows, the students are projecting $7,600 in expenses, with generating about 200 bushels of corn per acre. They hope to sell their crop for $3.50 per bushel with a profit of $15,400. The net income they are projecting is $7,800, with all proceeds to go to the FFA account. The students are hoping to invest in purchasing land to farm, build a livestock and animal facility and improve the aquaculture and horticulture classes.
The Board then approved a three-year agreement with the bus drivers’ union. The first year, the wage increase will be 2.5-percent, the second year will be 2.35-percent and the third year will be 2.2-percent. The Board also approved the first reading of a revised policy for graduation requirements. The changes that were approved included: adding three freshmen year science credits, only allowing personal math to qualify for financial literacy due to the changes in the state curriculum, requiring four language arts credits and having a total of at least 58 credits to graduate high school.
The Board also approved two fundraising requests as presented, establishing May 15th as the statutory date for administrative contracts and contract renewals, establishing April 1st as the statutory date for certified employee continuing contracts, renewing the rental agreement to use the Grand Junction Community Center for the summer food service program for $1,500, approving the 2019-2020 Area Education Agency purchasing participation agreement, hiring Terracon Consultants for materials testing and special inspection services for $92,550 for the new high school and career academy project, along with hiring Bolton and Menk for construction staking for $30,600.
Additionally the Board approved the 2019-2020 sharing agreements. Those agreements included: sharing the curriculum director with Luverne School District, sharing the media specialist with Ogden and Paton-Churdan School districts, sharing with Southeast Valley School District for student construction, certified nursing assistant and medical terminology, and all elective high school classes with Paton-Churdan as presented. The Board also approved the list of summer projects. Those projects included: replacing all computers and Chromebooks for teachers and office staff at the elementary, replacing classroom sound systems at the elementary, a new bus and suburban, updating the heat pump at the elementary and replacing the roof top unit at the high school.
Finally, Superintendent Tim Christensen shared information about value engineering on the school project with contractor Henkel Construction. He said after reviewing some items, bond issuance premiums and projected interest income, the overall project is now estimated to only be $318,000 over budget, which is down from $1.5 million.