The Perry School Board held their regular monthly meeting Monday.

At the meeting, the Board approved a $216,558 bid from Walsh Electronic Security for upgrades to the buildings.  This includes a card access system, a door intercom system and cameras at the elementary, middle and high schools. A representative from Walsh says they will be ready to start the installation process this summer.

An elementary school heat pump replacement bid from Drees Company in the amount of $641,345 was also unanimously approved.  This project is expected to start immediately when school is out for the year later this month.

Dallas County Conservation Director Mike Wallace then shared information on the selected route for the Raccoon River Valley Trail to High Trestle Trail connector project between Perry and Woodward. Wallace stated they were hoping to make use of some of the district’s property to build the trail efficiently. The Conservation Board has requested a 30-foot-wide area to build the 10-foot-wide trail toward Bouton.  No formal action was taken by the Board but Wallace asked permission to move forward with a survey of the land, which was granted.

Learning Supports Director Kevin Vidergar, Elementary Dean of Students Ned Menke and High School Principal Dan Marburger then talked about their recent trip to the Solon School District to see how they’re using Standards Based Grading.  Marburger mentioned that this will not replace Grade Point Averages at the high school as those are still needed in order to be on a level playing field with other school districts.  A workshop to review plans to implement the system for the 2017-2018 school year will be held in the near future.

Menke and Associate Principal Joel Martin then talked about the elementary summer school program. There are three tracks for students this year so that the programs are tailored towards the students’ needs.

Perry’s Academic Cultural and Enrichment Services (PACES) Director Mary Hillman than shared information on their summer program. She says the program needs to be licensed by the Department of Human Services, which is a change from the exception they had before.  Hillman says things like training for CPR/first aid and background checks for all staff members and high school assistants come at a cost and could make it difficult to administrate the program moving forward. This also would likely result in programming changes in order to meet regulations set by the DHS that did not exist when the program was overseen by the Department of Education. Hillman says due to the regulations they are looking to have to increase the program fees by $10 per student.  PACES will continue to employ 21 people over the summer with their Worlds of Wonder program theme.

A master contract with the Perry Support Staff Association was then approved at a 3.6 percent increase.  The support staff roster was also approved as presented, along with the special services and administrator contracts at 3.3 percent increases.

PACES summer wages and fees were then approved as presented, as were summer food service wages, district fundraisers and instructional and activity fees,

The SkillsUSA students were then given permission to attend the national contest in Louisville, Kentucky next month.

Finally, board policy revisions and personnel changes were approved as presented and the Board set a self assessment workshop for next month.

Principals Shaun Krueger and Dan Marbuger will join us on today’s Let’s Talk Dallas County to talk more about the Standards Based Grading system during the 9am, noon, and 5pm hours.  Our Let’s Talk programs are also available on demand at RaccoonValleyRadio.com.