Iowa-Grant school board starts collaboration discussion with Highland

Two area school districts are exploring the concept of collaborating to provide more accessibility to programs for students and staff.

Iowa-Grant District Administrator Michael Shimshak and board president Ross Leix met with Highland administration to start the discussion that could lead to more shared programs being available for students and more professional development being available for staff. The two districts already co-op in wrestling and in early childhood.

Both districts are considering going to referendum for operating capital.  Highland has hired a firm to help them with surveying their community to see what voters would support. The survey instrument they used has been shared with the I-G district.

Topics the two entities discussed included shared classes, shared professional development, athletics, distance learning and consolidation.

Highland’s school board met last night and was expected to receive an update on the meeting. If both boards agree to continue, a joint meeting will be held at a future date.

Shimshak said with both districts facing lower enrollments there could be a lot of opportunities created with a collaboration that would benefit the students at both schools.

Shimshak also shared a survey for the district voters he created for the board to consider.

Retirements/resignations

The board accepted a request for retirement from business ed teacher Stacey Gardiner.  They received and accepted resignations from Jessica Steffl as head volleyball coach, Makayla Loeffelholz as assistant volleyball coach and Jake Winkler as assistant track coach.

The board did some clean-up on their policies. They removed some that were duplicated with nine being rescinded.

Policies

The board approved a second reading of policies recommended  for revision by NEOLA. They held out policy 8500 which deals with food service until Shimshak can meet with the food service director and go over the policy revisions.

MS Football

Middle school football was discussed and the board approved starting the program.  It will be funded by Fund 80 and if a trainer is involved the funding will come from Fund 10.

Other Business

The board received hard copies of the school safety report which is required by state statute and the Office of School Safety.  After questions, the plan was approved.

The board approved a supervisor position to handle the weight room three days a week for middle school girls. Pay will be $20 per hour.

Another position approved by the board was for an educational aide for IGEM.

The board went over scenarios for the purchase of a school van and voted to proceed.

Approved was a proposal form HSR Associates to help with district facility planning.

The board reviewed two Start College Now applications and gave their approval.

A transportation agreement was approved for a volunteer driver to help transport FFA students to Milwaukee for a Leadership Conference.

The board approved the 2024-2025 High School Career Planning and Curriculum Course Guide as presented by Principal Chris Gotto.  Two additions were placed in the book as potential offerings, one for a fine arts program and another for a forensics science course. 

Donations

The board received and approved several donations.  They included: 

-$50.00 from Charles and Linda Heilmann for Iowa-Grant FFA 

-$50.00 from Lois Kaiser-Genthe for Iowa-Grant FFA 

-$50.00 from Dawn Thompson for Toy Drive

-$100.00 from Patricia Christiansen for Toy Drive 

-$100.00 from Dan and Kris Liddicoat for Family Consumer Education 

$200.00 from Rewey Lucky Stars for Toy Drive 

-$200.00 from Kevin and Nicole Pluemer for Toy Drive or Panther Packs 

-$500.00 from Denee and Gregory Clark for Toy Drive 

-$500.00 from WEA for Helping Hands 

-$500.00 from WEA for Panther Packs