The Iowa-Grant school board was asked by several community members to leave the music area alone when considering the weight room.
Several members of the public addressed the board during the Opportunity for Public Input section of the board agenda. All those speaking voiced their concerns about any potential of repurposing the current band room for use as a weight room, which the board had outlined as just one of many options in a non-exhaustive list.
Later in the meeting the board took no action on the weight room placement.
The board accepted several donations with gratitude. They included:
· $1000 from Iowa-Grant PTC for football field sound system
. $1000 from Pipestone for Panther Packs
. $100 from Iowa-Grant Booster Club for RIF (Reading is Fundamental)
. 100 from IGEA Professional Staff and Support Staff to Panther Packs . $100 from IGEA Professional Staff and Support Staff to Helping Hands
· Rock donation from UWL for student learning
. Trinity Episcopal Church – monthly donation of laundry sheets provided throughout this school year and funded for the 2026-2027 school year to be sent home with each Panther Packs family.
The board heard end-of-the year administrative reports including emergency drills and updates from Superintendent Michael Shimshak on the storm damage to Hazel Dell, which will have a new steel roof installed as part of the restoration.
Shimshak also reported that a joint meeting with the Highland Community Schools will be scheduled to move forward with discussions about terms for expansion of co-ops in athletics.
During discussion about the weight room placement the board scheduled a Buildings, Grounds, and Transportation Committee meeting to tour district facilities and discuss short and long-term solutions to problems with current location of the weightroom including ventilation, outside door access, and crowding. The meeting was scheduled for noon on June 16 at the high school. For the short term, some weight equipment will be moved into the adjoining classroom, giving the weight room about 40% more space.
In other business the board voted to maintain milk and adult meal prices at their current levels for the 2026- 2027 school year. Milk will stay at $.45/carton; adult breakfast will be $2.92; and $4.90 for adult lunch.
The board approved an intergovernmental agreement for a shared speech and language teacher with the Mineral Point School District. The agreement was amended to split the time evenly between the two districts.
The board was presented with a series of handbooks and after some discussion the board approved all of the handbooks for the 2026 -2027 school year as recommended by the administration. The only exchange made was regarding students with failing grades in the co-curricular handbooks. If a student is failing, the student will have until the next grade check to bring up the grade. If the grade is still failing at the next grade check, the student will be ineligible until the grade is passing at the next grade check.
Approved were:
. 2026-2027 Middle School Coaches Handbook
. 2026-2027 High School Student Handbook
· 2026-2027 High School Athletic and Co-curricular Handbook
. 2026-2027 High School Coaches Handbook
· 2026-2027 Middle School Student Handbook
· 2026-2027 Middle School Athletic and Extracurricular Handbook
The board approved two motions that deal with district finances. One was to authorize spending money from available funds to meet the immediate expenses of operating and maintaining the needs of the district from July 1, 2026 until the adoption of the 2026-2027 district tax levy. The second included passing a resolution authorizing the issuance and Sale of a $1,000,000 General Obligation Promissory Note (to fund the locker room renovation project.) The loan will be from Royal Bank for a period of five years. The interest rate will be 3.98 % per year; there is no early prepayment penalty. The loan may be drawn upon as needed.
Before adjournment the board returned from closed session and took the following action:
-Rebecca Meissner is offered employment as a 5th-grade Science/Social Studies teacher.
-Robert Adler is offered employment as the high school head girls basketball coach.
-Hope Grimm is offered employment as the Assistant Volleyball Coach at the high school
-Nikolei Freymiller Middle school football coach:
-Lisa Henkel is offered employment as the Food Service Director.
-Kristen Nelson is offered a summer school teaching contract.
-Dawn Foreman is offered employment as the Drama Set Director:
Winter coaching contracts were offered to:
-Shawn Dailey – High School Head Boys Basketball Coach
-John Jelle – High School Assistant Boys Basketball Coach
-Ryan Allen – High School Head Wrestling Coach
-Gary Allen – High School Assistant Wrestling Coach
-Brad Tucker – High School Assistant Wrestling Coach
-Dan Prochaska – Middle School Boys Basketball Coach
-Adam Van Overmeer – Middle School Boys Basketball Coach
-Reagan Crist – Middle School Girls Basketball Coach
-Emily Downs – Middle School Girls Basketball Coach -Brad Tucker – Middle School Wrestling Coach -Melany Olson – Winter Cheerleading Coach
-Tiffany Snyder – Winter Cheerleading Coach