M-P board learns about financing options for potential facility upgrades

Posted 6/29/21

The Mid-Prairie Board of Education heard a presentation from Matt Gillaspie of Piper Sandler & Co. regarding the district’s financing options for possible facility plans during their …

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M-P board learns about financing options for potential facility upgrades

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The Mid-Prairie Board of Education heard a presentation from Matt Gillaspie of Piper Sandler & Co. regarding the district’s financing options for possible facility plans during their regular meeting on Monday, June 28.

Gillaspie outlined the four major funding sources available to the Mid-Prairie district to fund possible projects: Cash and grants, sales tax revenue bonds, general obligation PPEL capital loan notes, and general obligation school bonds.

The board did not take any action or engage in any discussion about possible actions; Gillaspie was only there to give them an overview of their options and answer any broad questions the board had.

The board plans to create a facilities plan incrementally over the summer. They have expressed interest in either renovating the existing football stadium or possibly building a new stadium on the school’s land across Highway 22, among other possible projects.

Superintendent Mark Schneider said the construction management firm Carl A. Nelson & Company will provide recalculated costs for potential projects at the board’s next meeting on July 12.

In other business, the board created a full-time high school special education teacher position, which will be partially filled by an existing staff member. Gabrielle Fredericks made the motion to create the position and Mary Allred seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

The board approved the second reading of a board policy that removed the need for a tuberculosis test during employee physical examinations. At a previous meeting, Schneider explained that some employees were finding it hard to access a tuberculosis test and that the test as a preliminary screening was no longer necessary.

The board also accepted changes to three student handbooks: the special education handbook updated their policy for if the district should go virtual, the elementary handbook updated their policy to reflect the continuation of the federal free lunch program and, on the advice of the nursing staff, that students should be without medication such as fever reducers for 24 hours before returning to school, and the middle school handbook was updated to continue to allow sixth through eighth graders to wear hats during school.

All three new principals — Chuck Banks at the high school, Rob Hruby at the middle school and Greg Jergens at East Elementary — attended the board meeting and all said they are excited and eager for the school year to begin.