WELLMAN

Seven FFA students, along with advisor Elsa Schmidt, kicked off Monday night’s regular meeting of the Mid-Prairie school board with a presentation on some of the activities they participated in this summer, which most notably included the Iowa State Fair. Twenty-one FFA members showed in many categories, with some students awarded ribbons.

In addition to livestock judging and showing, Schmidt noted that the group submitted a record number of photography entries this year. Sixty chapters participate in the photography category; facing serious competition, Jason Yoder placed third in the FFA division.

The Mid-Prairie chapter placed first in Floriculture; the students told the board about how a Mid-Prairie graduate working for University of Iowa provided them guidance for how to choose, grow, and arrange flowers prior to the fair.

Over 200 students apply to work as ushers at the State Fair each year; four Mid-Prairie students were chosen to do things such as hand out maps and schedules at the gates, and one of them shared with the board her experience.

“The work Ms. Schmidt puts into this to make this happen for our kids is like, over the top,” Superintended Brian Stone said at the conclusion of the presentation.

In the board’s relatively brief business meeting on Sept. 9, the board accepted the FY24 Annual Treasurer’s Report. Business Manager Jeff Swartzentruber provided the board with an overview of the report, noting that all the funds “look to be in really good shape.”

A $58,000 decline in the enterprise fund was “very much nutrition oriented,” Swartzentruber noted, as there are no longer COVID funds to cover losses the district has been taking over the cost of school lunches.

“It’s a delicate balance to raise those lunch prices, even though we held them pretty much steady for four years,” Swartzentruber said. “There are a lot of people that are still hurting, so if you raise lunch prices too much, then you hurt your volume. So, we’ve got this kind of balancing act to do.”

Board President Jake Snider will once again be the board’s delegate to the Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB) convention in November. Snider highly recommended other board members attend the convention; most of those present indicated they would attend at least one day.

The Mid-Prairie school board will next meet for a work session on Monday, Sept. 23 at 6:15 p.m. in the Central Office Community Room.