LONE TREE

The Lone Tree school board met on Wednesday, Nov. 1 for a scheduled work session. Here, they discussed a few different things that should reach future board meetings as topics subject to vote.

The first item of discussion was the reinstatement of the freshman class sponsor. High school principal Andrew Koshatka attended the meeting in support of reinstating the sponsor, drafting a letter of support.

The position would entail working closely with the middle and high school offices to help aid the transition of starting high school. The sponsor would also be responsible for raising $1,000 annually, which would go towards events like homecoming and graduation. This will be included in the school handbook discussion for next school year.

Superintendent Tyler Hotz suggested changes as the board works though 400 series policies. Hotz pointed to one in particular, which would allow staff more time before needing to report intent of taking courses over the summer to advance on their pay scale. The current policy states they must report intent the September before summer courses are offered, roughly nine months in advance. Hotz proposed they change the date to May, immediately before courses begin.

Hotz also caught a mistake in the 700 series, something he’s yet to review. The school never adopted policy 705.04, expenditures for a public purpose.

A public purpose means that school funds must serve a public purpose. For example, the school cannot provide coffee solely for employees; if it were to offer coffee, it should be available to the public, otherwise it would not serve a public purpose.

This policy covers what purchases should be reimbursed for employees compared to what shouldn’t, and it also covers how the school should handle supplies for a public area like staff parties, banquets, memorial gifts and student incentives.

The board will make final decisions on these policies at a later date.

Summer projects

Hotz used this meeting to think ahead to how the board would like to use time and money to handle various summer projects. He mentioned that getting the gym an HVAC system is right on track.

The plan is to have bids open the week of Dec. 11. Then, the board can approve the work on Dec. 20 and work would begin May 28, ending July 26, leaving a week open to resurface the gym floor in time for fall sports.

Even if the project runs behind for whatever reason, the board has a backup plan for sports. They can utilize the other gym in the school and the community center. But of course, they hope for the project to be done on time.

The board will be working more closely on their summer project list between January and March.

The next board meeting will be held Monday, Nov. 13, at 6:30 p.m. in the school library. This will be the first meeting after the Nov. 7 election in which Lone Tree has one person running (Alex Ogren) with two seats open since Joel Yedlik is retiring. This meeting will be Yedlik’s last as he’ll pass the reigns to whomever steps in to fulfill his role.