WELLMAN
The Mid-Prairie school board opened their first meeting of 2025 with a new vision statement at the top of the agenda: “Every Student, Every Day.”
Kalona resident and recent school …
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WELLMAN
The Mid-Prairie school board opened their first meeting of 2025 with a new vision statement at the top of the agenda: “Every Student, Every Day.”
Kalona resident and recent school board candidate Jim Miller hopes that means the district will raise their standards when it comes to test scores. During public forum, he held up a copy of a November 21, 2024 News story about state education report cards; Mid-Prairie High School’s report showed 66% - 74% proficiency rates in mathematics and English language arts – this in a state ranked 11th in the nation, he pointed out.
“To me, that’s mediocrity,” Miller said. “Why are we satisfied with mediocrity?”
Test scores were not an agenda item for Monday night’s meeting, however, so the issue was not discussed. Instead, business for Jan. 13 called for first readings for a few board policies, including those regarding hiring and early resignation incentives.
The board approved a sign-on incentive for licensed employees of $5,000, distributed in two payments, the same as in recent years. The district paid out $76,000 in employment incentives last year, business manager Jeff Swartzentruber noted.
For those who give early notice of their resignation, the board also approved incentive amounts unchanged from the previous year -- $2,000 for those giving notice by the first Monday in February and $1,000 for those giving notice by the first Monday in March. Early notice gives the district additional time to recruit new staff to fill vacated positions by the start of the next school year.
“The money amount – did it work?” board vice president Ryan Schlabaugh asked as the board discussed the issue. “Does it need to be adjusted?”
“That $2,000 swings the gate pretty quickly,” superintendent Brian Stone said. “It definitely helps.”
Seven or eight teachers received the $2,000 incentive last year, Swartzentruber said. One or two received the $1,000 incentive.
The district’s policy on meal charges was also on the agenda; the board approved a standard IASB policy with minor changes pertaining to employees, who can use charge accounts for meals but not accrue negative balances.
Board members asked if negative balances were common for student accounts, as they are in some districts. Swartzentruber said that there are districts that have $15,000 - $30,000 negative meal balances, but Mid-Prairie isn’t one of them.
“People will come in and say, ‘Here’s $200, I’ll take care of all the negative balances on student accounts,’” Swartzentruber said. “We’ve been extremely blessed by this community, that there are a lot of people that do that.”
In other action, the board passed a resolution allowing $253,005 for additional allowable growth for the at-risk and drop-out prevention program. They also approved the first reading of a stock prescription medication supply policy.
Before going into closed session for superintendent evaluation, Swartzentruber briefed the board on what to expect for the Certified Budget process this spring, which will be a bit different from previous years due to state-mandated changes. The county must receive budget information from the district by March 5 so that it can be mailed to county residents; two public hearings must be held, the first of which is expected to be on March 24, and the second in April.
The board noted the challenge of creating a budget without knowing what the SSA (State Supplementary Assistance) amount will be for the upcoming fiscal year. For FY25, the SSA was set at 2.5%, a low amount of student funding when looking at historical data.
“This is just another reason for the public to realize how important it is for them to speak to our legislators,” board member Gabrielle Frederick pointed out.
The Mid-Prairie school board will next meet for a work session on Monday, Jan. 27 at 6:15 p.m. at the Central Office Community Room. The next business meeting is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 10.