REGULAR SESSION
OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE
The Board of Directors of the Community School District of South Tama County met in Regular Session on December 13, 2021 at the Elementary School, Tama, Iowa at 5:00 p.m. with members of the community attending electronically through Google Hangouts.
On call of the roll the following were present: Mandy Lekin, Penny Tyynismaa, Clint Werner, Elizabeth Dolezal, Beth Wiese. Absent: None. Quorum Present. Also present were: Jared Smith, Randy Denham, Middle School Principal Ben Adams, Brad Leeper and Laura Peterson from Invision Architects, Ryan Ellsworth from Estes Construction, Travis Squires from Piper Sandler, Middle School Task Force Members Matt Zmolek, Charlotte Upah, and Doug Stadler, Katherine Olindecker from Tama County Economic Development, and several members of the community.
Motion by Tyynismaa, second by Wiese to approve the agenda. All Ayes.
Motion by Tyynismaa, second by Dolezal to approve the following consent agenda items: Minutes from the November 15, 2021 regular meeting and annual meeting; Bills for payment as presented; Financial Statements as presented; early graduation request for Jose Herrera and Andrea Ortega; and a software service agreement with Tyler Technologies for Transportation Student Tracking System. All Ayes.
Public Comments – None.
Matt Zmolek made a presentation on behalf of the Middle School Task Force. Mr. Zmolek reviewed the process that the Task Force went through to come up with their recommendation. The Middle School Task Force recommended to move forward with the Iowa Juvenile Home option at an estimated cost of $25 million.
Ryan Ellsworth presented the engineering assessment report from IMEG that was done on November 29. The Board discussed the condition of the Iowa Juvenile Home property and whether or not $25 million is an accurate estimate based on the potential needs of the building. The Board also discussed the current mechanical systems on the Juvenile Home property and whether those would need to be replaced or not. The Board asked for more clarity on potential funds available from the State of Iowa for the project and how the District would have to apply for and receive those funds if they are available.
Travis Squires from Piper Sandler discussed the different funding options available to the Board and also explained the timeline to get the needed petition signatures in by the January 14 deadline to be put on the ballot in March.
The Board discussed the different options available to them. The Board discussed that they would like to gather more information. The Board stated they would like to know exactly how much money the State is willing to contribute to the project. The Board also wanted more information from the City of Toledo and Tama County with regards to how they would partner with the District on a potential project at the Juvenile Home Site. The Board then discussed holding a special meeting in the near future once they were able to get more information from the State of Iowa, City of Toledo, and Tama County.
Motion by Werner, second by Tyynismaa to table a decision on the Middle School project so that more information could be gathered. Roll Call Vote: Lekin-Aye, Tyynismaa-Aye, Werner-Aye, Dolezal-Aye, Wiese-Aye. The motion carried.
Motion by Tyynismaa, second by Wiese to approve the following personnel requests. All Ayes.
Hires: Anna Marie Scott – Full Time District Wide Sub; Bridget Diveny – High School FCS Teacher; Matthew Beatty – Assistant 7th/8th Grade Basketball Coach; Bailey Barnes – Full Time District Wide Sub; Samantha Prior – HS Special Ed Para
Resignations: Sarah Weiermann – High School Assistant Volleyball Coach
Volunteers: Kaity Berry – Elementary Classroom
Officials: Kory Staff – Middle School 8th Grade Boys Basketball
Dr. Smith presented data to the Board to add four additional early dismissal days for the second semester. The Board discussed starting with two early dismissal days and waiting until after the winter weather season has passed or to stay with four days since there would still be enough hours in the calendar to meet instructional requirements.
Motion by Wiese, second by Dolezal to approve adding four, two-hour early out dismissal days on January 14, 2022; February 11, 2022; March 11, 2022; and May 13, 2022. All Ayes.
Dr. Smith provided a COVID update to the Board. Dr. Smith shared that District COVID numbers have been down but that there has been an uptick in flu cases throughout the District.
Board Members Dolezal and Wiese provided an update to the Board on their experience at the Iowa Association of School Boards convention in November. Board Member Dolezal also gave the Board a recap of the Legislative Dinner that she attended on December 1 with Dr. Smith and Mr. Denham that was hosted at East Marshall school.
Motion by Tyynismaa, second by Werner to adjourn the meeting at 7:20 p.m. All Ayes.
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Mandy Lekin, Board President Randy Denham, Board Secretary