Northeast Nodaway is looking at a small surplus budget for this year. Superintendent Jeff. Mehlenbacher reported that he was still going over the figures, but that it looked like anywhere between a surplus of $60,000 and $90,000 when he did the calculations.
Guidance and counseling services were evaluated as above average. They hold regular meetings with parents to track student progress and they provide resources to students making future choices about careers. The juniors do a job shadow day as well. Concerns listed were having one counselor for two buildings, which board members said would be one area helped with a one site school. The other concern was funding cuts affecting the ability for students to attend career fairs.
Superintendent Jeff Mehlenbacher had words of praise for the board as he handed out training materials for them regarding professional development. "Most boards would rate themselves and the administration high, but only 11% of school boards across the country receive any kind of training, which says a lot about you," he said. The board tries to do some sort of training every month. This month's training materials involved roles. Authority to supervise personnel lies with the superintendent and the rest of the staff; if board members go into the building for the wrong reasons, then Mehlenbacher said that "it leads to all sorts of trouble." "The staff doesn't know who to look to," he explained. He said that it was OK to visit the building, but with the right purpose in mind.
Dalton Welch gave a presentation to the board regarding the work of the Northeast Nodaway Hope Foundation, which collects recyclables to raise money for the Northeast Nodaway Foundation as well as for charity. They donated money to Heifer International, which buys farm animals for poor people around the world. Members are Welch, Jason Auffert, Matt Busby, and Dallas Davis.
Mehlenbacher said that he talked with Lunchtime Solutions, which provides lunches for the school. He said that the goal was to break even after having been $40,000 to $60,000 in the red in years past. The board voted to increase school lunches by 10 cents. Board President Kenny Runde said that going to a one site school would result in savings in food costs.
The board approved a health insurance plan in which employees would get to choose between three different plans through Patton Insurance. The board had previously had their health insurance through Coventry, but Mehlenbacher and board members said that Patton offered a better deal because there was more of a choice for employees.
There were two buses that needed minor repairs. The DOT completed the bus inspections for the school. Mehlenbacher said that he was looking into prices for the buses but wanted to complete the budget first.
There were 121 students attending the elementary and 95 attending the high school. Average Daily Attendance was 95.35% for the school, 97.46 for the elementary and 92.8 for the high school.
The Northeast Nodaway PTO reported that 150 students attended the Elementary Fun Night at Parnell. They have been doing small projects for teachers and requested a new fence for the Ravenwood playground. Moving day from Parnell to Ravenwood will be at 8 a.m. Thursday and Principal Linda Mattson said that she hoped work would be completed by 11:30. She said that she had work lined up for that day. The PTO also purchased a smartboard for the preschool, which will meet their goal of having one for every classroom. The PTO has $15,000 worth of grant funds as well as their own funds and they could move some of the playground equipment from Parnell to Ravenwood.
Mattson reported that the writing component was done away with for the MAP. She reported on the Easter Hat Parade. A food committee found that more portions and more variety in foods were needed. A spring concert was held and various field trips were taken. She said she was proud of the students for reading a lot of books and said that she would have to wear a KU shirt one day because one of her students won a bet with her over how many books she would read.
Outgoing secondary principal Jeremy Covey reported that the 7th grade had won the attendance challenge and was treated to a pizza. Over 100 attended the FFA Banquet. The Athletic Banquet was held last night at the new gym. The Platte Valley Conference is doing two different professional development days for networking purposes in September and October of this year; the board revised the calendar to reflect that. The extra duty schedule was discussed; Mehlenbacher said that there were some that were really low when compared to the other schools in the conference and that there were others which had not been touched in years. The administration is looking at an extra duty plan which would reward teachers who stay in the district.
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