News
»School Agrees to give Riverside to Vetal FD
Posted Local at Apr 20, 2011
By Tim Huether
At the regular meeting Monday evening, the Bennett County School District Board agreed to give the old Riverside School building and property to the Vetal Volunteer Fire Department, at no cost.
A proposed resolution was read, stating, “The Board of Education of the Bennett County School District hereby resolves that it deems it advisable and to the best interest of the public to convey the property known as the Riverside School to the Vetal Volunteer Fire Department for public purposes without offering the property for sale and without requiring said Vetal Volunteer Fire Department to pay for the same. The board has determined that it is no longer necessary, useful or suitable for the purpose for which it was acquired.”
The board motioned to add that the property could not be used for competitive purposes, such as opening another school and if the Vetal Fire Department found the facility was not usable for them, the school would have the first option to take it back.
The board agreed to have representatives meet with the Vetal reps to make sure they still wanted the property.
In other board action, they approved hiring Ken Soderlin as head high school girls basketball coach and Steve Claussen as assistant high school girls basketball coach and hire Jeff Krolikowski as head high school boys basketball coach and Joe Waln as assistant high school boys basketball coach.
The board accepted the following resignations:
Mandi Smokov, cheerleading coach
Kim Coleman, Junior class advisor
Cindy Knecht, Junior class advisor
CaCee McConaughey, study hall advisor
Reed Ford, Special Education para-professional
Tate Thompson, Asst. high school football coach
Ken Soderlin, head boys high school coach
Steve Claussen, assistant boys high school basketball coach
Kyle Bachand, assistant high school football coach
The board approved contracts for 2011-2012 school year as follows:
Stacy Halverson, Elementary Principal, at a pay freeze
Bob Graham, Secondary Principal, voluntary 2 percent reduction
Belinda Ready, Federal Programs Director, voluntary 4 percent reduction, 2 year contract
Karen Coyle, Co-Business Manager, pay freeze
Jolene Robinson, Co-Business Manager, pay freeze
Superintendent Semmler reported the school received an Impact Aid payment of $900,000, more than anticipated and the school has yet to receive the Heavy Impact Aid monies.
Bob Graham said they are working on attendance and had three students cited for attendance issues and taken to court. He said hopefully it will get better. He said they have had a problem of people giving cyber keys to kids and expressed a liability issue concern. Graham said he sent memos out and if need be, will take the keys from those not abiding by the memo.
Stacy Halverson reported they wrapped up Dakota Step testing and said they are doing some transitioning with Head Start students. She reported attendance is at 94.5 percent.
Belinda Ready reported she is working with the National Relief Charities with some incentives each month on attendance and other areas. There is an Easter egg hunt Thursday.
The summer food service program is approved with free breakfast and lunch to students 5-18 for the June 6-30 program, held Monday thru Thursday.
The school received a $5,000 Healthy Schools Project grant for the next two years.
The corrective action plan for Martin Grade School must be submitted by May 1.
There will be a Junior High audit May 2-3 regarding school improvement.
Discussion was held on school enrichment classes, with board member Todd Alexander saying he has had parents expressing concern over the fact the students are doing things like gluing popsicle sticks together. He said it was felt the kids need to be doing more learning things to prepare them for the next level.
Principal Graham said the school has been doing this for 15 years, but he had no problem changing things if that is what the board wanted.
At the Junior High level, the first five class periods are geared toward core classes and the final two are more for classes like band, shop, pyhs ed, art, technology, etc. They are considered enrichment classes. These two periods are also used to pull students out who are in need of help in their core classes.
A parent may decide they do not want their child pulled out.
Tiffany Petrak asked the board why a student who is doing well could be pulled out, questioning why a test like the Dakota Step Testing results would be used. She said she did not let her student be pulled out and he received an A in the class that the testing indicated he needed help in.
The next board meeting is set for May 9.