School Board Summary - 8/19/2019

The Camanche School District’s Board of Education held their regular monthly meeting on Monday, August 19thPlease note that these are not the official minutes.  The official Agendas and Minutes from the Camanche Community School District school board are available and posted on our school district website (camanche.k12.ia.us).  

Items to highlight from this school board meeting would include:  

  • Superintendent Parker reviewed the time line for the upcoming school board election.  Nomination papers can be picked up starting August 26th and must be turned in by September 19th.  The election will be on November 5th.  Anyone with an interest or having questions about this process is encouraged to contact the Administration Center.
  • The school board approved renewing the Concurrent Enrollment Contract with the Eastern Iowa Community College District.  This agreement allows our students to receive college credit for up to 16 classes taught at Camanche High School.  Concurrent Enrollment, along with having access to other college courses, led to 116 Camanche students receiving college credit as a part of their academic work this past school year.  Several of these classes are taught by Camanche teachers who have the academic credentials to teach college level courses.  Much of this is possible because approximately 1 out of every 3 teachers throughout the Camanche School District (grades PreK – 12) have obtained a Master of Arts Degree or a higher educational degree.  
  • The school board approved accepting the terms of a grant for $25,000 to be used toward the purchase of a new school bus.  This funding comes from the Volkswagen Settlement Project.
  • The school board approved entering into an agreement with the Iowa Local Government Risk Pool Commission to participate in the Natural Gas Program.  Currently, the high school is the main user of natural gas, since the elementary school and the middle school use geothermal heating and cooling.  This agreement locks in the price of the natural gas for the upcoming school year, so an increase in price will not have a negative impact upon this year’s school budget.  Also, this agreement allows the cost to be covered by the Management Fund instead of the General Fund.  This is important as this frees up more funds that can be used to support the actual instruction of our students.
  • An important safety protocol for student athletes who have concussions was adopted by the school board.  This sets safety procedures describing what safety steps are to be taken with students who are suspected of having a concussion or who actually have a concussion.  The school board appreciates the extra layer of safety covering our student athletes by the athletic trainers provided by Rock Valley Physical Therapy through the agreement the school district has with them.
  • The school board approved the purchase of three preowned vans.   Two will be used to transport students and one will replace the old van used by the cooks to transport food to the elementary school.  Buying these quality, preowned vehicles allows the district to provide safe, efficient transportation to our students at a reasonable price. 

As is usually the case, the school board completed the meeting by approving administrative recommendations regarding personnel and also approving open enrollment requests into the Camanche School District.