The Camanche School District’s Board of Education held their regular monthly meeting on Monday, July 20th. Please 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:
- The Board received a petition containing over 250 signatures requesting that an election be held to provide funding for school facility safety and enhancement. The Board passed a Resolution setting a September 8, 2020 election date to present this proposal to the voters. The Board established that the levy will not exceed the amount of $2.70 per $1000 valuation. Based on current land valuation in the school district, the adjusted amount of funding that this levy is projected to raise would be approximately $13.4 million. The school district website contains information regarding the impact this would have on property owners in the district. For example, the owner of a house with the taxable valuation of $100,000 would see a property tax increase of $11.30 per month.
- Superintendent Parker and the Board discussed the district’s Return to Learn (RTL) Plan. The first option would revolve around students returning to school for in-person instruction with the schools open; the second option would be delivering instruction to students on-line in a fashion similar to this past spring, but student participation would be required for all grades; and the third option would be a hybrid system which would use a combination of on-line instruction with in-person instruction, most likely using a rotation of students to limit the number of people physically in our buildings at any one time. The safety and health of our students, staff, and visitors, while providing a quality education, will be priorities when deciding which option would be used when the 2020-21 school year begins as scheduled on August 24th. The Board set a special meeting for Monday, September 27th at 5:30 p.m. to continue their discussion about the RTL Plan.
- The Board approved installing the Raptor software in each of the school buildings. This software scans each building visitor’s identification to be sure that they are not on the Sexual Offenders List. The intent of using this software is to provide another level of security and safety for our students and staff.
- The Board approved the repair and resurfacing of the tennis courts. This will take place this fall so the winter will not have more of a negative effect on the courts and cause the need for more costly repairs in the future.
- The Board’s Ad Hoc Goals Committee brought forward the goals they presented at last month’s meeting for formal Board approval. The Board approved these goals.
- The Board heard the second reading of several new, revised, or reviewed school board policies. Most of these changed policies are revisions that comply with new or updated laws. After the second reading of these policies, the Board took action adopting them.
- The Board approved the bid from SHI to enter into a three-year lease for technology devices. This includes the option of purchasing the devices at the end of the lease if we wish to do so. This lease is a cost-effective way to fund our 1:1 Initiative that allows Camanche students in grades 5-12 to have a technology device assigned to them for their use during the school year. This lease also allows us to provide classroom sets of technology devices for our elementary school students.
- Superintendent Parker presented his Annual Report summarizing the 2019-2020 school year. Members of this public who would like a copy of this report can contact the Administration Center to receive one.
- The Board granted approval for the Camanche Days Committee to use school grounds for their fireworks display.
- The Board set their Legislative Priorities and Resolutions for submission to the Iowa Association of School Boards. These priorities centered around adequate, equitable, and on-time state funding for school districts and on supporting student mental health.
As is usually the case, the school board completed the meeting by approving administrative recommendations regarding personnel.