The Camanche School District’s Board of Education met on Monday, April 19th. 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 school district will celebrate the Facilities Enhancement with a “Groundbreaking Ceremony” on Thursday, May 27th at 2:00 p.m. Further details about this celebration will be announced as they become available. Until then, please place May 27th on your calendar and plan to join us to celebrate the enhancement of our school facilities for our community’s children.
- The Board passed a Resolution directing the approval of the sale of General Obligation Bonds for $13,435,000. The sale was awarded to Northland Securities, Inc. from Minneapolis, Minnesota who offered a 1.848% interest rate.
- The school board approved the recommendation to have the last day of classes for students this year on Friday, June 4th. This will allow students to meet the state required 1080 hours of instruction requirement. Also, the teaching staff’s last day will be June 8th, which will allow them to meet their number of contract days.
- Superintendent Parker shared the good news revolving around the district’s Graduation Rate with the school board. The Camanche CSD’s 4-year Graduation Rate is 91.89% which places Camanche above the state average for a second consecutive year. Also, the Camanche CSD’s 5-year Graduation Rate is at 98.57% which is almost five percentage points about the state average. Mr. Parker acknowledged and thanked the school board for their support over the past several years in seeing that resources were allocated to students needing support and he also thanked the school district’s faculty and staff for supporting our at-risk students.
- Activities Director Meg Schebler updated the Board about the mascot transition process. There are committees of students, school staff, community members and alumni who are working towards recommending a new mascot. During this past month, over 200 people suggested new mascots and after limiting duplicate mascot suggestions the committee looked at approximately 77 suggestions. The committee has been narrowing the list down and a list of 7 possible mascots has been presented to the public in order to receive additional community input. We hope to have a new mascot in place by early summer.
- Business Director Aude recommended that the school board consider amending the budget due to the influx of money received from the bond referendum and pandemic-related federal funds. This will not impact the tax levy rate. The Board will look to take action upon this recommendation during their May meeting.
- The Board heard an update regarding how the district continues to deal with the COVID-19 Pandemic. School officials continue to monitor infection rates, which are currently low in the school district. We plan to continue following CDC-recommended procedures through the end of the school year. Decisions regarding procedures for the next school year will be made at a later date.
- The Board conducted the 1st Reading of multiple school policies that will be revised, added, or deleted effective the next school year. Most of these changes are minor in nature and reflect the changes in law made by the state legislature.
As is usually the case, the school board completed the meeting by approving administrative recommendations regarding personnel.