Camanche School Board

The Camanche School District’s Board of Education met on Monday, April 18th.  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:

  •  A representative from the district’s Architect, Bray Architecture was present to discuss preparing for Phase III of the Facilities Enhancement Project.  The work taking place during this phase will be renovating the old pool area into the new chorus room and the new wrestling area.  Work will also begin to build the new auxiliary gymnasium/wellness area and to expand and modernize the high school theater.  We still will need to be mindful of possible supply chain challenges that may impact this timeline.
  • The Board heard a report from Technology Coordinator Raab regarding a Cybersecurity Vulnerability Assessment that Camanche, along with several other school districts, participated in.  Mr. Raab indicated that with over 1000 technology devices throughout the district, the assessment identified 13 issues that needed to be addressed. This indicates that generally the District’s cybersecurity is good, but there are always improvements that can be made.
  • The Board approved entering into a 3-year lease to provide new classroom computers for our Career and Technical Education (CTE) classrooms.  These computers will be able to better manage new software programs that are now available for CTE courses.  The older computers currently in those rooms will be redistributed throughout the district to maximize their usefulness.  
  •  Superintendent Parker updated the Board that the COVID-19 infection rates in the district have been very low in recent weeks.  The Board agreed to remove this topic as a standing agenda item.  It can be placed back on the agenda if needed during future meetings.
  • Transportation Director Schnoor presented the Board with information about a transportation route management system that is of interest to the District.  The program’s name is BusRight and it provides route management, GPS monitoring, and parental information for our busses.  The Board would like to see a formal recommendation regarding acquiring this program presented at next month’s meeting.
  • Business Director Aude recommended that the Board conduct a public hearing to amend FY22’s budget amount.  This is due to the increase in expenses related to ESSER funding and capital projects.   The Board plans to take action on this during May’s regular meeting.
  • The Board voted to approve adding two courses to the high school’s English Language Arts curriculum.  The new courses will be Expressive Writing and Independent Reading.  These courses will add more options to go along with the basic English classes and college credit classes that are currently available.
  • The Board approved financial packages for the various employee groups.  In general, each group will receive approximately a 4% total package increase.
  •  The Board scheduled a learning workshop with the Iowa Association of School Boards on May 19th starting a 5:00 p.m.  This learning opportunity will be similar in nature to workshops school staff attend regarding various educational topics.  The Board expressed an interest to use this workshop to generally identify characteristics of effective school boards and to enhance teamwork with the administrative team. 
  •  The Board approved renewing its membership in the Iowa School Board Association.  This organization supports school districts in Iowa by providing various resources that support or inform districts about best practice or compliance with laws and regulations.

As is usually the case, the school board completed the meeting by approving administrative recommendations regarding personnel.