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With its roof almost all in place, the bus barn should be done by Sept. 17.
Corey estate will help future MHS graduates
Aug. 18, 2010
The late Mildred Corey provided a positive impact to the cause of scholarship in ways beyond what she may have dreamed of.
Montezuma School Board members learned during their Aug. 18 meeting that a bequest of $15,000 left to the schools by the Corey estate will be turned over to the Montezuma Dollars for Scholars chapter.
Montezuma Dollars for Scholars awards scholarship money to every graduating Montezuma senior who applies for an award and turns in a grade transcript from his or her first semester of college. This is done through interest earned on an always-growing endowment fund.
Thus, the Corey estate's bequest has a chance to benefit every student who graduates from Montezuma and wants to further his or her education, from now on.
Dollars for Scholars chapter president Keith Brake thanked Montezuma Superintedent Dave Versteeg and the board. He said later that the gift will raise the endowment fund's total to close to $150,000.
Versteeg said he is "leaning toward" handling similar bequests in the future in the same manner.
In other business, seven new faculty members were introduced to the board and welcomed to the district. School in Montezuma begins Aug. 25.
Junior/senior high school principal Brian Moretz said something new will be tried during the junior/senior high open house on Monday, Aug. 23. "All seventh- and ninth-grade students and new students will follow their schedule, around the building, during the open house," he said. "I think it will help them when school starts." That open house will run from 5:45 to 7 p.m.
Preschool/elementary principal Darin Jones said walk-in registration held earlier this month "was a huge success. What families we were not able to register we should be able to handle during open house," said Jones. The elementary open house will be Tuesday, Aug. 23, from 6 to 7 p.m.
Jones said participants in summer school "got a lot of one-on-one attention." He said 60 students were invited to participate and about 30 attended. He also noted that there will be 16 students new to the district in the elementary school when classes begin.
Versteeg said there have been no complaints voiced about the $65 tuition fee being charge for preschool. "The committee decided on that because the grant we received did not fully fund the preschools," he said.
Montezuma received a grant of $52,947 from the Iowa Dept. of Education for preschool. The district will be entering its fifth year of serving four-year-olds. The money will go toward supplies, teacher salaries and to fund needs in the program. But, it won't cover all of Montezuma's needs, thus the need for tuition.
"Think about it - preschool is cheaper than hiring a babysitter," Versteeg said.
Versteeg reported that Sept. 17 has been set as the date for completion of the new bus barn and that work is on schedule. He said the roof should be finished by the end of the week. In a related matter, the board approved payment of bills by Septagon Construction, which is managing the work, in the amount of $37,355.97 for July and part of August.
In other action, the board approved a request from the Elementary Playground Committee to borrow funds on a timely basis from the district's PPEL fund, then reimburse the fund as money becomes available. Total cost of refurbishing the playground has been estimated at $40,500, and the committee has already raised $30,000, Jones said. Thus, the amount that may have to be borrowed would be about $10,000.
Board president Pete Ross asked board members if they as a board would like to contribute to the project. There was affirmative consensus, but Versteeg urged that the board wait. "There will be chances for you to do this," he said.
Jones thanked the work of committee members Julie Kline, Melanie Moretz and Marie Boulton. He said fund-raisers for the project such, as a distance walk/run and a dunk tank, have been very successful.
The board also:
- accepted the resignation of Deb Wagner as a custodian in the elementary school.
- Re-appointed the firm of Ahlers & Cooney, P.C., as legal counsel for 2010-11.
- Re-appointed the Poweshiek County CR as the district's official newspaper.
- Approved the first reading of Policy 802.4, which has been modified to include intangible assets. The new policy will replace the fixed assets management system policy the board has been using. Business manager Don Longhurst said an exemple of an intangible asset would be in-house development of computer software. "We don't have any intangible assets now, but we'll have it written into our policy," he said.
- Approved the first reading of the Series 100 policies. Versteeg told the board he plans to put revisions to the board's policies on the agenda each month and be done in 10 months. He also noted that the policies are posted online on the district's web site and are being viewed.
- Approved Versteeg's request to re-hire the position of part-time associate for secondary study halls. "It's about a four hours per day job," he said. "We're wanting to re-hire the position now. We don't have a name."
- Heard Longhurst report that the district's audit has been completed and that good remarks were received.
Versteeg said he will present the district's goals for 2010-11 next month and that they are the same four as in the past year. "We're a work in progress," he said.
The superintendent also noted that he will help in taping a show for Local Channel 3 which will re-enact a school facilities tour offered to the public earlier this summer.
Versteeg praised work done by the summer staff. Named were Randy Shifflett, Don Vos, Deb Wagner, Brian Kiefer, Tom Behounek, Emily Cashman, Debbie Iverson, Mary Steele, Matt Vavroch, Martha Vos and Rick Sumpter.
The board tabled action on a proposal to replace all or part of the sidewalk in front of the school along Fourth Street. The district received a bid to replace all 855 feet, from Irwin Street to the north school driveway, for $15,390, or $9,720 to do 540 feet from Irwin Street to the football field crosswalk. Up to $1,320 on either choice could have been reimbursed by the City of Montezuma's sidewalk repair program.
Versteeg's recommendation was to wait and include this project and others as part of a larger construction package, should the school bond election pass on Sept. 14. "We could get more bids, too," he said. "But we might get a lower price if this were part of an overall larger concrete project."
Some in the community have voiced concern about tripping over weeds growing in cracks in the old, partially broken sidewalks, particularly at night after football games.
That sidewalk will have to wait - for at least a year.
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