By Jolene Farley
At Monday night's meeting, the Hills-Beaver Creek School Board unanimously ratified the superintendent's contract with Dave Deragisch.
"We have to be kind of proud how the superintendent search went," said board member Alan Harnack. "I think we made a good choice."
The two-and-one-half-year contract allows 20 vacation days, 15 sick days and paid health and dental insurance with 220 work days per year. The contract is effective Jan. 1 and expires June 30, 2004.
Bus replacement
Interim Superintendent Darold Williams advised the board they needed to plan the purchase of one or more new buses, either this year or in the next few years.
Williams provided statistics about the model year, make, mileage and repair bills on each bus in the fleet to the board.
Many buses have high mileage or cost the district an excessive amount in repair bills, Williams said.
The board instructed Williams to begin shopping for a bus to purchase.
"If we are having this much trouble going into winter it's going to continue," said board member Gary Esselink.
Class size concern
Elementary district administrator Jil Vaughn asked the board to consider hiring additional help at the elementary school.
Vaughn recently observed some of the elementary classrooms with higher student numbers and said a lot of teacher time is spent redirecting students.
Board member Ann Boeve said a parent approached her with concerns about class sizes.
The teachers need help during reading, math, language and writing classes in the different grade levels, according to Vaughn.
"In my opinion, that's an administrative call. I'm not there every day," said Board Chair Roland Crawford.
"We need to be good stewards of the fund balance, but we don't want to slip backwards," Williams said.
In other board business:
The board agreed to hire an extracurricular event supervisor at $25 per event.
The event supervisor would prepare money for ticket takers, distribute money for officials and monitor halls.
Ann Boeve was appointed acting School Board clerk, taking over duties for Dave Roozenboom while he is hospitalized and during his recovery.
The board canceled meetings scheduled for Monday, Oct. 22, and Monday, Nov. 12. The board will meet on Tuesday, Nov. 6, at 8 p.m. to canvass the School Board election.