By Lori EhdeThe Hills-Beaver Creek School District has only a few positions left to fill for the 2004-05 year.Supt. Dave Deragisch updated board members at their Monday meeting.A contract for the half-time art teacher is pending and Deragisch interviewed a candidate for high school band director Tuesday.The district still needs to fill an 80 percent special education position and Heather Erickson resigned, so the part-time positions of paraprofessional and ECFE parent educator will also need to be filled.Erickson will remain Kid Care coordinator for the district’s after-school program.Book of the WeekThe board also approved summer contracts for the Book of the Week Club.Sara Oldre, club coordinator was approved at $600. Teri Richards, Diane Vanden Hoek, Mary Mudder and Laura Louwagie were all approved at $500.The summer reading program, in its third year, is funded through Rock County Collaborative dollars and family tuitions."Our goal has never been to make money on the program," Deragisch said. "Our goal is to break even."He said students get to keep the books and materials and that the program has proven to be successful."It’s a daytime program, and it’s hard for some parents to get there," Deragisch said. "But what I like about it is lots of times you see Grandpa or Grandma sitting there reading with the kids. It’s just excellent bonding time for them, too."Marching bandDeragisch reported on the H-BC marching band’s appearance in the Hills Friendship Day Parade."I got goose bumps," he said. "They looked great, they sounded great. I have to give Mr. Steinert a lot of credit and the kids a lot of credit. … They’ve made remarkable progress."Exchange State Bank donated the matching t-shirts for the 70-some band members.SBA donationsDeragisch reported that the Small Business Association in Sioux Falls moved to a new office and donated office equipment to the H-BC district.Michele Arends, Hills, made Deragisch aware of the opportunity, and he and Steve Wiertzema filled an enclosed trailer with supplies.The list includes fourteen executive office chairs, seven conference room chairs, seven stackable chairs, six five-drawer vertical file cabinets, three four-drawer horizontal file cabinets, a round table, a fireproof 625-pound safe, a storage cabinet with glass fronts, an 18-cubic foot refrigerator/freezer, an electric water cooler, a wooden cabinet with dry-erase board and cork boards and a typewriter stand.In other businessoThe H-BC board approved a new pairing agreement with Luverne for wrestling and baseball.The action was prompted by Ellsworth’s recent decision to end its pairing agreement in those sports with Luverne and H-BC.oThe next H-BC School Board meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. June 24, which is a Thursday. Agenda items for that meeting will include new teacher contracts (likely for band and art) and testing results.
