Drug Testing Policy Revised; HVAC Upgrade Discussion Continues
The board of trustees of the Council School District held their regular meeting on January 20. All board members were present with the exception of Bob Grossen. During this meeting the board elected to keep their current board chair, Steve Ryals, and chose to elect Lynn Mendenhall as vice-chair. The board also decided to move their regular monthly meetings to the second Wednesday of each month.
A significant discussion was held regarding a future levy during this meeting. This subject is covered in a separate article on the front page of this issue.
The district held the second reading of policy 3400 which spells out their drug testing policy for students participating in extra-curricular activities. The district will revert to random testing with this policy revision. They had previously decided to test all students at the beginning of the year and then move forward with random testing throughout the year. This random testing will be random in the percentage of students tested and random as to when the testing will take place.
The board then went onto review policy 5000, which governs hiring practices within the district. The approved revision to the policy states that every staff member will be drug tested when hired. This would include certified and non-certified staff.
Science teacher Valerie Armichardy requested board approval for three field trips for different grade levels. These were approved by the board.
The district’s Strategic Plan was developed by Joyce, staff and community members and was approved by the board at this meeting. This document is intended to be a ‘living document’ with regular formal review.
The board returned to the subject of replacing the school’s HVAC system using the $1.3M received from the state set aside for building repair and upkeep. District Maintenance Director Royce Bauer provided another quote for these services that totaled about $850,000. Previous quotes presented by Bauer were about $750,000. The HVAC system is 5-10 years older than it’s expected lifecycle and Bauer proposed replacing some of the components of the Biomass system each year, instead of doing it all once with a large expense. Bauer will bring more information for board members next month regarding this approach.
Discussion then moved back to what to do with the Google Chromebooks that are approaching end of life. They were purchased several years ago with one-time funds. There are about 200 units in the district and would cost about $40,000 to replace all at once. The board discussed replacing all of them, replacing some of them, but ultimately decided to push this decision to next year and will be looking into leasing options in the meantime.
