Staff Drug Testing Discussion
The Council School Board met for their regular meeting on August 20th. Trustees Bob Grossen, Julie Pate, Steve Ryals and Earl Henderson were present. Shawn Stanford was not present.
There is a time reserved for public comment at the beginning of each meeting. No members of the public chose to speak and did not sign up for a slot.
After the consent agenda and regular business items were passed, Superintendent Pat Griffin gave his Administrative report. The most visible change this year is the new plan for drop-off and pick-up of elementary students. The plan was published in last week’s issue and should be on the District’s website and Facebook page. Call the elementary if you have questions about this.
The new elementary greenhouse is being constructed on the southeast corner of the building near Michigan Ave.
Enrollment is down slightly at the high school compared to last year, but last year’s total was not given in the meeting to compare. This year the high school is at 68 students for grades 9-12 and grades 7-8 has 55 students.
High School Principal Brian Joyce reported that all student athletes were drug tested at the beginning of this school year. There was a 95% pass rate
Royce Bauer reported that he’s working on, among other things, signs for the elementary parking lot to direct parents where to drop off and pick up their children. He also recently earned his CDL with bus endorsement so he can drive for the district occasionally. It was approved that if he drives a bus route, one route would be considered ‘included’ in his salary. He would be compensated accordingly for any additional routes he drives.
Mindy Ivey, the district business manager reported that their will be an audit next month.
The topic of drug testing staff was again brought up and discussed. Earl Henderson stated his position several times that ‘there has to be something in place’. Steve Ryals reported that he spoke with a lawyer with ISBA (Idaho School Board Association) who advised against drug testing staff and that they would be the only district in the state to do this if they proceed.
Mr. Griffin offered that staff are fingerprinted and undergo a background check. He’s also worried about alienating staff and affecting recruitment, though he did agree that people need to be held accountable when working with children. He stated that he thinks it’s a delicate balance.
Henderson offered a motion to adopt random drug testing of all staff, after which more discussion took place. He eventually withdrew this motion and made another motion to table this for now and to survey staff to see their opinions on the matter.
The fuel contract for the year was awarded to Shell/Jacksons.
The tractor purchase hit a snag with John Deere. The district was originally told that they would qualify for 0% interest. This is not the case according to new communication from John Deere. A motion to accept the proposed lease with the new terms failed. A second motion to table decision on the lease so they could negotiate price and conditions again, passed.
Addie Edmunson asked the board to consider allowing her to bring Poe a therapy dog into the classroom with her. The board was generally favorable to this idea but wanted to make sure that the district would not be on the hook for insurance or damages should an incident happen. This was tabled so more information could be gathered about the insurance requirements.
The contract with the offsite guidance counselor was modified to be month to month.
23 August Special Board meeting
Revisiting the terms of the tractor purchase/lease was the primary reason for this meeting.
Trustees Steve Ryals and Earl Henderson met with Royce Bauer and the salesman they had been working with to purchase the tractor and expressed their concerns regarding the late changes in the terms of their agreement. The issue being that the district was originally told that they were eligible for discounts and a 0% interest rate. However, the dealership could not do both.
The salesman lowered the cost of the tractor $545 as he felt bad for the mistake and miscommunication.
After discussion the board made a motion to purchase the tractor outright and not lease it. They would use funds from the district savings and the remainder from forest funds, with the understanding that the district would replace the spent forest funds over the next 2 years.
After a brief executive session it was approved to hire Justin Haymaker as an assistant football coach and Laura Crabtree as a route bus driver.
