At its Dec. 10 meeting, the Durant school board approved hiring OPN Architects of Cedar Rapids to conduct a Durant Community School District facilities assessment at a cost of $22,300. Included in the price are assessment services, a roof analysis and asbestos analysis. Money for the assessment will come from the SAVE fund.
Joe Tursi of OPN was on hand to speak with the board and said he was excited to be able to work with the district. OPN was also the architect on the elementary addition that began in the late 1990s and finished in 2001.
Tursi will serve as the project manager. He said around 40 percent of OPN’s projects deal with K-12 buildings and 75 percent of the company’s clientele are repeat customers. He said OPN would “explore and analyze, keeping enrollment and finances in mind. We’re very interactive. You guys are the hub in small communities,” he said.
He also said that if the board and district chose to pursue another bond referendum, OPN could help. “We can help you craft messages. We like to involve user groups. We want everyone to feel like they’ve had a say,” said Tursi. “We’ll come up with a list of what needs addressed with infrastructure.”
When asked for a timeline, he said work would begin after the first of the year and take approximately 3-4 months after his team spends 2-3 days in the facilities. The timeline could be pushed to 2-3 months if needed depending on how soon the board would want to push another bond vote.
“Before we decide on where to go, we need to see what our needs are,” said Superintendent Joe Burnett. “That has to start at the board level.”
Tursi and his team will meet with the board sometime in January, likely at its end of the month work session.
Tim Rouse visits
Durant industrial arts teacher Tim Rouse visited the board and spoke about numerous projects his students have undertaken in the past year, most notably being named 2018 Builder of the Year thanks to the house build he and his students were a part of.
He said his students also helped put finishing touches on a multipurpose facility at West Branch schools and are also working on a project at the Herbert Hoover library site. “It’s great to see kids working with kids from other schools,” he said.
His students have also built a ramp for a local resident with disabilities that will be installed soon. He said he’d also like to explore putting a new roof on the press box at the Durant football field.
When asked how many girls take his classes, he said he has “at least a couple” in all his classes and in all, he has around 155-160 students.
Administrative reports
Durant High School Principal Joel Diederichs said he and Burnett recently met with administrators from West Branch and the chief of police there to look at the school’s SRO (School Resource Officer) position.
Diederichs has been researching having a SRO at Durant and said he liked West Branch’s model. He said 95 percent of school shooters come from within schools and a SRO would have a presence “in the halls and at events.”
Some key attributes of a SRO at Durant would include:
* Building relationships with the city and local police department.
* Educating students and create a positive environment.
* Help with issues within the district such as truancy.
* Help implement the school’s safety plans.
* The SRO would be in the school at all times during the school year and would spend summers working for the Durant Police Department.
Burnett noted the position would be shared between the city and school. From the school side, it would be funded through the at-risk fund. It would be a city position and he said the city was still looking into it with regard to interest and funding.
“We’d have to see if the city could work it into its budget and it wouldn’t start until July 1. That works best for both budgets. This is no cookie-cutter position. It’s about what the city and school wants,” said Burnett.
Elementary/Middle School Principal Rebecca Stineman gave board members a handout with regard to a recent Iowa Assessments report card where she said the elementary was declared at a “comprehensive” level, meaning low achievement or low growth rate. She said that while district data shows growth, it’s not at as exponential of a rate as what the state wants/expects. She said the district would get three years of support from the state to help the growth rate.
School permit denied 3-2
The board revisited a school permit request from a 15-year old female student who is on the Muscatine soccer team by way of a 28E sharing agreement and petitioned the board for a school permit in order to be able to attend open gym practices prior to the spring season.
She will turn 16 in February. The student lives just 0.3 miles from the school. In order to obtain a school permit, a student must live at least one mile from the school, otherwise the board would have to grant an exception should it feel the need to do so.
In her original request, she said due to her parents both having to leave work early in order to get her to and from Muscatine, “a school license would help me to be able to get to soccer without burdening my parents to have to leave work early.”
Board member Russ Paustian moved to approve the request. Board member Barb Reasner seconded it. When brought to a vote, the motion failed 3-2 with members Katy Oberlander, Julie Rivera and Phil Nietfeldt voting against it.
Miscellany
In other action, the board:
* Held a hearing on the 2019-2020 school calendar and later approved the calendar with a scheduled start date of Aug. 23 and final day of school on May 27, 2020.
* Approved the monthly list of bills and financial reports.
* Approved the resignation of Rich Harmsen, fresh-soph baseball coach.
* Approved the termination of George Hopkins, custodian.
* Approved the second readings of board policies 602.1; 604.7 and 604.10.
* Approved review of board policies 704.3; 710.2; and 710.5.
* Approved non-resident students receiving contracted special education services at Durant for seven students from Bennett and two from Wilton.
* Approved district early retirement incentives which can be offered to staff at least 55 years old and with at least 15 years of service to the district. Member Paustian abstained from voting.
* Approved a 3-year whole grade sharing agreement with the Bennett School District at the same 75/25 funding ratio currently in place.
* Approved the exploration of a summer European trip in 2020 for students which would include three days each in London, Paris and Rome. High school chemistry/physics teacher Robert Brown would serve as chaperone and the trip would only happen if enough students commit to make it financially feasible.
* Approved the hiring of Kevin Kaalberg as head softball coach at a salary of $4,141.92. According to an email from Durant Activities Director Matt Straube, “Kevin Kaalberg is from Iowa City, he has been coaching softball at various levels for 14 years. His most recent varsity coaching experience was coaching at West Branch form 2014-2017. He has also coached at the USSSA level.”
* Approved the hiring of Andrea Street, high school associate, at a pro-rated salary of $7,494.20.
Board members Nietfeldt, Reasner, Rivera, Paustian and Oberlander were all present. All action taken was unanimous unless otherwise noted. The next regular meeting will be Jan. 14 at 6 p.m.