School board accepts six teacher resignations

The Fairfield school board set a closed meeting for 7 p.m. June 14 to give superintendent Art Sathoff his annual evaluation.

Monday, Sathoff presented handouts to each board member from the Iowa School Board Association and the state?s association of school superintendents that provide guidelines and descriptions of superintendent evaluations.

?You will follow the same six standards to evaluate me that I use to evaluate the other administrators in the district,? he said. ?I will gather supporting documents that address the six standards.?

Sathoff already invited all certified and non-certified district staff to take an anonymous survey/evaluation about him, and he will share that input and results with the school board members. Of the 130 teachers and 120 support staff, or 250 total, 170 responded.

Auxiliary services director Fred McElwee told the board quotes to resurface the Fairfield Middle School tennis courts came in at $33,700 from Tennis Services of Iowa and $45,985 from Illowa Company. Work would be completed after July 1, and the expense will be divided equally between the school district and the city. The board approved the lower bid for $33,700.

Part of the 10-year facility plan includes updating the obsolete, 1980s, software controls for Fairfield High School heating system. McElwee said rather than purchasing new controls for FHS, he recommends taking the 3- to 4-years-old Johnson Controls from the middle school and re-purposing them to use at the high school.

?We?ll not be using Johnson Controls after this summer?s project installing geothermal heating and cooling,? he said. ?We?d also do some upgrading of the current high school system.?

The cost to upgrade and repurpose the FMS Johnson Controls to use at FHS is $22,522. McElwee said to purchase new controls for FHS would cost $10,000 more. The board agreed to his recommendation.

He asked board members also to think about two air-handling roof units now at the middle school that will be removed.

?These are York brand, 4 to 5 years old, with a life expectancy of 20 years,? he said. ?They are efficient. Are these something we want to re-purpose??

McElwee suggested the units could be used for zone heating at the high school.

?First we need to have an engineer determine if the roof will support the units and if their size works for the intended space,? he said. ?For example, when we use the auditorium at night, with steam heat we need to turn it on a couple hours in advance and it heats the whole building. These units could be used to only heat a portion of the building without turning on the steam.?

Board member Bob Waugh said he?d like to know the cost first of finding out about the roof support and size efficiency before making a decision. McElwee will bring the information back to the board.

The new baseball press box is framed and workers would be adding the metal sides today and most of the shell would be up by Friday. Two new Daktronics digital scoreboards with remote control from the press box were purchased ? one for the baseball field, one for the softball field. McElwee said it saves money to purchase and install them at the same time.

Before the board approved the cost of $13,023 for the two scoreboards, paid with Physical Plant and Equipment Levy funds, and installation costs of $4,482, paid with athletic fund money, board member Amy Miller asked for clarification.

?PPEL funds are those used for infrastructure and buildings, right?? she asked. ?I?m not opposed to this purchase, but is there anything else more pressing that needs to be fixed??

McElwee said nothing from the 10-year facility plan was bumped down to lower priority.

?This is an opportune time to do this,? he said.

?And it?s saving general fund money because it?s being paid for out of PPEL,? said business manager Kim Sheets.

McElwee had asbestos abatement news: before tearing down the restrooms at Trojan Stadium, it needed an asbestos inspection. No asbestos was found. Teardown will begin June 4, the day after graduation in the stadium.

A summer project to replace/install carpet in the kindergarten room at Libertyville Elementary School and a special education room at Washington Elementary School will require asbestos abatement.

?I know the old tiles there were put down with asbestos,? said McElwee.

Two older buses will be sold at auction as part of the 2012-13 bus purchase plan presented to the board in November.

The board agreed for the district to hold an auction of surplus, obsolete and non-working items.

?A lot of things are stored at Lincoln, and we are re-purposing Lincoln,? said McElwee. ?Staff are tagging items and administrators will determine what goes to auction. Examples of some of the items include old desks and chairs, obsolete electronic equipment, old TVs and obsolete furniture.?

A date has not been set for the auction.

Working with the board finance committee throughout the school year, Sathoff presented a final list of expenditure reductions and savings Monday for fiscal year 2013, showing a total of $566,891 in cuts toward the committee?s goal of $600,000 in reductions. Committee members, board president Jennifer Anderson, Jeremy Miller and Jerry Nelson, said they were satisfied with the amount.

In other business, the board:

? Approved an increase in school fees for 2012-13; 10 percent increase in book rentals; 10-cent increase on meals; and a new $10 annual physical education towel fee for students in grades 6-12.

? Approved Michiel Heckler and Brandon Haines for 2011-12 school year as volunteer coaches in soccer and baseball, respectively.

? Approved hiring Trevor Smith, industrial technology high school teacher for 2012-13 at $33,911 (B.A. step 1) and $1,000 from market factor pay as a one-time payment for this shortage hire area. Sathoff said he?d receive Project Lead the Way training this summer.

? Approved hiring Nathon Watson (FHS alternative school teacher) as the FHS summer school instructor, at $21.50 per hour. Summer school will be 8 a.m. to noon, June 4-29.

? Accepted the resignation of Chris Lee, FHS industrial technology teacher and weight room supervisor.

? Accepted the resignation of Kelly Schloss, principal at Washington and Libertyville elementary schools. Board member Jeri Kunkle thanked Schloss for her experience and said she will be missed in the district.

? Accepted the resignations of teachers at Pence Elementary School ? Laura Kaska, first grade, and Laura Shepherd and Lindsey Steen, both special education; Steen also has been assistant coach for FMS girls basketball.

? Accepted the resignation of Brianna Thornton, second grade teacher at Washington Elementary School.

? Accepted the resignation of Kathleen Miner, special education teacher at Libertyville Elementary School.

? Approved a non-renewal of 2012-13 contract for a FHS associate.