District inches closer to approving Mapleleaf project

BY KARYN SPORY

Mt. Pleasant News

Before the Mt. Pleasant Community School District and the City of Mt. Pleasant can approve an agreement to co-fund the paving of Mapleleaf Athletic Complex, there was a small legal matter to get out of the way.

During the school board?s regular monthly meeting Monday night, board members approved a potential conflict wavier with Ahlers Law Firm and the City of Mt. Pleasant.

Ahlers Law Firm is the district?s legal representation, however, Superintendent John Henriksen said the firm has done some work for the city in the past and may continue to do so in the future. ?Ahlers is our attorney group and they are reviewing the 28E, which is the agreement between the city and the district. They reviewed this and didn?t feel it was an issue for them to do it, but they need both parties to approve this conflict waiver,? said Henriksen.

Once the school board approved the potential conflict waiver, Henriksen said he hopes to have the agreement before the board members next month.

The Mapleleaf paving project was brought to the school board by the city, which is receiving half a million dollars for water quality improvement projects. The $500,000 will go towards the paving of the parking lot at Mapleleaf Athletic Complex with a permeable concrete that will allow water to flow over the complex and into a subsystem. This system helps remove contaminants from the water before it enters the city?s storm sewer system.

The city has requested the district pay for half of the remaining paving costs - $250,000.

During the meeting, the board approved the second reading of an open night policy, which would not allow school sanctioned activities to be scheduled after 6:30 p.m. Wednesday nights.

The board also approved the second reading of four other policies ? 104 Equal Education Opportunity, 104.E1 Annual Notice of Nondiscrimination, 104.E2 Continuous Notice of Nondiscrimination and 104.E3 Notice of Section 504 Student and Parental Right.

The last item of approval was an overnight trip to Des Moines for the high school?s culinary arts students. The students will be competing in the Prostart Culinary Arts Competition on Feb. 28, 2017. This is the first year students will be competing in the event.

In other business, the board:

? Approved the hiring of Ariana Garcia-Vega, as a special education para at the Middle School and Raul Becerril as a one-on-one para at Harlan Elementary.

? Approved the resignation of Deanna McCall and Madeline Starling as one-on-one paras at Lincoln Elementary and preschool teacher Katie Stoops.

? Discussed hiring a long-term sub to fill the preschool teacher vacancy.

The next regular meeting of the Mt. Pleasant School Board will be held on Monday, Jan. 9, 2017, at 6 p.m., in the High School media center.