W-MU sets fees for the 2011-12 school year

By ASHLEE STALLINGA

Mt. Pleasant News

WINFIELD ? The Winfield-Mt. Union school board made a number of financial decisions in its meeting last night.

With board approval, the fees for lunches in elementary, as well as junior and senior high, went up by a nickel each. Elementary textbook fees were raised from $40 to $50; the fees for grades eight through 12 went up from $50 to $75. That cost is actually a $25 decrease overall, because the laptop expenses are figured into that fee, rather than being a separate, $50 charge.

Superintendent Pat Coen proposed that a $2,000 stipend he would have received for meeting his job objectives instead be split between Carmen Benson, business manager, and Barb Brown, superintendent?s secretary, for the extra work they do while Coen is busy or out of the office.

?They earn it,? Coen said, noting that even if he calls from WACO, they are willing to get things going for him in Winfield. The board approved the compensation.

Benson also received half of the approved $1,200 stipend for being a Perkins Fiscal Agent. This stipend was split between Benson and Dave Edwards, high school principal and activities director.

The board also decided to approve the transfer of $28,000 of interest earned on the debt service fund to the PPEL account. The transfer can be made because the school has retired its debt on the gym, built in the 1980s.

?It?s pretty common that schools move that money into PPEL,? Benson said.

The board will make another financial decision in its next meeting regarding the instructional support levy. The board has received the money from the levy for the past five years; it can renew the levy for another five years after a public hearing. The board notes that it does not intend to change anything, but simply renew it. The hearing is scheduled during the Aug. 10 board meeting, at 6:30 p.m.

In other board news, Amy Wedaking, elementary principal and curriculum director, reported that the elementary students are off the watch list for No Child Left Behind, which was greeted with cheers from the board. Unfortunately, the junior/senior high, which had not been on the watch list, was added to it.

?We already knew (that would happen), when we got our test scores back this winter,? Wedaking said, ?but it was disappointing nonetheless.?

Wedaking also informed the board that 29 kids have started summer school, with more expected next week, after the Henry County Fair.

Finally, she mentioned that with the closing of a local daycare, as well as the Owl?s Nest planning to close at the end of the month, she has been approached by day care providers that have no more room and have no idea where to send parents. They suggest that W-MU begins a before- and after-school program to accommodate those children who won?t have anywhere else to go.

Coen reported to the board on the progress of the athletic complex, stating that the scoreboard should be up next week. The discus ring, which had to be completely torn out and re-graded, is near completion. Work on the football practice field is well underway. Revisions are needed on the wiring in the press box, and completion of the concession stand is taking much longer than expected.

The first home football game will be Aug. 26, and Edwards is looking into having a field dedication at that time.

Resignations were accepted from Brianne Schuemann, cheerleading coach; Bobby Forseen, head wrestling coach; and Scott McCarty, head baseball coach.

McCarty was then hired as assistant girls? varsity basketball coach, along with Mark Begey as junior high girls? and boys? basketball coach; Jenna Dopler, first grade teacher; and Tracie Hartman, cook.

The school is still looking for two high school football coaches, a junior high girls? basketball assistant coach, and assistant volleyball coaches for both junior high and high school.

After the meeting, the board had a work session in which members discussed the Iowa Core Five Characteristics of Effective Instruction: teach for understanding, assessment of learning, rigorous and relevant curriculum, teach for learning differences, and student-centered classrooms.

Coen used some creativity to work through those characteristics. Sheets of paper with photos of the board members children were set out: five sheets, each with one Iowa Core characteristic written on it. The board members then walked around, writing down on the sheets of paper how they would know they were seeing each characteristic if they visited their children?s classrooms.

Coen will present their ideas to the teachers at the start of the school year.