Yaak_School_mtg_minutes 7-26-2021

MINUTES

The regular meeting of the Yaak School Board of Trustees was called to order by Chairperson, Pam Fuqua, at 1:00 p.m. on Monday July 26, 2021, at the Yaak School. Pam opened the meeting, welcomed visitors and stated that the meeting was being recorded. Pam asked Taralee McFadden our new County Superintendent, to introduce herself.

 

Trustees Present:      Pam Fuqua, Trish Lauer and Sandy Beder-Miller

Others Present:        Diane Downey, District Clerk, Sabre Alderete, Head Teacher, Taralee McFadden, County Superintendent, Bill Sullivan, Angelo Alderete, Kathy Huber, and Craig Johnson.

 

Minutes:

The minutes from the June 23, 2021, board meeting were reviewed. Pam moved that the June minutes be accepted as presented, Trish seconded, and Sandy concurred.

Maintenance Committee:

• Craig gave his Playground Inspection report. The deterioration of wood on the playset is being addressed, sand under the slide portion has been removed and sealant will be applied. He was unable to assess the fences due to the construction project.
• Both the riding mower and push mower had been taken to the repair shop and are fixed and back on site. Diane has reached out to the new local propane company CHS and requested a quote for switching service to them and a contract for propane pricing. Craig was under the impression she had also asked for a quote to purchase a tank. She said no that she had not, Craig will look into the cost of purchasing our own tank. Trustees gave their thoughts on the idea.
• August 17^th Craig has scheduled to meet with a local company to do an estimate for the proposed new heating, cooling, air quality system we are hoping to install with our ESSER II Funds. He will be checking in Bonners for other companies. We also received a bid for new windows, and it is being reviewed. Diane asked that Craig look into treating the new ant hill at the base of the tree by the porta-potty.
• Pam mentioned the Lead Testing plan that Trish had been working on. Trish said she will continue to get that plan ready for approval before the September deadline.

Technology Committee:

• The funding commitment decision letter from USAC was received for the Point-to-Point Microwave project. The 10% State Funds are still in play so the project will be 100% funded. EL Internet NW is looking into the other two locations the USFS has offered for the tower as the original location was not approved.

At this time Sabre’ and Angelo called into the meeting.

• The order placed with All Systems Go for 10 laptops has been placed and the school made a down payment for half the cost. We do not have a delivery date. Craig stated that he had spoken with Greg and laptops are sitting on the dock in China waiting shipment so it would be approximately a month before he would have them at the shop to load the requested programs. Craig asked Sabre’ if the Chrome Browser was something she would need loaded as Greg had recommended not using the Chrome browser. Sabre’ stated that Chrome was not needed.
• Diane has completed our Emergency Connectivity Program application through E-Rate. Originally, we have planned to use those funds for the laptops but as they are approximately $4,000.00 dollars more than what E-Rate will pay for and we cannot use any other Federal Funds to cover the additional cost, we have applied for funding to pay for the internet service at the student’s home with those funds starting July 1^st.
• The teacher computer is back from the shop, Craig has connected it to the network, and it is ready to use. He asked that Sabre’ log into it the next time she is at the school and let him know if there are any issues.
• Diane mentioned the teacher’s printer is not recognizing the non-Brother toner cartridges that are in it and will not print. This has been an issue in the past and she suggested that we purchase Brother cartridges to elevate the issue. She will order them so Craig can get it operational prior to the start of the school year.

 

 

Fundraising Committee:

• Pam gave a brief update on the Auction planned for the Labor Day weekend. Diane asked if the school could auction off a very old beer can that was found under the teacherage while they were excavating for the foundation. Trish offered to do some research on the can and write up a blurb about its history and the board approved it to be an auction item. Also, Pam mentioned that a horseshoe off a horse that was used to build the original schoolhouse had been unearthed and she plans to have it mounted so it can be hung in the school. Bill Sullivan asked if the school wanted to work with the Fire Department for the PR for the auction as they are on the same weekend. Pam said that would be great and asked Sandy to work with Sharon Sullivan on the PR for the event. Angelo had a couple of things that needed to be addressed. Coordinating a place for Medi-Vac if it were needed, can we use gun club bathroom or do we need a Porta-Potty and are tables available. Signage was discussed.

Old Business:

• Pam gave an update on the foundation project. As the project goes forward, they are finding major rot and other issues that are being addressed. These issues will add to the project timeline but at this time we do not have a new completion date. Craig mentioned that he will be speaking with Glen regarding the damage to the ramps the school purchased to protect the cables running across to the trailer. Six (6) of the nine (9) were damaged beyond repair and Contractor will need to replace them. Trish stated that although vermiculite was found there has not been proven that there is asbestos present.

Pam asked Sabre’ to update the protocol for the start of the school year so the board can make the needed changes to the 1900 policies that need to be made to match her procedure at the August meeting. Sandy Miller also asked that protocol be changed regarding public access to the school as Lincoln County has updated allowing the public unmasked access to Federal, State and County buildings. Sabre’ was okay with that but by appointment only. She also has the option for anyone to zoom into the classroom if they would like.

New Business:

• The resolution for Final Budget meeting was read by Pam, approved by the Board, and signed. Final Budget Meeting will be held on August the 18^th. Legal ad will be posted in the Western News on August 10^th.
• Trish moved the 21-22 General Fund Reserves be set at $10,000.00, Sandy seconded, and Pam concurred.
• Trish and Sabre’ visited about the ESSER III template and discovered that the questions are quite like our Continuous School Improvement Plan we do annually. Trish stressed that it will be important to have all stakeholders involved for goal setting and she and Sabre’ are working on it. This will be a living document. Diane let Trish know that we only must report in TEAMS on the ESSER ARP plan what we are doing with the ESSER III funds not ESSER II funds. We will have to get approval from Jeff at OPI for projects we are planning to spend ESSER II funds on but that does not go on the plan we are required to submit in TEAMS. Taralee suggested that public input for our ESSER Plan must be outside the regular board meeting.

Clerk’s Report, Financials & Expenditures:

• TFS has been started.
• Kris from MTSBA has sent us the new policies provided through the MTSBA Policy program we enrolled in. Diane thinks the best approach is to weed out any policies you feel do not relate to us. If we split up the section between the board and Diane and get our list of those we know we do not need, then we can move forward with looking at the ones we do want to implement. Sandy will do 1000 and 2000, Trish 3000 and 4000, Pam 5000 and Diane will do 6000 through 8000. The goal is to have the weeding recommendation done by the September meeting.
• Diane let the board know that she has planned to be gone the week of August 23rd through the 27th as she will have family visiting.
• Financials balanced with the Treasures Office for the month of June were reviewed. Sandy moved the balanced Financials be approved as presented, Trish seconded, and Pam concurred.
• August to date expenditures were reviewed and approved.

 

 

Public Comment:

Kathy Huber asked for the numbers of students that we are anticipating for the start of the school year. Pam stated that at this time we have five (5) students registered. Sabre’ confirmed the student count. Diane asked Sabre’ if due to Foundation Project delays that would cause school to get a later start than August 16^th would she be able to add school days to her calendar to meet the 1080-hour requirement. She stated that she has been looking at that possibility and has a plan she will review with the board. Sabre’ asked if Diane had received any correspondence or guidance for reopening from the State in regard to Covid. No, she had not. Trish stated that from what she had read it was being left up to the board of each school to decide what was best for their school.

 

Next Regular Meeting: September 15 @ 4:10 p.m. Meeting was adjourned at 2:13 p.m.

 

 

Respectfully submitted by:

_______________________________ Diane Downey, District Clerk

 

________________________________ Pam Fuqua, Chair

 

________________________________ Trish Lauer, Vice Chair

 

________________________________ Sandy Beder-Miller, Board Trustee