School board changes food service software provider, talks Frontier expansion

At the May 14 school board meeting, business manager Chris Esping presented information about a new food service software from DDN Campus called Infinite Campus.

Estimated first-year costs for the new software was $12,968.20 with ongoing costs of $4,255.20. Esping noted that the first-year costs could be about half of that since food service staff is already familiar with the system so training/traveling costs could be significantly less than estimated.

With the current system, parents are charged $2.46 for every transaction they make. Esping recommended passing along a $2 transaction fee to parents even though credit card transactions are charged 3.5 percent per transaction and eChecks are charged 35 cents a transaction. With the 3.5 percent fee per transaction, the $2 fee will not cover the total transaction charge so the district will have to pick up the rest of the fee.

The board approved the switch to DDN Campus with parents paying $2 per transaction on a 4-1 vote. Board member Todd Irvine voted against it.

Esping also noted a budget supplement of $154,687. They received $93,972 from state aid for increased enrollment number, $22,865 in Title I and Title II carryover, $19,550 from an EPSCOR grant for a new course at the high school and $18,300 from a Homeland Security grant for a security entrance at the District Education Center. The board approved.

Operations manager Wayne Larsen reported on the construction progress at Venture Elementary. Soukup added some additional rock to the construction road to firm it up after multiple snow storms in April. They hope to complete backfilling of the building footprint an excavate for footings by May 18, weather permitting. They hope to pour footings May 21 if the weather cooperates.