School board creates foundation fund
The Tea Area School District met March 10.
The board approved creating the Tea Area School District Foundation Fund through the South Dakota Community Foundation. Superintendent Jennifer Lowery said this will help with the Legacy Wall in the new high school addition and can be used for future projects.
Curriculum director Samantha Walder presented the ELA curriculum adoption. They started to work on this project a year ago. The board chose MyView from Savvas for elementary grades and MyPerspectives from Savvas for the middle and high school. The curriculum adoption is for all grades junior kindergarten through high school with a cost of $739,059.08 in the adoption year with $3,512.50 for ongoing costs.
Business manager Chris Esping noted they have never used their $1 million line of credit, however, each year the board approves a line of credit. They approved the line of credit from Reliabank.
Esping also provided the five-year capital outlay plan. She has explored bond certificates for various year ranges that would help with numerous projects. The board approved the five-year capital outlay plan and 10-year bond certificate plan pending the legislative session decisions on capital outlay.
Operations manager Wayne Larsen reported that the main stairwells are in useable conditions.
Concrete crews have finished pouring all the concrete in the performing arts center. HVAC crews are running ductwork throughout the building. Carpenters have installed 400-plus cabinets for instrument and uniform storage. They are waiting for more siding to finish the outside. Electricians are working all over the building to get everything wired. The painters have finished painting everything that has been dry walled.
The board approved the resignations of Lisa Davoux as Frontier school counselor and Whitney Rosebrock special education teacher, both effective at the end of the year.
They approved the new hires of Jennifer Bertsch for eighth grade head volleyball, Erica Boterman as TASK aide at $13.28 per hour, Landon DeRuyter as TASK aide at $12.78 per hour, Rae Kaddatz as resource special education teacher and eighth grade assistant volleyball, Hunter Mees for ninth grade volleyball and Victoria Tams for Legacy kindergarten.
They also noted the in-district transfers of Scott Binde from middle school success coordinator to middle school science, Sandy Lingren from Legacy kindergarten to first grade and Stephanie Van De Walle from Legacy first grade to third grade.
The board approved the changes to the TASK handbook that includes a section on activity fees and non-sufficient funds. It also included changing the food allergies section to just be named allergies. They also approved the TASK summer activity fee at $95 and school year activity fee at $90 and did not increase the weekly rate. Implementing the fees will help TASK remain a financially self-sustaining entity.
They approved the South Dakota Department of Education waiver report for course equivalency exams, the course equivalency administrative wavier and the administrative waiver request for long-term substitute at Frontier.
The board approved the removal of Tea Sprouts from the educational structure of the district. During Covid, they were told to add Tea Sprouts to the district and now the state wants them out of the educational structure.
The board went into executive session for employee contract negotiations.