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School accepts bison, other gifts
The McCook Public Schools board of education accepted $28,423 in monetary donations and a glass fiber bison and landscaping rocks for Weiland Field during its regular August board meeting Monday. Board members also decided not to increase the price of breakfast and lunch for this school year.
Checks presented to the school included $27,173 from the Booster Club, which includes $5,000 for weight equipment; $750 from the McCook Wrestling Club; and $500 from JB Well Service (Jim Burton) for a batting cage.
Gerhold Concrete of McCook donated landscaping rocks for the area around the new concessions stand at Weiland Field, and a Chappell man, John Aaberg, donated a full-body fiberglass bison, which will also be placed at Weiland Field.
Superintendent Dr. Don Marchant said Aaberg offered to sell the bison to the McCook schools several years ago. He has now donated the bison, Dr. Marchant said, and school staff went to Chappell to pick it up.
Dr. Marchant said there is a miniature of the same statue at Fort Cody in North Platte.
Board members approved a contract with Sodexho America LLC to provide management and operation of the school district's food service.
Labor and food costs will be a concern this year, said board president Greg Larson. Labor costs will be difficult to project, board member Jim Coady explained, because the district will be going from satellite kitchens at the elementaries to a full-service kitchen at the new McCook Elementary, and the East Ward school will be used for only about three months.
Coady abstained from the vote on the Sodexho contract because his wife, Jean, manages the McCook program for Sodexho.
Acting upon the recommendation of the board's facilities committee, the board decided not to increase the price of breakfast and lunch as it had considered during the summer. Committee members will continue to monitor the situation, and, Larson said, it is possible that prices may increase during the school year, if necessary.
Prices for breakfast will be: K-5, $.95; 6-12, $1.05; and adults, $1.25.
Prices for lunch will be: K-3, $1.75; 4-5, $1.85; 6-12, $2; and adults, $2.75.
The board approved the purchase of a heated mobile food cabinet, for $2,945.
Teacher-coaches Barry Schaeffer and Nick Umschied reported on the summer usage of the weight room at the high school. "It was well used by all athletes," Schaeffer said. "It was nice to see the numbers."
The summer program included schedules and instruction in pre-lift warm-ups and proper lifting techniques.
Schaeffer stressed that the weight room is not just for football players, explaining that weightlifting can be a great benefit in a variety of sports besides football. Physical education classes during school will also use the weight equipment.
The athletes did an outstanding job of taking care of the facility and equipment, Schaeffer said, exhibiting pride in their efforts and in the facility.
Dr. Marchant said he appreciates the Bison Booster Club's assistance with the purchase of equipment for the weight room. The lifting equipment helps not only team members, he said, but also the district's physical education students. "The benefits are far-reaching," Dr. Marchant said, "to sports and physical education classes. It addresses our concerns about obesity."
Karen Salyer, a member of the McCook Elementary playground committee, showed board members a schematic of equipment at the new single-site elementary.
The area south of the new gym will be concrete, with basketball hoops and "fun-hoops," Salyer said. Playground equipment brought over from East Ward will be placed over sand.
A cloverleaf-shaped sandbox, purchased with a $1,000 donation given three years ago, will let students in wheelchairs interact with students in the sand. Access ramps and specialized swings will also allow handicapped children to enjoy the playground.
The area west of the new second- and third-grade classes will be grass for soccer fields.
The board approved the 2005-2006 agreement between the public schools and the McCook Education Association. The base salary of teachers will increase $650 a year, to $26,475; and the teachers' benefit package will increase by 4.14 percent.
Larson abstained from voting because his wife, Cindy, is a teacher.
A report from Construction Manager Larry WEaver indicates the new kindergarten area is basically finished and new doors are being hung in the renovated and new construction areas.
The floor covering goes down and the cabinets up next week in the commons area, gym, hallway and administration office.
The drywall will be finished Thursday in the second- and third-grade classroom area.
Outside concrete will be completed this week in the front, although more concrete will be poured when the modular classrooms are relocated.
Work will start by the end of the week on the playground concrete.
The board accepted, with gratitude for one year of service, the resignation of Spanish teacher Peggy Strange. Strange wrote in a letter of resignation that her husband's employment is taking them out of the state. She noted especially that she appreciated the help she received from teacher Dennis Kennelly, media specialist Sharon Bohling and school secretary Carol Brodersen.
Dr. Marchant said a contract has been offered to a new Spanish teacher.
Principals Kathy Latta and Dennis Berry presented to board members the procedure by which students will be allowed to leave the K-8 closed campus at noon:
* A student released by parents on a permanent basis must have a note on file in the building office.
* A parent must come into the school building to release a student excused periodically.
Coady requested that the board be told how many children are permanently check-ed out.
In other action:
* Latta reported that she and other Reading First personnel attended the Reading First annual conference in New Orleans, learning that reading is not only important for K-3, it must be the priority.
Latta said about 50 students attended two K-3 summer school classes.
* In yearly housekeeping moves, the board approved Dr. Marchant to sign for federal and state grants and funds and approved the hiring of substitutes with local certificates.
* The board declared 30 4x8-foot rubber flooring mats as salvage. These are not wrestling mats, Activities Director Rick Haney said, but the rubberized flooring that was used beneath wrestling mats in a former wrestling room. Haney estimated the mats at a value of $8-$10 each.
* The board went into closed session at 7:10 p.m., to discuss negotiations.