February’s meeting of the Perry School Board found the directors receiving numerous reports and doing something they have not done for seven years — raising the fees for textbook rentals.
Each grade would see a fee bump of $5, raising the annual fee for K-2 textbooks to $35, for grades 3-5 to $45 and to $55 for both middle and high school students.
Superintendent Clark Wicks said the increased rates will still leave Perry with the lowest textbook rental fees among Raccoon River Conference schools.
The school board also approved an increase in ticket prices for school musical admissions. Students and senior citizens will now be charged $8, with adults paying $10.
It was noted that increasing student involvement in the programs, which means higher costs for props, costumes, supplies and the like, and the increasing quality of the productions require the rate increase. The new prices align more closely with those of schools the size of Perry’s.
The board also approved the purchase of a new school bus, with delivery to occur after July 15. The total cost will by $93,600, including a 10-year, 200,000-mile warranty for $4,100. Transportation Director Troy Griffith went into some detail on specifications and the value of purchasing the warranty, to which the board agreed.
The meeting began with Treasurer Kent Bultman reviewing results of the school audit report, which was accepted. An early graduation request was granted, and revisions to board policies were also given approval along with several personnel matters, including the termination of a para-educator who greatly exceeded allowed illness days and Leave Without Pay days.
In a rare move, the board granted an additional 16.5 paid illness days to middle school teacher Dan McGinnis on the grounds of “catastrophic occurrences.”
Wicks said he would normally be quite reticent to offer such an extension, but he went into some detail describing the unique situation facing McGinnis, who is battling cancer. Middle School Principal Shaun Kruger said McGinnis made extraordinary efforts to attend as many days as possible, even while recovering from surgery and undergoing chemotherapy treatments.
McGinnis wrote a public letter to the board, explaining his condition and asking for the extensions, which were granted.
The board also heard from TLC (Teacher Leadership and Compenstation) Coordinator Shannon Cline and from Perry Elementary Instructional Coach Nathan Horgen.
Horgen discussed instances of interaction from TLC coaches helping teachers in the classroom, and Cline revealed results from a survey of teachers completed in December 2016, May 2017 and December 2017.
Cline said more than 90 percent of staff responded, and 96 percent said they were comfortable with occasionally having a coach in their classroom. He noted a range of 77-87 percent respondents received help in some form and that of those who received support of some kind, 56-75 percent said they were happy with the outcome.
Director Linda Andorf said she was pleased to see even the more veteran teachers were becoming comfortable with TLC and understanding the program is designed to help and facilitate the educational experience and not serve as an evaluation of the instructor.
The Perry Community School District Board of Education meets the second Monday of each month at 6 p.m. in the Brady Library at Perry High School. The public is invited to attend.
