The Board met in a regular monthly meeting on Monday, April 23 in the board room. Our meeting this month was a week later than normal due to a conflict with several members. As is always the case, we accomplished a lot of great things on behalf of the students in the Hudson Community School District. As a reminder, this update is not meant to cover all actions taken at the board table nor is it meant to supplant the board minutes. This entry is merely to mention the highlights of the meeting in advance of publication of our monthly minutes, which can be found in the Hudson Herald.
One of the highlights during the visitors section was a presentation from Kindergarten teacher Andrea Hottle and First Grade teacher Brenda Krapfl on the implementation and use of IPADS in the elementary school. I was personally impressed with the way these teachers have been able to weave high tech instructional tools into their classroom curriculum. A great takeaway for the Board is that this has been a great investment in our elementary school. This presentation will go a long way toward long range planning as we look to make additional future investments in technology infrastructure in our school district.
During the superintendent report, I discussed several items of interest with the board ranging from an update on projects, to professional development, and legislative action. I really wanted to get feedback and input from the board on the replacement of the school nurse position, due to the retirement of Mrs. Noelting. I had completed some research and provided different scenarios for the Board to consider ranging from sub-contracting the nursing service to Black Hawk County to hiring a part-time nurse. My recommendation to the Board was to hire a .625 FTE nurse for the district, which was contrary to the wishes of virtually everyone I spoke with! In the end, the Board felt it would be best if we were staffed with a full time nurse. I think this is absolutely the right decision, and have put the wheels into motion to get this person hired in the next couple of weeks. By the way, if you know of anyone who is interested, please have them drop off a letter of application with a resume to my office by the end of next week. Iowa Code does require this position be filled by a Registered Nurse.
The Board also executed several involuntary transfers of certified teaching staff for the 2012-2013 school year. As you may be aware, we have been studying our instructional schedule this year in an effort to create additional opportunities for our students while at the same time creating efficiencies in the deployment of our human resources. These transfers have been executed with this goal in mind.
Also, the Board ratified the Master Contract with the Hudson Education Association for the 2012-2013 academic year. The total package increase of this agreement is 3.05%, which is an outstanding agreement that recognizes the hard work of our teaching professionals while at the same time realizing the financial difficulties the school district has been trying to correct the last couple of years. The Board also approved administrator contracts for 2012-2013, representing a 2.22% total package increase. Classified personnel job agreements were also approved, representing a 3% increase.
Those folks, are the highlights. If you have any questions about the board meeting you are encouraged to give me a call. By the way, our May regular meeting will be held on May 21 at 4:00 in the afternoon. We have set this early time so we can all attend the Gold Star Awards ceremony, which will be held at 7:00 p.m. that same evening.
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