The Fairfax R-3 School Board met April 15, 2021, for reorganization, regular, and executive meetings.
Reorganization
The district welcomed new board member, Theresa Larson, and incumbent member, Jon Graves, to their team. Current board members are Theresa Larson, Jon Graves, Josh Oswald, Mike Lewis, Samantha O’Riley, Brett Johnson, and Miles Smith.
Replacements were elected for board president and vice-president. Jon Graves is the new president, and Mike Lewis is the new vice-president. Karen Burke will continue in her position as treasurer of the board.
Regular Board Meeting
Overall expenses are $5,495.98 below last year and revenues are up by $33,703. March 2020 expenses equaled $259,527.75 and March 2021 expenses equaled $154,034.77. Revenues for March 2020 were $81,914.83 and March 2021 were $115,618.18.
Year-to-date revenue is $2,002,531 and year-to-date expenses are $1,431,532.
The current fund balance is $1,789,173.97 compared to the March 2020 fund balance of $1,530,644.98.
The lease purchase account still has approximately $6,000 in it which is earmarked for summer project labor and supplies.
Facilities
There are a number of items that need repair around the district facility. Items discussed were repairs to damaged downspouts, water leak in the girls locker room, repairs to lighting fixtures around the building, the status of the school’s window replacement process, and the floor replacement for elementary bathrooms and the cafeteria.
COVID-19 Update
The school will continue to implement the safety measures described in its plan while allowing visitors to attend important end-of-year events such as field day. District facilities are also being gradually opened for community use as the end of the school year comes closer.
A brief explanation of federal relief funds was given and a description of how some of those funds will be spent was reviewed with the board. ESSER III allocations are of particular interest as they carry the requirement of a district COVID-19 safety plan and a stipulation that 20% of the district allocation be spent on “learning acceleration.”
AMI Change
DESE has done away with the Alternate Methods of Instruction-X (AMI-X) plan and the additional bonus, distance learning days that are associated with it. AMI-X was solely designed to offset days lost due to closure for COVID-19. Beginning in the 2021-22 school year, each district may still submit an AMI plan but that plan will only grant the district 36 hours of distance learning before the district has to pull from regularly-scheduled emergency make-up days. Each district is still required to submit a school calendar containing a minimum 1,044 hours of instruction along with 36 hours of make-up days in addition to our AMI plan.
CSIP Goals Overview
The four Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP) goals were briefly discussed along with a rough description of how the board would be kept informed regarding the district’s progress with these goals. MSIP 6 will be finalized soon and the district will need to review its CSIP and make sure its plan is in compliance with DESE requirements for school improvement. Along with the school’s normal, quantitative measures like test scores, graduation rate, and attendance, MSIP 6 will also reintroduce qualitative measurements for schools like surveys. The current CSIP goals are:
Goal 1: Develop and enhance quality educational/instructional programs to improve performance and enable students to meet their personal, academic, and career goals.
Goal 2: Recruit, attract, develop and retain highly qualified staff to carry out the LEA district mission, goals and objectives.
Goal 3: Provide and maintain appropriate instructional resources, support services, and functional and safe facilities.
Goal 4: Create a positive and collaborative culture with all stakeholders.
Principal’s Report:
Mr. Barnes offered his monthly principal’s report which included information on preschool and kindergarten screening.
Textbook and consumable requests and purchases for next year are being finalized, and the 2021-2022 schedules have been finalized.
MAP testing begins next week.
The Academic Banquet will be held Wednesday, April 21. Attendance is limited to families only.
Elementary Field Day will be April 30. Families will be allowed to attend.
The Music Concert will be May 5.
Seniors’ last day is May 5, and the senior trip is May 6 and 7.
Finals will take place the week of May 11.
Graduation will be held Sunday, May 16, at 1:00 p.m. They are working on the logistics of holding graduation in the gym.
Mr. Barnes also reported on athletics. Spring sports are well underway. Spring sports will have their own banquets following their seasons.
They are working on finalizing coaching assignments for next year.
They are also working on summer calendars and schedules, planning on a normal summer regarding allowing kids to work out, compete, etc.
Dead week will take place July 31 – August 8.
Fall high school sports practices will start August 9.
New Business
Spring graduates were approved pending completion of graduation requirements.
New insurance rates were approved. Next year the district will pay an additional $1,980 per insured, nine-month employee. That same employee will experience about a $4.00 per month out of pocket increase for the least expensive, employee only, insurance plan. This means that the typical teacher, who only insures themselves with the school’s plan, will only pay an estimated $4.00 increase per month for their insurance. Plan offerings did not change and enrollment information will be sent out to staff as soon as possible.
All current, non-certified staff were rehired. As in all years, staffing for the 2021-2022 school year will be based on need and DESE requirements.
The district calendar was revised and approved to accommodate the addition of two minutes per day. This allows the school to streamline scheduling within the school day and grants them, overall, another three hours of instructional time that can be used to offset an early out or late start due to weather.
The district approved a State Emergency Management Agreement which allows for the use of school buses in case of an emergency.
Two summer help positions were approved to help with district maintenance.
A concurrent enrollment agreement with Tarkio Tech was approved which allows both Tarkio Tech and Fairfax R-3 to assign credits to students who complete coursework at Tarkio Tech.
The resignation of Sandy Umbarger, effective June 30, 2021, was approved. The board also approved the hiring of Christine Price for the Art/Library position.
The board adjourned at approximately 9:15 p.m.
The next regular board meeting is scheduled for May 20, 2021.
