District 42R school board’s monthly meeting is a short one
OSMOND — The District 42R Board of Education met at an earlier time on Monday, Feb. 8, because of the conference basketball game being held later that evening. The meeting was also a short one, lasting less than an hour.
Principal’s Report
Although he summarized to keep the meeting brief, Principal Kurt Polt’s report included the following information:
He is holding off work on class offerings until a decision is made on the direction of the district’s high school English opening. He will have a copy of the 2021-22 school calendar available for the board to look at during the March meeting; however, it will look very similar to the one used this year. Third quarter progress reports were scheduled to be sent home on Monday.
Five wrestlers participated in subdistricts in Pleasanton on Feb. 6, with four advancing to districts at Tilden on Saturday, Feb. 13. Girls’ basketball subdistricts begins Feb. 15 and boys’ on Feb. 22.
The ESU8 high school quiz bowl competition is scheduled for March 2 and the junior high quiz bowl on March 3. Because of COVID-19 protocols, once a team is eliminated, they will be expected to depart the competition and return to school.
The speech team competed at Wynot on Feb. 6 and took second place, and will compete at the conference meet on Feb. 10. At this time, spectators are not allowed at the majority of speech meets. A parents’ night was scheduled for Tuesday night, Feb. 9.
The Class D All-state band concert is March 20. It is scheduled to be in person; however, the University of Nebraska at Kearney is unable to host because of COVID-19, so another site is being sought.
Spring break is scheduled for March 5 and 12.
There are changes to state basketball tournaments this year with both girls’ and boys’ tournaments beginning on a Wednesday for Class D1, consolation games being held on Fridays and championship games on Saturdays.
One item bringing much discussion concerned the future of boys’ basketball. Currently, Polt reported, the high school roster has 16 athletes, with two boys in junior high basketball and those two leaning toward participation in wrestling in high school. If nothing changes, he said, the district will have no athletes joining the high school team for the next two years. That would leave the high school program with a total of 10 athletes on the roster for the 2022-23 season.
In response to a request from Mr. Polt, Superintendent Dave Hamm provided numbers of students who will be in high school in four years and in eight years (including students coming over from St. Mary’s School). Here is the breakdown:
Girls Boys Total
Current numbers 38 43 81
4 Years 30 26 56
8 Years 37 32 69
Superintendent’s Report
Superintendent Hamm reported that a number of students had received NSAA Scholar Athlete Awards for the fall. They include: Johnson Chishiba and Graysen Schultze in boys’ cross country; Hayle Krienert and Riley Wagner, girls’ cross country; Connor Gutz and Zachary Huwaldt, football; Grace Gansebom and Bailey Schmit, volleyball.
Hamm also pointed out a letter and a resolution introduced by Senator Tim Gragert and passed by the Legislature which congratulates the Wausmond one-act team on winning the 2020 NSAA Class C-1 state play production championship.
Hamm reminded board members that, last month when discussing the yellow building project and the preschool option, he had commented that it would be interesting to see if all current preschool eligible students were enrolled in preschool. He noted that all but two are currently enrolled in one of the preschools in town and those who aren’t are home schooled.
Hamm noted that Wausa has indicated they would like to have a sharing meeting in March after basketball is over, and Board Member Michelle Reikofski said she will contact Wausa to schedule it.
Mr. Hamm shared concrete specifications for the bus barn he received today and advised he has placed a bid notice in the paper, to run for three weeks. Bids will be due March 1 at 12 noon. He would like board representation at the bid opening, and they will then make a recommendation at the March board meeting. He also advised that he is hoping to have architectural drawings for the yellow building by the end of the week.
The superintendent reported that the district is slated to receive $106,000 in ESSER II funds, but he does not have guidance as to what the funds can be used for. He shared a quote he received from the technology team for this year’s proposed acquisition of SMART flat screen panels for classrooms. The board discussed using the funds for this technology.
Hamm also discussed with the board the curriculum team’s plan to replace the existing math curriculum for grades K-6, which is not inexpensive, he said.
Superintendent Hamm advised that various teams will be meeting Wednesday morning, and board members are welcome to attend one of the meetings for the teams to which they are assigned.
Hamm reported that the new propane bus has been ordered and will be paid for out of the depreciation fund.
In response to a question by Reikofski about wearing masks, Mr. Hamm said as long as the local health district says they need to wear them, they will follow their advice. They don’t want to get rid of them until after state basketball for sure, he said. After that, they will look at going back to where the district was at the beginning of the year: optional in the classroom and mandatory outside of the classroom.
In other business, the board:
— approved an administrative contract with Kurt Polt for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years as proposed.
— approved offering a sign-on bonus for an English Language Arts teacher.
— scheduled upcoming focused group meetings.
Stay in the know!
To get news alerts on your cell phone, get the Cedar County News app in the ITunes store or in the Google Play Store.
