The Lennox School Board held their regular monthly meeting on October 12 at the Worthing Elementary School library. State Representative Jim Bolin was present and spent just a few moments talking about the School Boundary Task Force, which he is serving on. Bolin said a piece of legislation will be introduced and the heart of it will remove from individuals the right to petition their land from a district.
Under the superintendent’s report, Kirk Easton relayed to the board members the benefits of the recent Save Yourself training that was held on Sept. 30. Easton said he recently contacted the Department of Transportation about the possibility of a second access point at the Sinning Sports Complex, citing the traffic congestion after the homecoming game. He will be following up on that.
Easton went over the buildings and grounds updates, saying that the secure entrances at each building will be looked at and addressed.
Under financial reports, business manager Angela Arlt pointed out additional bills. The board approved the minutes of previous meetings, the financial reports as presented and the claims.
In other action items, the board approved Marlene Geiken’s retirement as custodian.
The following contracts/work agreements were approved: Kyle Johnston as Freshman Boys Basketball Coach; Brandon Klinger as Freshmen Girls Basketball Coach; Lenny Block as maintenance/custodian; Sandra Bruns as food service worker; Russ Sindelar as custodian.
Easton did explain that the coaching positions filled by non-staff were due to the inability of filling the position in-house. He said, “the ultimate goal is to find someone on staff.”
Open enrollment applications were presented. The board voted to approve two of the three presented.
The board approved the “participation in co-curricular activities by alternative instruction students” policy, as well as the updated “child abuse reporting” policy.
The board approved to surplus old lighting fixtures from the Intermediate School Cafetorium and Gym. Arlt added that these items will be for auction.
A budget supplement in the amount of $8,522.65 for Lennox Elementary and $5,000 for Worthing Elementary was approved. Arlt said this was due to parent group donations.
Under discussion items, Worthing Principal and Curriculum Director Kym Johnston presented the 2015 District Report Card. The performance indicators for the Lennox School District were below South Dakota state average in several categories (see bar charts on page 9). All of the Lennox School District schools were listed as progressing schools, the schools in this category have a school performance index between the bottom 5% and top 10%. The South Dakota Department of Education lists “state engagement as needed” for schools in this category.
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