School board swears in two members

The Lennox School Board met July 14 and thanked board member Clayton Wulf for his service on the board.

They swore in two board members Nicholas Butler and Jordan Vlastuin. Scott Sandal was elected president and Renae Buehner was elected vice president.

Business manager Angela Art presented the proposed fiscal year 2025-26 budget during the budget hearing. The total general fund budget is proposed at $9,087,274. 

Nearly half of the general fund budget goes to instruction and support services.

The capital outlay budget is proposed at $2,695,317. Some of the proposed purchases from the capital outlay budget include social studies curriculum, instructional software, technology, ash tree removal, ADA doors at the intermediate school, building improvements and co-curricular equipment.

The proposed budget for special education is $2,686,167, debt service at $1,070,075 and foodservice at $861,408.

The board adopted the budget for fiscal year 2025-26.

The board approved a capital outlay transfer to the general fund for fiscal year 2024-25 in the amount of $160,000. They also approved a budget supplement for fiscal year 2024-25.

The board set the foodservice rates for fiscal year 2025-26 at $3.35 for K-6 lunch, $3.55 for 7-12, $2.10 for student breakfast and 65 cents for extra milk. Superintendent Adam Shaw said these rates are comparable to schools in the area.

They approved the propane bid from CHS at $1.54 per gallon for fiscal year 2025-26.

They approved the engagement letter with ELO for auditing services.

The board declared 20 computers from Title I as surplus to be used for general instruction. They also surplussed three Ruckus controllers, four Dell switches and 150 Dell 3300 laptops that will all be recycled.

They reviewed the classified employee resignations of Kristi Abbas as foodservice cook, Kari Engesmoe as foodservice cook and Angela Smit as Lennox Elementary administrative assistant.

The board also reviewed the new work agreements for Kristi Abbas as Worthing Elementary administrative assistant, Lisa Nelson as foodservice cook, Danielle Hall as foodservice cook, Angela Smit as Lennox High School administrative assistant (data reporting) and Carissa Grewe as foodservice cook/salad bar.

Junior high/high school principal Chad Allison reported on the progress on the high school addition. He said the bleachers are in and they have been working on the exterior brick, site grading and the PAC seating levels. Coming up they will be installing theatre seats, ladders and handrails and weight room equipment. They are shooting for a Sept. 15 finish date for the whole project. 

The board did their annual approval of designations for various items like official newspaper, truancy officer and purchasing agents, among others.

Board members were appointed to various committees.

They approved the school year rates for Totally Kids, which will be the same as last year.

Buehner said the policy committee has not met for over a year, when the presented with approving the list of policies. Shaw said they could hold off a month on voting on the policies. While Buehner felt they were missing a step, she was fine with moving forward since Shaw had looked over them but going forward the policy committee needs to review. Shaw agreed. The board approved the policies.

They also approved the handbooks.

The board went into executive session at 7:31 p.m.