School board releases contract details for new superintendent, Brett Abotts

By Rick Morain
Jefferson Herald

The Greene County school board on April 13, on recommendation of the McPherson & Jacobsen Search Firm, recommended finalizing the contract for new superintendent Brett Abbotts. The two-year contract, for 260 days per year, provides a first-year salary of $165,000. It also includes full family medical, dental and vision insurance, a $150,000 term life insurance policy, long-term disability coverage, paid professional dues, and 20 sick days, two personal days and 20 vacation days per year.

Activities director Todd Gordon requested permission to purchase a video scoreboard for Linduska Field. The board approved the request. The activities department received a $100,000 grant from Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation for the scoreboard. Its cost from Blackfin Sports Consulting is $147,500. Gordon will research other funding opportunities to cover the additional cost.
Discussion was held over an apparent conflict between the school board’s complaint policies and the open forum statement at the bottom of the monthly agenda. The board decided to table the review of the policy and consider possible revisions at the regular May board meeting.

The apparent conflict surfaced during the open forum period of the April 13 meeting. At the open forum, parent Heather Ruzicka spoke on her concern about a short story that had been assigned in a class attended by her son. When Ruzicka brought her concern to the classroom teacher, she was not pleased with the response she received from school personnel, and tried to go through the complaint process of the district.
Ruzicka said that at one point in the complaint process, she was told that she would have to obtain signatures from 500 district residents in order to get onto the agenda for a board meeting.
Superintendent Christensen apologized for the incident, saying that the school had misunderstood what specific procedure of the district she was complaining about. The review of district policies at the May board meeting is aimed at clearing up the situation.

A number of staffing changes were approved for the 2022-23 school year. They are as follows:

• Resignations: high school science teacher Emily Laudner, middle school art teacher Dawn Young-Webb, fourth grade teacher Avery Maresca, activities director Todd Gordon, cheerleading coach Shannon Black, media center specialist and 504 coordinator Jenny Fisher, teacher leader mentor Raelyn Harris, half-time building technology assistant Andrea Fester, math interventionist Jessica Ott, and MTSS teacher leader Kristen Heupel.
• Transfer: fifth grade teacher and MTSS teacher leader Maleea Gannon to instructional reading coach.
• Termination: elementary associate Elizabeth Gross.
• Nonrenewal of contract for 2022-23: middle school associate Katelyn Lowmiller.
• Hirings: Kristen Mallinger as a kindergarten teacher, Page Caltrider as a first grade teacher, and D’Angela Hoover and A. Brianne Hogenson as middle school counselors.
In other action, the 2022-23 certified budget was approved as presented and published. The property tax asking for the budget is $14.42 per thousand dollars of taxable valuation, down 13 cents per thousand from the current year’s $14.55.

Action on the budget followed a public hearing, with no oral or written comments received.
An amendment to the current year’s certified budget was also approved. Superintendent Tim Christensen explained that the amendment was for additional expenditures using federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds and for pending nutrition department equipment purchases. That action also followed a public hearing, with no comments heard.
The board approved final revisions to its policy on graduation requirements.

In line with a salary committee meeting, the board approved superintendent Christensen’s recommendation of a 3.68 percent total district cost increase, including insurance costs, for administrative staff members; more specifically, a three percent salary increase for returning administrators and a 10 percent increase for business manager Brenda Muir.

Christensen also recommended, and the board approved, a 3.68 percent wage increase plus insurance for classified staff members, with six individuals receiving a higher percentage increase. The superintendent also presented, and the board approved, a plan for building secretaries and associates to attend professional development training and earn incremental hourly increases for successful completion and implementation of the training.
The purchase of three heat pumps for the elementary building from Drees Co. were approved for a total cost of $305,149. The Iowa Department of Education has approved the use of federal ESSER funds for the purchase to improve air quality in the building.

The summer project list was reviewed, and the board added several projects:
    • Aruba switches from Aecor for $44,336 (70 percent E-rate funded).
    • Sprinkler system for the middle school building from Blackhawk Automatic Sprinklers for $134,380 in 2022 and $63,180 in 2023 (purchase spread over two years).
    • Two 77-passenger 2023 buses from Hoglund Bus Company for $113,000 each.
    • Security camera replacement at the elementary school from Byte Speed for $42,945, with installation by Tech Zone for $7,971.

A contract for a 2022 fertilizer application from Raccoon Valley Lawn Care was also approved. Total cost of the service is $20,884 for the non-competition areas of the district’s campuses, about 41 acres, plus $10,636 for the athletic competition fields, about 6.83 acres.
If there are areas, such as the Grand Junction soccer field, that don’t need the amount of fertilizer bid, the fertilizer will be used on other areas in the district that may need more attention. Approval of the bid followed discussion by grounds supervisor Shawn DeMoss about the difficulty of receiving bids due to the rising cost of fertilizer.

Business manager Brenda Muir reported that the 2020-21 financial audit of the district has been completed and filed with the state auditor.
The board approved the following fundraiser requests:
    • Popup fundraiser from Matt Paulsen/high school baseball.
    • Sponsor Me calendar, national leadership conference sponsors, bell tower vendor tent, and May Day baskets by Ashley Havens/FCCLA.
    • Elementary evening track meet concessions by elementary PE/Sean Thompson.

Follow-up reports from several fundraisers were received.
Student construction teacher Kirk Davis told the board he would like the building trades class to build a house in Briarwood Addition in Jefferson in the 2022-23 school year. He will gather more information and present the plan at the regular May meeting. The last year the program built a house was in the 2019-20 year. Completion was difficult due to the COVID shutdown.

• During his monthly report, Christensen said that due to the delay in demolition of the former middle school gym, he will solicit bids on asbestos removal and demolition of the former administration building (the South Grade building), which is currently occupied by the Greene County Early Learning Center.

• The Learning Center’s new building construction should be completed in June of July.

• Christensen said the Greene County School District received more than $25,000 from the estate of Jone Gloria Jensen, a Class of 1952 graduate. Christensen would like to use the funds for $5,000 teacher grants for innovative projects.
The board, in response to a suggestion from board member Cindi Daubendiek, will form a business sponsorship subcommittee to discuss and place parameters on district fundraising.
The board heard the monthly reports from district administrators and board members.