The Clarion-Goldfield-Dows Board of Education met for their annual organizational meeting early this week, in addition to their regular business meeting. New board member Cindy Dorn was sworn in. Dorn will be taking over the district #2 seat from Clint Middleton. Beth Severson was again voted in a president of the board, while Troy Seaba was chosen for the vice president position. Anita Frye was again sworn in as school business official and board secretary. Susan Toftey will serve as district treasurer again.
In other official district positions, the board approved Malloy Law Firm and Rick Engle as attorneys. They also went with the same five banks in Clarion, Goldfield and Eagle Grove with the depository limit of $8 million. The Wright County Monitor will be the official district newspaper again. The board also decided to keep the monthly meetings at the same time, which is the second Monday of the month at 5:00 pm. They went through committee assignments, mostly keeping the same ones and adding Dorn to a few.
During the regular business meeting, the three school principals appeared to speak about the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP) tests. These replaced the Iowa Assessments as Iowa's main state accountability test for all students. These tests were taken last spring and the district is getting results now. The principals indicated various areas where C-G-D students were about average with others across the state. (An in-depth story on the results will appear at a later date.)
High School principal Sheila Hudson presented a report of high school curriculum enrollment based on a recent equity review. She identified areas where she would like to see more balance based on factors like sex, race, and socioeconomic status. For instance, industrial education classes have mostly male enrollment and some family consumer science classes are all female. She noted that they are exploring ways to even out those ratios.
Elementary principal Tricia Rosendahl spoke about recent meetings with the committee formed to address Kids Korner/a possible Early Childhood Education Facility. Rosendahl reported that McKinley Bailey of Building Families presented at a meeting and explained that most daycares only survive with the support and partnership of some sort of government entity. Thus, the committee is planning to speak with daycare facilities around state about different types of government partnerships, such as partnerships with cities, counties, and schools. Rosendahl invited school board members and possibly Superintendent Olson to sit in on the presentation about school district partnerships when that should occur.
Dr. Olson discussed the final certified enrollment numbers for the district. Certified enrollment increased by about 30 students, which includes students who are open-enrolled. The number of students physically attending school in the district increased by about 24.
For recent resignations, the district received resignations from Newt Lingenfelter as head football coach and Jon Bakker from his position as grounds and buildings director. Bob EnTin also submitted a letter of resignation, although will be staying on to teach part-time. Kristi Ostercamp was also hired as a high school Para-educator.
