This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Whitnall School Board Approves Fee Schedules

District passes rates for activities, athletics, lunch and building use.

The Whitnall School Board voted to keep much of the for the 2011-2012 school year, with a few changes.

At Monday's meeting, the board voted to add a $5 charge to basic school fees for locks for high school students’ lockers. The school’s lockers currently feature built-in dial locks, a large portion of which are malfunctioning due to age, according to district business manager Amy Kohl. The district will remove the built-in locks and students will be able to use the external locks.

Board member Suzette Larson said her own children had stories of the faulty lockers.

“It is definitely needed,” Larson said. “There are kids with lockers that wouldn’t close all year. There are kids with lockers that if you hit them, they spring open and everyone knows it.”

The total cost of all the locks needed for the district would be roughly $3,000, according to Kohl.

The board voted to change the way high school students were charged to participate in extra curricular activities and sports by introducing a flat $30 fee for all school-sponsored clubs and activities. It also implemented a cap on fees of $300 per student and $600 per family.

There are currently 64 families with multiple children involved in extra curricular activities and 479 students; six families and 49 individuals would benefit from the cap, according to district documents.

The price of lunches will also increase $0.15 next year, based on federal legislation requiring schools to charge at a price related to the reimbursements it receives for offering free lunches for those who qualify. Under the new rules, lunch prices will need to rise about a dollar, which the district chose to stagger over the next five years, Kohl said.

The board voted not to increase fees for the use of district facilities by outside groups, based on the success of the program. The district recovers an average of $20 per student through the rental of its buildings, which places it among the 90th percentile among national districts its size.

“I’m very proud to say we’re doing very well in that area,” Kohl said.

The board also approved adding a position to the district’s preliminary staffing plan beyond administrative recommendation.

Since the district’s previous assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction retired last year, the position has gone unfilled and its duties have been absorbed by Superintendent Lowell Holtz and other administrators. School administration proposed staffing that position part-time, given the right candidate.

Board president Bill Osterndorf suggested that the position be staffed as a full-time job, the specific description of which to be determined by district administration.

“I think we need somebody whose day-to-day activity is curriculum and instruction,” Osterndorf said.

To kick off the meeting, two board members were sworn in for another term after .

Find out what's happening in Greenfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Nancy Zaborowski and T.J. Anderson, both incumbents who won reelection, took oaths to serve the board for another term. Another reelected incumbent, Bernard Shaw, was not present and will be sworn in before the board’s next meeting. 

The board selected Osterndorf as its president, Zaborowski as its vice president, Anderson as its treasurer and Larson as its clerk. 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?