(Atlantic, IA) – The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education held a regular monthly meeting Wednesday evening (March 11), in the High School Media Center. First-off, the Board received a presentation from Megan Roberts, Cass County Public Health Director, and Grace McAfee, Community Wellness Coordinator in the form of an update on the Community Health Assessment. The three top priorities coming from that Assessment were: The County cancer rates; Healthy and Active living; and Mental Health priorities. Roberts said that is still the number one priority for Cass County, based on that feedback.

Grace McAfee addressed the issue of mental health as it pertains to schools in the County, especially with regard to suicide prevention.

Hope Squad Advisors trained the students on what to look out for as far as their fellow students who are struggling with life’s issues. The program is funded for up to three-years, and will be re-evaluated afterward to see if the program is still beneficial to students or if there is something new that might be more effective.

Grace McAfee (Left) and Megan Roberts (Right) speak with the Atlantic School Board March 11, 2026.

They also heard from Superintendent Dr. Beth Johnsen, who spoke about a new, two-year Iowa Western Community College Precision Ag program that will be offered to students this fall, at IWCC’s campus in Atlantic. The idea came about in discussions with IWCC President Dr. Dan Kinney, following passage of a bond to improve Iowa Western’s various campus facilities.

The classes will be offered to the general public as well, not just high school students.

The Board approved their Consent Agenda items, which included the resignation (effective at the end of the current school year) of Megan Andersen – High School Para-educator. And, they approved Recommendations to Hire: Roger Warne – Asst. Track Coach; Mark Andersen – Boys Asst. Soccer Coach; Bryce Casey – JV Baseball Coach, and the transfer of Faye Dreyer to Title 1 Math position for the 2026-27 School Year.

Atlantic Community School District Superintendent Beth Johnsen.

Other, action items that met with the Board’s approval, included:

• Out-of-State travel requests
• An FY27 Cooperative Purchasing – Nutrition Agreement
• FY27 Technology Bids (as presented by Technology Director Roger Warne)
• An FY27 Green Hills AEA Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU)
• A Budget Guarantee Resolution, and,
• They set date for the Second Public Hearing on the ACSD FY27 Budget as April 8th at 6-p.m.; The First Budget Hearing, and that of the School Master Calendar, will be held March 25th at 6-p.m., in the High School Media Center.

And, District Technology Director Roger Warne discussed projects that include an update and expansion of all of the District’s WiFi access points.

Another project is with regard to the fiber optic line from the Middle School to the Schuler and Washington Schools.

New fiber optic lines will be run between the buildings. Warne also mentioned replacing the District’s system of cameras. The current cameras will be used in other places where there currently are no cameras. As mentioned above, the Board approved the purchases and costs associated with those projects.