Atlantic School District Board meeting 4-10-19

The Atlantic School Board, Wednesday evening, held a Public Hearing on the 2019-2020 Certified Budget, during which there were no comments from the public. During their regular session that followed, the Board approved previously mentioned resignations, with the addition of Julie Livingston, Schuler Elementary/Middle School Special Education Teacher, and added contract recommendations for Ethan Pruisman as High School Vocal Music Director, along with Beth Schwarte, Preschool Summer School Teacher.

In his report to the Board, Superintendent Steve Barber said the Board will need to make an amendment next month to this year’s Certified Budget, for the “Other” category. He said there were a few expenses that were not budgeted for this school year, including: Work on fixing a sewage problem at Washington Elementary, paying for lighting for the High School Commons, replacing two small sections of the Middle School Auditorium roof, and replacing a bus transmission, along with some unforeseen technology expenses.

The school board voted to approve contracts with Snyder and Associates Engineers and FRK Architects, for the final plans and specifications pertaining to the District Facilities project. The timeline calls for those plans and specs to be presented to the Board during their meeting May 8th, at which time they are expected to set the bidding letting date as May 9th, and a Public Hearing for the week of May 13th. Bid letting is expected to occur 2-p.m. May 22nd. It’s expected construction would begin in June.

Barber said there is a strong desire to have the Washington portion of the project prior to the start of the first day of school, which requires expediting the bidding process. By doing so, they will be getting architect and possibly construction expenses before the District is able to sell the bonds. A Resolution next month will allow the District to use SAVE dollars to pay those expenses, which will be reimbursed once the bonds are sold.

Superintendent Barber said also, that in the next school year, they will be identifying one teacher in Kindergarten and one in First grade, who will be piloting a concept called “Looping.” Basically “looping” is having the same group of kids working with the same teacher for two-years. The identified KG teacher will be teaching 1st grade during the 2020-21 school year with the same group of kids. This year’s 1st grade Teacher would move back to Kindergarten during the 2020-21 school year.

The Board approved the Certified Budget, which calls for a levy of $14.72/$1,000 property valuation, a decrease of 5-cents from the original published amount. The assessed value in the district increased 3.03%, for a total of 36-cents less than last year, according to Mr. Barber.

(Radio Iowa) — Advocates for the well-being of kids in Iowa are working to boost awareness, as April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Allie Moerman, is the spokeswoman for Prevent Child Abuse Iowa. Following the starvation deaths of two teen girls in Perry and West Des Moines in recent years, Moerman says the number of child abuse cases being reported to the state has risen.

“Without looking at the long-term trends, it’s hard to say what that means,” Moerman says. “We know that those high-profile cases that we saw in 2016 with Sabrina Ray and Natalie Finn does make a difference in the public awareness about child abuse so that often contributes to the increase that we see and report.”

Moerman says Iowans can work together to help reduce the number of child abuse cases by getting involved in the activities of children and building stronger connections with the kids in our lives. “Maybe it’s something as simple as volunteering to read to a class of elementary students,” Moerman says. “Maybe it’s reaching out to new parents in your community to bring over a meal or helping them out by running an errand or volunteering to get involved with youth activities just to be a positive influence in the lives of children.”

Moerman says the annual Child Abuse Prevention and Family Support Conference will be held in Ankeny next month. “We’ve actually sold out this year,” Moerman says. “We’ve got a full house of support workers and social workers from around the state coming in to learn from nationally-recognized speakers, statewide speakers. It should be a great opportunity to learn and share and network and build those connections throughout our state.”

Learn more about child abuse prevention and how you can play a role at www.pcaiowa.org.

(Radio Iowa) — A bill getting strong bipartisan support in the Iowa legislature would make it a felony to perform female genital mutilation on an Iowa girl. Last year a judge tossed out a FEDERAL law that had banned the practice nationwide, ruling it was up to states to prosecute such crimes. Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, says this bill is necessary because it’s unclear if current Iowa child abuse laws could be used to prosecute these cases here.  “It is to make absolutely sure that there is no doubt that in the state of Iowa female genital mutilation is not acceptable and is illegal,” Holt said.

The Senate unanimously endorsed the bill in mid-March. The Iowa House now has voted to add an education component to the bill for the medical community — to help doctors treat girls and young women who’ve been cut in this way. The bill also calls for educational outreach to Iowa residents who come from cultures where the practice has been common. Representative Marti Anderson, a Democrat from Des Moines, says it’s time for female cutting to join the list of cultural practices that have been stopped in the United States. “Child marriage, polygamy, stoning, dowry murder, honor crimes, foot-binding,” Anderson says. “Those were all framed as cultural issues that border on human rights abuse.”

Representative Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Marion, says female cutting is about controlling women’s sexuality. “I hope that we’ll take this opportunity as we’re focusing on girls, focusing on health, focusing on bodily autonomy again to think about the ways in our culture that we do not protect women and the ways we could all do better,” Hinson said. “…We can protect many other people and we can root out the evils that are right here in our own culture.”

Hinson mentioned conversion therapy for gay and lesbian children as well as questioning the clothing choices of rape victims. The bill banning female genital mutilation passed the House on a 95-to-four vote. It returns to the Senate for a vote on the educational components House members added to the bill.