Nearly All CCR-1 Teaching Positions Filled For 2012-13

Nearly All CCR-1 Teaching Positions Filled For 2012-13

By Mike Scott

Almost all of the teaching position in the Clark County R-1 School district have been filled for next year, according to Superintendent Ritchie Kracht.

“We just had a resignation from Ms. Arevalo, a Running Fox third grade teacher.  We have a nursing position open, and what was Mrs. Summers pre-school position,” Kracht said.

Along with Arevalo, the district faced five openings with retirement of Esther Justice, (Running Fox 5th grade), Lynn Summer (pre-school) and Susan Thomson (nurse), and the departure of elementary music teacher Laurie Hume and middle school Social Studies teacher Clint Smith.

New to the district will be Ryan Meinkoth, who will take the Asst. band position.  Last year’s Asst. band/choir instructor, Grace LaRose, has moved to the elementary school position.

Ashley Brookhart will be a new Running Fox 5th grade instructor.  John Weaver will take over Middle School PE, and his wife, Cari Weaver with be a 5th grade teacher at Black Hawk.  Isaiah Allen will teach Middle School Social Studies.  Paula O’Brien will serve as a paraprofessional at Black Hawk.

Falling enrollment continues to plague the CCR-1 district, which finished the school year with an average attendance of 858.43.  Last year, the average was 881-21, and 10 years ago it stood at 988.16.

“A lot of it is the economy,” said Kracht.  “People are moving out of the area to where they can find a job.  But next year’s kindergarten class is expected to be larger than the class that just graduated.  And we’ll get a bump of about 30 kids from Revere.

Summer school enrollment is also down this summer.

“We have 156 enrolled right now,” Kracht said.  “It’s usually well over 200.”

The high school summer school number is higher than usual, as 35 students are working on credit recovery to make up for a failed class, and 39 middle schoolers are enrolled.

Summer maintenance is well underway, with new doors being installed  in the Middle School, Black Hawk and Running Fox.  The doors all have new locks, which will allow a teacher to lock the door from inside in case of emergency.

Humidity in the classrooms is a concern this summer.

“The humidity levels have been high, and this summer has been dry,” Kracht said.  “We measure the humidity in every classroom, every day.  We’re trying different settings of the air conditioning system to see if we can get it down, but if that doesn’t work, we’ll have to buy dehumidifyers for every room.  We can’t have the mold come back again.”

At Thursday’s  board meeting, board members received a report on the drug testing program.  During the school year, a total of 162 tests were administered, with only two positives, one of which was negative upon further testing.

The total cost of the testing was $2328, and board members voted to extend the program for another year.

Contrary to the report given at last week’s Kahoka City Council meeting, the school district plans to have the new lighting at the ball field in service prior to the fall softball season.  In addition, new red and gray textured cement block dugouts measuring 24 x 8 are being planned, with the only dugout entrance being from the ball field.

At Thursday’s

meeting, the board approved a number of policy revision related to the Amy Histir law, which requires school districts to inform other districts if a former employee has been accused of any sexual misconduct.

“It’s a state law that I have no problem with,” said Kracht.  “Except that it conflicts with federal law’s confidentiality provisions.

The board also approved a tax advantage resolution to comply with IRS requirements.

The board also heard a participation report from the High School and Middle School.  The report showed that 96.4 percent of the student body participates in at least one activity at the Middle School, with NJHS members averaging 3.7 activities excluding NJHS.

“Our best students are involved in lots of  activities,” Kracht said.

The high school report focused on athletic activities only, showing 42.1 percent of boys and 35.9 percent of girls participating in at least one athletic activity during the 2011-12 school year.

The board will hold its budget meeting on Thursday, June 28, at 5:30 pm.  The next regular meeting will be July 12 at 6:00pm.