School board approves autism plan

At the Tea Area School District December board of education meeting, board members approved the proposed special education autism plan that was presented at the November board meeting and the creation of two special education positions.

Special education director Jody Taylor made the proposal to the board in November. The board moved to approve the implementation of the special education autism program that was presented. Since the board approved of the proposal, they moved to approve the addition of a special education autism program assistant to start Jan. 1 and to add a special education autism program teacher for the 2016-17 school year.

Superintendent Jennifer Lowery presented the 2016-17 school calendar committee’s recommendation. The committee recommended starting school Aug. 25 with a four-day Labor Day weekend, graduation May 21 and a last day of school for May 24. She noted they have built in two snow makeup days for March 9 and April 13 if needed. Board president John Herr pointed out that first semester will still end after winter break on Jan. 13. The board approved the calendar as presented.

Clair Willemssen, construction manager for the Tea Area School District building projects, noted the building site has been extremely muddy the past month due to all of the moisture the area has received. Sidewalks have not been poured yet due to the wet conditions. The east, west and north sides of the building all have siding with a few spots remaining to be finished. The planned power outage for Nov. 25 did not happen due to a communication error on Xcel Energy’s part. The new date for the scheduled power outage is Dec. 28. The brick veneer and roofing is mostly complete. Wall framing is moving along inside the building.

Lowery said the pad has been poured at the high school for the new security entrance. Wayne Larsen, operations manager, said they were hoping the majority of the work there would be done at the end of the winter break.

Business manager Kathy Cleveland asked the board to approve the addition of $8,059 paid to Watertown Chrysler Ford to amend the Oct. 12 meeting minutes that she inadvertently left off the minutes.

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