School board approves conflict disclosure waivers

The Tea Area School Board met July 10 and approved conflict disclosure waivers.

The board approved two waivers for Conrad Pick whose wife works as a substitute in the district and his son works for J&R Mechanical. They also approved waivers for Chad Meyer whose wife works as a substitute in the district and Jason Bennett’s daughter works for TASK.

Business manager Chris Esping provided the budget hearing.

Operations manager Wayne Larsen updated the board on projects in the district. The high school expansion project has footings going in. Backfill is going in on the backside by those footings. The precast walls are on schedule to come this fall.

The gym floor is installed. Bleachers are back in place. Seal coat is going on. By the end of the week, they should be painting the lines. The plan is to be able to use it by Aug. 1. A video board should be going in at the end of July in the high school gym.

Legacy Elementary had the four rooftop units installed this week for the new HVAC system.

All of the rock has been pulled out around the track. Concrete is going in around the perimeter. Next week they should be putting in the base layer of the track. By August they should be getting surfacing and painting done.

The district should be getting some replacement equipment this week as well.

Five special education pieces of playground equipment are coming too.

The board approved the second reading of Policy DID - Audit. The only change is adding capital leases of $50,000.

They canvassed the June school board election and Jay Ryan and Kristen Daggett were sworn in for the new term. Voter turnout was less than 5 percent.

Daggett was elected as board president and Conrad Pick was elected vice president.

Board members were appointed to the various committees: TASK - Chad Meyer; Policy Committee - Jason Bennett and Ryan; Equalization - Daggett; Sprouts - Ryan; Library Board - Pick; Finance Committee - Ryan and Meyer; Legislative Representative - Bennett; Continuous School Improvement Committee - Daggett and Meyer; COVID-19 - Daggett and Bennett; Facility Long-Range Planning/Construction - Pick and Bennett.

Gloria Woodring and Michaela Thorstenson were appointed to the Library Board as community members.

The board set their board meeting schedule for the next year. The board typically meets the second Monday of the month with the exception of October and April to move off of holidays. All board meetings will move to a 5 p.m. start time with public input moving to be right before board reports.

The board approved keeping the 2023-24 school year meal prices the same as the 2022-23 school year. The breakfast price for all grades is $1.50. Lunch prices for elementary is $2.85, middle school $3.05 and high school $3.15.

They also approved activities admission prices at the same rate as last year with adults at $5, senior citizens and students in grades 6-12 are $3 and students in grades K-5 with a supervised adult are free.

The cost for activity passes are: adults - $60, students (TASD 6 -12th) - $30, students in JK-5 and younger children are free when accompanied by a supervising adult, age 55 years and over - $40, family pass (parents and TASD JK-12 students only) $120, and senior citizens 65 and older residing in the Tea Area School District may receive a complimentary activity pass.

They set board pay at $60 per meeting.

The board adjusted the substituted teacher pay with a 7 percent increase and then rounded up to the nearest $5 increment. Non-certified substitutes pay will be $135 per day. Substitutes with a four-year degree will receive $145 per day. Long-term subs with 15 consecutive days for the same staff member will receive $155 per day for non-certified substitutes and $165 for substitutes with a four-year degree.

The board approved the following designations: Robert’s Rules of Order as parliamentary guidelines; Reliabank of Tea and US Bank as official depositories of district funds; the board president, vice president and business manager as authorized signatures for the district checking and savings accounts excluding the imprest and trust checking account; and designate the business manager and human resources director as authorized signatures for the imprest and trust account; the superintendent and business manager as authorized signatures for the district; authorize the business manager to invest and borrow money; the business manager as the individual responsible for compliance with SEC policy and procedures, continuing disclosure requirements, and implementation and maintenance of training and records; authorize the business manager to pay the utilities and benefit premiums as needed; the business manager and superintendent as official purchasing agents for the district; Tea Weekly as the official newspaper; Woods, Fuller, Shultz & Smith, P.C. as legal counsel for the district; authorize the business manager to institute the school lunch program; appoint the curriculum director as federal programs director; appoint the Frontier principal as administrator of the Title I program; designate the business manager as official signature of the Title I program; appoint the curriculum director as administrator of the Title II program; designate the business manager as official signature of the Title II program; appoint the Frontier principal as administrator of the Title III program; designate the business manager as official signature of the Title III program; appoint the curriculum director as administrator of the Title IX program; appoint the superintendent as administrator in charge in emergency situations and to set a chain of command in the superintendent’s absence identified by the organizational chart per building; appoint the superintendent and school resource officer as the truancy officers for the district; approve membership in the Associated School Boards of South Dakota (ASBSD) for the 2023-2024 school year; approve membership in the Large School Organization for the 2022-2023 school year; adopt state rates for mileage (51 cents per mile for use of a privately owned vehicle, covering all incidental expenses. If a privately owned vehicle is used when a district vehicle is available, reimbursement is 28 cents per mile) and meals breakfast - $6, lunch - $14, dinner - $20, up to a maximum of $40 per day in-state; and, breakfast $10, lunch $18, dinner $28, up to a maximum of $56 for out-of-state if not provided in the conference/meeting registration; approve the business manager bond at $400,000; approve the adoption of the current school policy manual; approve the superintendent as Foster Care Point of Contact; and the borrowing resolution – “Whereas, there is occasionally insufficient money in any school district fund to meet current obligations, and adequate money in another fund to meet those obligations, the Business Manager shall be authorized to borrow from such fund without interest charged to the borrowing fund and no loan shall exceed two years in length.”

The board approved the new hires of Kellie Amdahl for transportation and Dana LeVan as drumline march.

They approved the annual plan for the Title/federal funds through the Consolidated Application. They also approved the Comprehensive Special Education Plan.

The board approved the Head Start lease renewal for space in the District Education Center in the amount of $9,010. They also approved the high school freshmen class dues of $5.

The board approved voting for Ryan Rollinger of Harrisburg and Adam Shaw of Madison Central for the SDHSAA election.

The board held first readings of Policy - Public Input Section KD that would remove Policy K because it is duplicated in section B in the policy manual, Policy - Public Input Section BDDH and Policy - Sex Offender Section JFCL.