HURON — School Board member Garrett Bischoff took the gavel at Monday evening’s school board meeting to open the official poll books taken from the School Board election held April 10, announcing that the two spots were filled by David Wheeler and Terry Van Berkum.
Wheeler received 432 votes, followed by Van Berkum with 377, while Lance Calkins totaled 131 votes, which the board approved with a roll call.
A good news report was presented by Roger Ahlers of the Technology Department, outlining the school’s progressing use of IPads.
“I wanted to say thank you to the school board to help us secure the funding for this ongoing program,” Ahlers said. “We just recently purchased our IPads for the coming year ,and we’re really excited about the form factor that we have chosen.”
A commonly reported issue with the IPads is the lack of keyboard, so the technology department has looked at several options, including bluetooth keyboards and regular connecting keyboards. The next step is to utilize cases that incorporate both breakage prevention and a keyboard that allows the user to easily transform their IPad into a laptop-style set up.
“The No. 1 issue you hear about with IPads is the lack of a keyboard,” explained Ahlers. “So over the past several years we’ve gone over several generations of how to use a keyboard along with the IPads.
“What we’re really excited for next year is we have upgraded our casing,” Ahlers said. “The outside cover comes right off, and with a small up charge you can get a case that has a keyboard directly attached to it. This gives the typical laptop format so if a student chooses to use that format, or they have a long writing assignment and want to use a keyboard for that, then we have options to be able to do that.”
The keyboards magnetically attach without the need for any batteries or wires, as it pulls power directly from the lighting port of the device.
In the Superintendent’s report, Terry Nebelsick covered several topics, including an update on the video transmission of events at Arena and Tiger Stadium.
“This is something that is happening in a lot of schools, in particular the AA schools,” Nebelsick said.
Activities Director Terry Rotert explained the process of the camera system, which is an automatic system that requires no personnel to run it and gives members of the community the option to view games online at any time.
“Our webcasting we have right now is not very good because the camera is up in the crow’s nest and I often get complaints about not being able to see very well,” Rotert explained. “So this is really something for parents and grandparents, if they can’t be at the game, they can log in and view the Tigers.”
This allows flexibility for game viewing plus more games will be filmed, with a better quality video.
“We will be able to stream all of our games, not just certain varsity games, Rotert added. “With that obviously comes a cost. The Huron Community Foundation has been generous enough to award a $5,000 grant to the school district to buy the camera for the Arena, and between the Quarterback Club and Huron Junior Athletics, we have the funds to secure the second camera, at approximately $9,500.”
There are several streaming options with the Pixellot camera system, one of which is the possibility of a sponsor to pay the $3,000 annual service fee, alternatively viewers can pay a monthly fee, seasonal pass, or an annual fee.
Nebelsick also noted the Mathematic Instructional Materials will be available for the public to view in the Instructional Planning Center at the Huron Arena from noon to 5 p.m. on Wednesday and from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday.
Nebelsick discussed the changing needs for special education across the state, and met with administrators Monday morning to discuss what needs to be done to ensure accurate diagnosis and investigations, plus the proper care and service for the diagnosis.
Congratulations and thank you’s were also extended by Nebelsick, which included the success of the 2018 prom, plus many more accomplishments in the district.
“I want to thank the building and grounds crew for exceptional work so that we could run school on Monday, coming out of the snow storm, and the transportation and our city that all worked to get us through that,” Nebelsick said.
In other business, the board approved three new hires, three contracts and six resignations in the district.
The next school board meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m., Monday, May 14, in the Instructional Planning Center.
