HURON The Huron School Board held its regular meeting Monday night, highlighted by a presentation on the Buchanan K-1 Centers Tiger Ticket, program.
Presented by building principal Heather DeBoer and including several educators, the program is guided by the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (PBIS) in the school.
Students earn tickets by showing positive behavior and doing good things. Originally, the goal was to present 500 tickets, for which the students were rewarded as a group with extended time on the playground for recess. That goal was easily met and the latest goal of 5,000 tickets has also just been achieved and for their positive behaviors, the students will be allowed to wear pajamas to school Wednesday, before they go on Thanksgiving brea.
Our next goal is 7,000 tickets, one of the teachers said, and that will be a Disco Dance Party for the kids.
When the student receive a ticket, one part goes into a drawing box for either Kindergarten or First Grade and the other part goes home to show their parents.
Each Friday, 21 names one for each classroom are drawn and those students are able to choose a prize from donated items. The educators showed a video of the students who have received a Tiger Ticket.
Buchanan K-1 also hosts Friendly Fridays, when an outside group comes and spends time with the school districts youngest students. Past groups include the Huron High School football team, the National Honor Society and more. DeBoer encouraged the board members to come and participate as well at a future Friendly Friday.
The other major discussion came on the introduction of a policy on the selection and adoption of library materials. Specific verbiage, stating that The school library does not check out obscene materials to individuals under the age of 18 without parental permission, is a required addition to current school policy on library materials.
Board member Ray Cardona stated that he would like to add that the school district will simply not purchase or supply obscene materials to students.
I think this just goes above and beyond what is stated, Cardona said.
School district curriculum director Linda Pietz said that the guidance and requirement of the added verbiage comes from the state library, through legislation that was passed in the last session.
We follow the state library policy and that is their requirement, Pietz said. It has been our policy to not have obscene or inappropriate materials in the school libraries already.
Cardona made a motion to his wishes, which was not seconded. As it is a policy change effort, the measure will receive a first reading at the next board meeting and board president Tim Van Berkum suggested that additional language could be presented at that time.
District Business Manager Kelly Christopherson requested permission to hire an engineer to assist in the bid process for new boilers in the middle school. As the boilers are expected to cost more than $500,000 and will need to be integrated into the current system, which was built in 1999, he suggested that hiring a professional engineer to oversee the bid preparation is called for. The board approved his request.
In other action, the board:
Heard that Ellie DeVries, a SPED Para Educator at the Buchanan K-1 Center, was chosen as the Classified Employee of the Month.
Approved seven new hires, for the purpose of including them under the school districts workmans compensation insurance.
Approved a request from Amanda Reilly, heading of the districts school nutrition program to apply for a $500,000 USDA grant for the USDAs Farm to School project.
Heard introductions of several General School Administration policies, both new and updated. These will also receive first readings at the Dec. 9 board meeting.
Approved a motion to go into executive session, with no action to be taken following the session.
The next school board meeting is 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 9, in the Instructional Planning Center, in the far southwest corner of the second floor of Huron Arena.
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