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Paynesville Press - August 20, 2003

District #741 School Board meeting, Tuesday, August 12

The Paynesville Area School Board took the following actions at their meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 12.

•The board agreed to allow the athletic field just to the north of the high school student parking lot - approximately three acres - to be used for a community aquatic park, but reserved final approval until the best method of making the transaction can be determined and until agreements with the city and township over parking lot maintenance and athletic field replacements can be reached.

•The board approved a new two-year transportation contract with Paynesville Motor and Transfer. The base bid for 2003-04 is $486,580, which includes an $8,500 reduction for dropping one route and a two percent increase otherwise. The base contract for 2004-05 will be based on the percent change in the 2004 Midwest Consumer Price Index.

The new contract also includes rate increases for special bus trips and a rate of 55¢ per mile for approved nonresident students who open enroll at Paynesville.

•The board approved six stops for 2003-04 where, for safety reasons, the school bus will not use the eight-way light system and stop sign: the Jerry Humbert residence on Highway 55; the Delwin Liebrenz residence on Highway 55; the John Fredrick residence on Minnie Street; the stop at Grace United Methodist Church on River Street; the Ron Mergen residence on Mill Street; and the Allison Janssen residence on Highway 55.

•The board approved reinstating the cheerleading program for wrestling and hiring Sandy Spanier as coach if the squad can raise enough money to cover the costs of the program by the start of practice. Just the basic program costs $2,000, not including the costs if the team qualifies for the state tournament.

The squad already has $500 in its activity account, and each girl would be expected to pay an activity fee of $75, leaving just over $1,000 to earn through fund raising.

•The board received an oral request by Lee and Barb Lund, owners of the Punkin Patch, to have bus service to their daycare facility. Punkin Patch now has a sidewalk, installed during the Lake Avenue street project this summer, and according to the district's transportation policy does not merit bus service.

The Lunds argued that bus service would be safer for kids and more convenient for parents.

The district and its bus contractor, Paynesville Motor and Transfer, used to provide bus service, but the current transportation policy does not provide bus transportation within the triangle formed by Highways 23, 55, and 124 except in certain exceptions.

A couple board members, administration, and the bus contractors plan to meet to see what options exist for the Lunds. One option suggested at the meeting was for the Lunds to contract privately with parents for bus transportation.

•The board approved a teaching contract for Chad Campbell as media specialist in the elementary school, for the 2003-04 school year.

•The board approved an updated job description for athletics coordinator Kyle Nehowig.

•The board approved a resignation request from Jo Flanders, media assistant.

•The board approved accepting low dairy bids from Kemps/Oak Grove, opting for firm bids of 15.5¢ for whole white cartons, $2.45 for whole white gallons, 14.5¢ for two percent cartons, $2.35 for two percent gallons, 13¢ for skim cartons, $2.25 for skim gallons, and 14.2¢ for chocolate cartons.

•The board accepted low bakery bids from Pan-o-Gold for 62¢ per loaf of white bread, 66¢ per loaf of white sandwich bread, 70¢ per loaf of wheat bread, 68¢ per dozen of hamburger buns, 68¢ per dozen of weiner buns, $1.50 per dozen of foot-long weiner buns, and $1.30 per dozen for four-inch sub sandwiches.

•The board tabled a proposal to charge kindergarten students $10 per year for lunch break. The proposal was made to help subsidize milk costs, but the board opted not to charge, wanting to keep milk break available to all.



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