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Paynesville Press - October 20, 2004

School board meets candidates

By Bonnie Jo Hanson

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

*The board discussed educational issues with Sen. Michelle Fischbach (R-Paynesville) and candidates for state representative in District 14B: Republican Jim DeRose of Richmond and DFLer Larry Hosch of St. Joseph. Related story

*The board received a report on summer recreation this year from Community Education director Matt Dickhausen. Summer recreation had 481 total registrations with 817 participants in 13 offerings. Participation increased from 744 in 2003 to 817 in 2004.

Leading that increase were tennis (72 participants in 2004, up 39 from 2003); gymnastics (66 participants, up 38); and softball (84 participants, up 23). Baseball was still the most popular program (174 participants), followed by church softball (170 participants). One new program in 2004 was wrestling, with 31 participants.

Total costs for summer recreation in 2004 were $26,400, including $23,300 for salaries and supplies, $1,600 for swimming lessons, and $1,500 for field maintenance. Summer rec collected $15,800 in fees, with Community Education asking the city and township to split the remaining costs (roughly $5,300 for each entity).

*The board was informed by superintendent Todd Burlingame that he had only three visitors at his first Coffee with the Superintendent but they talked for 90 minutes.

*The board approved hiring Michael Schwandt as a special education van driver.

*The board changed the time of its meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 9. Burlingame and board members Mark Dingmann and Tami Stanger plan to visit the American Legion meeting that night, so the start of the school board meeting was changed to 8:30 p.m.



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