Teaching contracts are approved by Belle Plaine board

By JUDY SCHLESSELMAN, Star Press Union reporter

The Belle Plaine Board of Education May 20 approved a teachers’ contract for the 2009-2010 year with a total package increase of 3.48 percent.

Negotiated with the Belle Plaine Education Association, the master contract increases the district’s base salary by $600 to $27,400.

Changes were made to emergency and disability leave, as well as language regarding health insurance.

 The board voted a 3.48 percent pay raise for several district positions, including principal Dennis Phelps, Transportation Director Jan Kaplan, Maintenance Director Rod Blount, Superintendent Secretary Stacey Tomlin and Activities Director Greg Walton. The board did not approve a contract for building head Cherie Brown because the district is considering expanding her duties. Superintendent Bill Lynch and Brown and will meet to discuss the position.

The one-year contract provides Tomlin $500 a month for duties as board secretary and gives her, Blount and Kaplan a health insurance benefit equal to the teachers – single coverage plus $190 a month. As principal, Phelps receives the family health insurance benefit. His contract is for two years.

Also approved was issuance of extra curricular contracts and a two-year agreement with the Teamsters Union for the support staff. Support staff salaries will increase 3 percent each year of the contract. Food service workers will also receive a 3 percent pay raise next year.

Construction project

Belle Plaine Junior High and High School Plans

Longfellow Elementary Plans

The board approved the plans, specifications and revised estimated cost for the school building project for the additions and renovations to Longfellow and the high school. 

Architect John Darveau of Struxture Architects presented the final sketches of both buildings. He said the revised budget of $9,527,585 includes one extra classroom at Longfellow, additional site work at the high school track to accommodate eight-lanes and a 15-foot wide storage room on the north side of the gym.

Darveau said he expects bids to come in favorably. Nine general contractors are currently looking at the project, including one from Minnesota. Bids will be opened Thursday, June 4 at 2 p.m. and after architect review, could be let as early as June 11. That is the day the board set for its June meeting, scheduled at 6:30 p.m.

If bids come in under $9 million, two additional classrooms at Longfellow could be added to the project at an estimated cost of around $250,000, Darveau said.

Construction is expected to begin this summer.

School Calendar

The board adopted the calendar for the 2009-2010 school year. The first day of classes will be Wednesday, Aug. 26, with a one-hour early dismissal scheduled Aug. 26-28. Classes will not be held Sept. 7 (Labor Day), Nov. 13, Nov. 25-27 (Thanksgiving break), Dec. 23- Jan. 1 (holiday break), Jan. 18 (teacher workday), Feb. 19 and April 2-5 (spring break). The last day of classes

will be May 27.  Several makeup days are built into the schedule in case school is cancelled due to bad weather.

Resignations

The board accepted the resignation of Dennis Kurriger as junior high student council advisor and food service worker Nancy Landuyt. Both resignations are effective at the end of the current school year.

Program sharing

The Belle Plaine and HLV districts will continue to share German, Spanish and Vocational Agriculture teachers next year, following board approval. Lynch said the sharing program is ready to expand with the addition of two Advanced Placement (AP) social studies classes next year in Belle Plaine and one AP biology class at HLV. Lynch said principals and counselors in both districts have been working on the programs and several teachers will take AP training this summer.

Expansion of the sharing program could allow greater opportunities for students living in one district to take classes in the other, Lynch said.

Wrestling Room Addition

The board approved construction of a 25-by-40 foot metal addition to the high school wrestling room. Although the cost is estimated at just under $35,000, a $10,000 commitment from the Gold Medal Wrestling Club and use of volunteer labor should bring the total to under $30,000, Lynch said.  Future Gold Medal fundraisers will pay for the remainder of the project. The addition will be built on the north end of the present facility, with completion anticipated this fall, wrestling coach Bob Yilek later said.

In other business, the board:

– approved a budget amendment for the 2008-2009 year totaling $287,912 in the areas of instruction and total other expenditures. The increase in spending will not affect property tax. Approval followed a public hearing that drew no comments or questions.

– Designated Chelsea Savings Bank and MidwestOne Bank as depositories for school funds, with a maximum of $11 million allowed in each bank from bond revenue for the building project.

– approved a summer school program to be taught by Holly Tomlin and a 5th through 8th grade summer band program taught by Jack Schlesselman.

–changed the start time of future board meetings to 6:30 p.m.

UPDATED May 22, 2009 3:27 PM