The West Liberty Community School District Board of Education met as usual on Monday, May 6, in the Elm Street Boardroom.
All five board members were present, as well as Secretary Abbey Ortiz, Superintendent Shaun Kruger, and Andrew Genz.
The agenda included a review of the agreement with the WLEA and the Superintendent's Report.
The West Liberty Education Association, the local teachers' union, has been in discussions with the superintendent to ratify their agreement.
"We facilitated that meeting with them, I think everything went very well," Supt. Kruger said.
New Iowa legislation called for adjustments to teacher pay, and the district has been working hard to fit it into the budget.
Iowa lawmakers recently signed a new bill regarding teacher salary minimums, and $23 million has been added to Teacher Salary Supplement funds.
"So basically what we did," Ortiz said, "was just built in however much of that additional TSS it took on each of the steps to get to those minimums."
"Someone asked about the sustainability of this," Kruger said, "as long as legislation doesn't change the law, TSS is going to be in place a long time."
"TSS changes here and there," Ortiz said, "it's based on enrollment, so it fluctuates every year."
The Superintendent's Report was a highlight of the meeting. Superintendent Shaun Kruger provided an update on the new athletic complex.
"I see it being used this spring for spring activities," Kruger said, "I know the kids have enjoyed it, parents as well. Still some work to do."
The electricians have been hard at work lighting the place up.
"They're running power to the scoreboards, the press boxes, the dugouts," Kruger said. "So it'll be good to have those things hooked up."
The grass seed is sprouting, and the area is looking much greener lately, as the weather has been cooperative.
The new athletic complex has already been used as a practice field for the Penn State Women's Softball team, who visited Iowa City for a tournament.
"Hopefully, it'll bring some more attention to the athletic complex that we have and bring some future events out here to the fields as well," Kruger said.
The list of end-of-year events at the district is long. So far this month, the district has seen three nights of high school musicals, final performances of the music departments at the High School and the Middle School, FFA's yearly plant sale. Golf, soccer, and track are in full swing, not to mention prom, which occurred just recently.
"Tons of kids are participating in the activities," Kruger said, "which is always great to see."
The month of May isn't going to slow down any time soon. Senior Awards night is this week, state championships are happening soon, High School graduation is on the agenda, and so is Kindergarten graduation.
The board meeting ended in less than fifteen minutes, and the board adjourned before dinner could cool.
The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 20, at 6 p.m.
Items on the agenda include a review of the contract with Tanager and the establishment of meal prices, registration fees, and preschool tuition.