Baxter school board discusses CMB sharing

BAXTER — In the first regular meeting of 2016, the Baxter school board discussed the CMB sharing agreement and examined the advantages and disadvantages of potentially hosting the shared high school with Collins-Maxwell Community School District.

Following a Jan. 6 whole grade sharing joint board meeting between Baxter and Collins-Maxwell, each school board was given a homework assignment to think of pros and cons of their facilities to begin the process of deciding which town will be the location of the shared high school.

The pros, brainstormed by the Baxter school board Monday night, included having high quality athletic facilities, a large lunch room, and more infrastructure such as Internet, heating and cooling.

“I think one of our biggest pros is our community support and our bond passing history,” board member Kim Tichy said.

The board then discussed weaknesses of the facility if it were the host of the shared high school. The main disadvantage, agreed upon by the entire board, is parking space. Baxter Community School is currently landlocked for parking, which leaves many Baxter students having to park on the street.

If Baxter was the host of CMB’s high school, it would then have to accommodate the high school students from the Collins-Maxwell area as well.

Baxter Superintendent Todd Martin ended the brainstorming session after 10 minutes with a plan to conclude the talks during February’s regular meeting.

“I think we should maybe get some feedback from the teachers too about what would make a good high school and a good middle school,” board member Cory Robinson said. “The teachers are in here every day.”

“I think what we have to kind of agree on is to respect the process and whatever the outcome is and whatever each location is determined to be, that’s going to be the best for the students,” board member Colette Kunkel said. “You have to respect that choice and reason that well to our partner.”

Collins-Maxwell Superintendent Jason Ellingson was present Monday night as Baxter moved its regular meetings to the fourth Monday of every month beginning in January so a member from each board could attend each others’ board meetings.

The Baxter school board will wrap up the discussion next month.

Lego Team

A pair of Baxter Lego teams competed again at this year’s Lego league competition and they presented their experiences to the school board Monday.

Seven Lego league students explained to the board the challenges they faced at the competition, such as transmission problems and programming issues of their devices, and how they overcame the obstacles.

The team also shared their core values during the competition, which was to have fun, set goals, respect others, improve skill sets and not to judge other teams’ work or performance.

The Lego team didn’t win, but it scored more points in the competition this year than it has in previous years.

“These kids did a fabulous job. They all worked really well together, gave up recesses on Wednesdays, stayed after school and worked Sunday evenings, so it was fabulous,” elementary teacher Sonya Gunderson said.

Superintendent’s report

As part of the superintendents report, Todd Martin began initial talks about next year’s master calendar and asked for any feedback from the board or principals before the committee begins working out the 2016-17 calendar.

High school principal Rob Luther said he would like to see a few changes, if possible, to next year’s calendar.

“I would like to just find a way to finish (the fall semester) before break. I think everybody would like that,” Luther said. “With Collins-Maxwell, I would like to match as closely as possible. Days off for one and not the other is just tough athletically. I know it’s not all about athletics, but it does help when we do a better job of getting those closer.”

Contact Alex Olp at aolp@jaspercountytribune.com