March 29, 2024

NCSD board approves meal price increase

Admin building to bear name of E.J.H. Beard

The Newton Community School District Board of Education approved an increase in school lunch prices at its Monday Meeting.

Per state requirements, the district raised lunch prices across the district to a $2.65 average, with elementary schools being $2.60 and Berg Middle School and Newton High School being $2.70. Adult meals will be $3.50, said the district’s food-service supervisor, Cristy Croson.

The district’s average price of lunch is $2.56 in 2015-16.

“The maximum average allowed is $2.78, unless it is raised by the state,” Croson said. “So we’ll be right at that mark next year (2017-18) for sure.”

The other main item of Monday’s meeting was a discussion and vote on the naming of the new administration building, which is nearing the end of its remodeling, and the Basics & Beyond program that will be among the programs and services housed there.

The building will be called the E.J.H. Beard Administrative Center — named after the well-known superintendent who served from 1892 to 1912 — and Basics & Beyond will be known as the W.E.S.T. program, for “Where Everyone Succeeds Together.”

The board’s next regular meeting is set for May 23 at Emerson Hough.

In other action Monday, the board:

• Heard from Iowa Sculpture Festival Linda Klepinger about a sculpture to be displayed soon at Emerson Hough Elementary School. She explained how grant for a sculpture at the school, which closed in 2010, was later used for the large cardinal that sits in front of Newton High School.

• Heard a report from Maintenance Supervisor Jack Suttek about efforts to move supplies between buildings as part of elementary school reconfiguration. About 2,500 copier-paper type boxes have been purchased and there are plans to use Newton Correctional Facility inmates and pallets loaned by Chris Barton of Realm, Inc. for the move, scheduled to begin close to June 6.

• Approved a personnel report that included the resignations of math teacher Allison Birdsall and Jill Gearhart at Newton High School, Amy Moore at Woodrow Wilson Elementary, preschool teacher Kristen Guarino and 46-year faculty Evelyn VanSickle, a paraprofessional at Berg Middle School.

• Approved the purchase of 2016 Kubota 39-horsepower riding mower to replace one that is no longer functional. Suttek said the purchase was happening slightly earlier than planned.

• Held a lengthy board-education general discussion on teacher salary expenditures, led by Superintendent Bob Callaghan. The district, which is still in the midst of contract negotiations with teachers, only has about $178,000 in “new money” for fiscal 2017.

• Approved Communications Innovators as the winning bidder for both 93 additional cameras at about $106,000 and for a 90-point wireless internet access network, for $44,000, for Newton High School. The camera coverage is expected to cover all hallway and common areas at the high school.

• Approved 2nd Wind Systems, Inc. as the supplier of about $32,000 in exercise equipment for the EJH Beard Center, to be used by WEST Academy and the district's disciplinary program.

• Approved the beginning of a district-wide Denison Culture Survey, with pricing to be determined by which survey elements and quantities are selected by administration. Board president Sheri Benson said price point was not an issue at this point.

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com