SCSD#3 Board Discusses Virtual Meetings

The March meeting of the SCSD#3 School Board of Trustees met on Wednesday, March 13 with all board members present. Superintendent Chase Christensen was not present.

One item on the agenda was the hiring of two assistant coaches, Misty Moore and PJ Rozema, for the spring track season. Activities director Jennifer Betz explained why she requested the two assistants,

She added that one of the assistants is certified to drive the suburban, so if they do have to split junior high and high school teams, they can do that. She also said she was proud of the high school boys’ and girls’ basketball teams during the previous basketball season.

Betz said she was working on making sure that everything the coaches do is documented to prove that they are following the policies that are in place. She wanted to be ‘pro-active’ should there be any problems in the future.

The board approved several policies, and approved two purchases exceeding $5000, both were bills that were concerned with the installment of the new fuel tanks. Head of Transportation Josh Johnson told the board the new tanks are up and working.

They also approved a letter of resignation for Caleb Green, Vo Ag and FFA advisor. They also moved to approve to advertise to hire a new Vo Ag and FFA advisor for the 2024-25 school year.

In discussion items, chairman Wade Betz introduced the idea of having virtual meetings, possibly doing two virtual meetings and then an in-person meeting. Betz said that BOCES does most of their meetings virtually.

The board members had positive thoughts on the idea, Trinity Lewis said she felt that perhaps more community people would join in on the board meeting sessions. She also mentioned that some meetings would have to be in person, and the board could decide on a meeting-by-meeting basis. “We can be flexible,” Chairman Betz said.

Jonathan Broersma, tech director, said that the smaller classroom worked better for virtual meetings than the multi-purpose room.

The board agreed to try a virtual meeting for the upcoming April 9th work session at 7 p.m. Virtual board meetings will be announced in advance.

The next community lunch will be held on April 3 at 11 a.m. Next regular board meeting will be held on April 10 at 7 p.m.