Thursday evening the Gladbrook-Reinbeck School Board held another lengthy meeting as they heard from a former teacher and students and discussed among themselves the future of the Gladbrook-Reinbeck District. With continued declining enrollment and students opting to open enroll out of the district, the time has come when G-R has to look at a district with 2 buildings vs.3, and which one do you close. Terri Luehring, a former high school and middle school teacher, shared with the board the comparison of a middle school vs. junior high and former student Ashley Denbow Stephen said she was part of the middle school concept at G-R and is now a middle school teacher. The board gave the Community Committee of 20 members two options to look at, one being 7-12 in Reinbeck and K-6 in Gladbrook. Having 7-12 at the Gladbrook high school building, the middle school concept would no longer exist. At a work session earlier this month, a suggestion was made to have K-2 and 9-12 in Reinbeck and K-8 at Gladbrook. This scenario would allow each community to keep their K-2. Board member Doug Rowe said the only way to have K-2 in each community; some students would need to be bussed to equalize class size. If parents are not willing to bus students to have 2 Kindergarten classes, this proposal is not viable. In October Joe Kramer and Jeff Kruse were hired as facilitators to assist the Community Committee work through the process of what option to accept, K-6 in Gladbrook and 7-12 in Reinbeck or K-6 and 7-12 both in Reinbeck. A budget was approved for $7,500 that would allow for six community meetings. The next scheduled meeting is January 7th and that would be their 6th trip. Several board members felt the facilitators should come back for an additional meeting with the co-chairs of the Community Committee to help decipher the pros and cons they came up with, this would be at an additional cost of $1,250. After considerable discussion, the board on a 5-2 vote approved the facilitators to attend one more meeting if needed. In other business, two representatives from Walsh Security made a presentation on security and building access solutions. The security access would provide card access for 8 doors with cameras at all doors. Additional information was requested so there will be more information at a future meeting. Janean Skovgard and Cheryl Pease spoke to the board about a Reinbeck Wellness Center. In November the Reinbeck Economic Development Board selected a committee of over 20 people to represent private and public stakeholders to research the development of a community wellness center for the City of Reinbeck and the surrounding area. Their vision is to improve overall wellness for all ages; improve the value proposition for why people should want to live in Reinbeck and provide resources that can be used by G-R Schools. The facility would have an exercise room, two full-size basketball courts, weight room and an indoor track. Up-front cost is in the range of $2.5 million and $3 million. On-going operational costs will come from membership dues, continued fundraising and foundational endowments. The committee has started to research grant funding, private fundraising and has talked with the City of Reinbeck about a potential bond referendum. Two locations being considered are either the northeast or southeast corner of the Reinbeck Elementary property. They are not requesting funds or an ultimate commitment but would like to begin the discussion of having the RWC located on the Elementary property and the services RWC could provide for G-R Schools. At the start of the meeting a public hearing was held for an early start waiver for 2015-16. Supt. Shawn Holloway shared a letter from Brad Buck of the Department of Education stating that effective immediately, the Department will no longer automatically grant waivers of the school start date requested for the 2015-16 school year. Holloway said the earliest G-R could start would be August 31st. He said the official calendar will not be set until late winter or early spring and will try to match the calendar with other Cedar Valley West schools as much as possible. The audit report for 2013-14 as presented by Deb Oleson was approved as was the Cafeteria Benefits Plan Amendment which implements the new $500 carryover of unused Health Flexible Spending. Written reports and updates were received from Waylon Bern for Building and Grounds; Chad Bixby for Technology; John Olson Athletic Director; Mark Possehl for Transportation; Principal Scot Aden, Drop Out Prevention Coordinator Jason Strub and Sherri Walker Cedar Valley West Coordinator. Approved under the Consent Agenda was the contract with Marshalltown Learning Academy, special education contract with Grundy Center, post-secondary enrollment for Hannah Martin, Hanna Christopher and Nicole Adair and a early graduate request for Jakob Foos. Josh Hemann and Mandy Gehring gave daycare updates for Reinbeck and Gladbrook. Hemann said there are approximately 102 kids in the daycare program and Gehring said there are 44 families with 64 kids. Reinbeck has approximately 24-25 kids in the before and after school program while Gladbrook does not. Both are doing okay financially. Holloway went over some capital project updates which included adding another wrestling room to also include storage space, updating the kitchens at the high school and in Gladbrook, lighting and ceiling bid for the 3rd floor of the high school, asbestos removal at the Gladbrook building. Buildings and Grounds Coordinator Waylon Bern suggested the board look at replacing the lighting at the football field as it is becoming difficult to find replacement ballasts. With Bern leaving, Holloway has discussed with Grundy Center and Dike-New Hartford sharing a buildings and grounds coordinator. Both districts are willing to do operational sharing but Holloway said he prefers working with Dike-New Hartford as then Bern would come back to the district for a day and any additional hours needed on a salary basis. He will present a 28-E agreement to them. Upcoming meetings are: January 7 – Community Meeting, Reinbeck January 14 – Work Session – Reinbeck January 21 – Open Community meeting, Gladbrook January 28 Open Community meeting, Reinbeck January 29 – G-R Board meeting Check the G-R website for starting time.