Powder River Examiner -

The Broadus School Board Trustees met for their regular monthly meeting on Monday evening, with all members in attendance and a relatively heavy work load on the agenda.

Trustee Kristy Elgin took her oath of office, followed by Marcus Mader giving the Student Council report.

The board accepted the resignation of Hattie Arithson as Assistant Golf Coach, and Barb Mitchell as Night Custodian. The board approved the hiring of several positions, including Faith Dyrud as Assistant Track Coach, and Elliott Barnhart and Monica Smith as Volunteer Track Coaches. Monica was also hired as Head Volleyball Coach.

A lengthy discussion was then held on allowing bus contractor Donna Giacometto to use a 20+ year old bus as a “spare” bus on her route. The contracts are currently written so that any bus used on a route needed to be no more than 20 years old, and Giacometto owns a 1995 bus with fairly low mileage that had been used primarily on paved roads, and she wished to use it on an emergency backup basis if her primary bus broke down. The contracts as written did not distinguish between a primary or secondary bus, only saying that any bus used must meet the criteria.

Discussion was held with Giacometto and other bus contractors on hand, metamorphosing into a conversation about Department of Transportation inspections on buses.

The board as well as contractors in attendance agreed that buses should have a DOT inspection done each year, and the language of the contracts was updated to include a mandatory DOT inspection done on each bus used by a contractor prior to the school year. The updated language also eliminated the 20 year age out policy, with the argument that an older bus that still passed inspection would be road worthy, as long as the bus was safe and approved.

The next item on the agenda was the approval of Ty Robinson as a substitute bus driver for John Robinson’s route.

A new bus stop on Powderville East Road was approved, at Garrett Harrington’s turnoff.

Bids for HVAC upgrades were discussed and approved, with the board appoving the winning bid from MC Electric for $210,000 to provide and install 15 mini-split AC units in portions of the school buildings which were still in need of the upgrades.

The board then approved the sale of a landlocked portion of school trust land to the EB Ranch. The 5 acre plot is a remnant of the old School District #89 school grounds, otherwise know as Bottles School.

According to Echoing Footsteps, the Bottles School was built in 1917 at the head of Pumpkin Creek, with 11 students in attendance. The school served the community until 1947, when it was destroyed by fire, and the school was moved to a different location but the land remained owned by the school district. Brief discussion was held on the sale, with the board approving a purchase price of $500 per acre and paperwork handled by the EB Ranch.

The sale puts the annual taxes from the land back into the public coffers, whereas before it was not generating value for the taxpayer.

A trustee and levy election resolution passed, paving the way for the possibility of an election later this spring.

Discussion then commenced on the re-hiring of District Clerk Dixie Mitchell, as well as Principal Denise Ternes. Superintendent Hansen praised both of their work efforts, commenting “We are lucky to have both Denise and Dixie,” and recommended hiring both for the 23-24 school year with a 2% raise commensurate with the other staff increase in wages.

Hansen spoke of the work load for the Clerk, which has steadily increased over the years as more reports and paperwork are required of the school by the state and other government entities. In order to help compensate the Clerk for the increased work load, an additional five personal leave days were approved for the Clerk, which could be sold back if not used.

Due to an upcoming meeting of superintendents in March which Superintendent Hansen plans to attend that would conflict with the March meeting date, the board approved moving the March monthly meeting to March 6th at 7 PM.