CHAMOIS — Chamois R-1 preschool patrons will see an increase of $5 per day, from $15 to $20, for the new four-day-per-week in 2023-24, board members decided at their July 8 meeting. The rate for the Chamois R-1 preschool has not been raised since the preschool started in 2016. Superintendent Lyle Best noted that the base rate for the region, according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), is $24 per day.

Chamois has so far been unsuccessful in hiring an additional teacher for the preschool, so there will be a limit of just 10 students unless another teacher is found before the school year starts.

Board member Kelby Busch was concerned about how the school would select which students would be able to attend preschool this year.

“The issue is there are only so many students per teacher, and that’s one to 10,” Best said. “If there is more than that signed up, you have to eliminate those students to accommodate the number of staff.”

Best noted that he had talked to one parent about the situation but would not disclose that parent or student’s name in an open meeting.

“It sounds like that person has a spot, and that’s not really fair to other kids who aren’t guaranteed a spot in preschool,” Busch said.

Best explained that the preschool teacher has an order of when students were signed up for preschool and had all their paperwork completed. Students will be selected based on that order.

“So, it’s the first 10 that sign up and the first 10 that get into preschool,” Busch asked.

“Pretty much,” Best said. “If people don’t like it, they can get behind me because I don’t like it either, but that’s the situation.”

He noted that if the situation changes, the preschool would be able to accept more kids, but as of right now, the preschool teacher would be making decisions in mid-July.

Busch thanked Best for explaining the process.

In other business, the board approved meal pricing for the 2023-24 school year, opting to leave student lunches the same as last year at $2.65 per meal. Adult lunches will be raised to $3.75, a $.25 increase over last year. Breakfast prices will increase for students ($1.75 per meal, up from $1.50) and adults ($2.50 per meal, a $.25 jump). Extra milk will also increase from $.35 to $.40 per carton.

Chamois R-1 could have raised student lunches but kept the price the same since food services ended last school year with a positive balance. The school district is required to use a DESE formula to determine meal prices.

“The formula shows that student lunches should be at $2.75 per meal,” Best said. “If we can get around raising student lunch this year, I think that we should.”

Best explained that each meal costs about $3 more to make than the school charges.

• Board members approved purchasing several curriculum programs for the upcoming school year. The school district will purchase a six-year subscription to Core Knowledge Language Arts-Amplify (CKLA) for $11,568. There shouldn’t be any additional cost after the initial purchase. The curriculum is for Language arts for grades 3-5.

“The teachers want what is going to best align with the most recent Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) training,” Best explained. “We want to have the resources (the teachers) need to comply with the training they received.”

K-2 already has a curriculum that aligns with LETRS training, and the teachers did not feel they needed an additional curriculum.

“The staff feels this is the best option to match up their training with the needs of the students,” Best explained.

The school board approved $10,274 for the Bridges Mathematics-Math Learning Center curriculum for K-5.

“This looks like a good program,” Best explained.

Chamois will reduce its expense by buying consumable items readily available online or locally instead of packaging them with the program.

In the first year, the district will receive the student workbooks with the subscription cost; for the following years, Chamois will have the option of purchasing the workbooks at an additional cost or printing them off at the school.

Best explained the teachers believe this program will be helpful to students and good for teaching math.

The school board also approved the math curriculum “Desmos Math-Amplify” for junior high math and Algebra I for $1,072 for a one-year subscription.

“We are excited about this program,” Best said. “It’s designed to get kids more engaged and interested with a combination of technology and paper. It is very structured for teachers.”

• Summer school will start on July 31 and run through Aug. 11, Monday through Friday (Fridays will be set aside for field trips). There are currently over 40 kids signed up. Principal Jeremey McKague encouraged students to get signed up, even if they missed the first deadline.

Summer school is open for next year’s students in grades K-6.

Chamois R-1 will participate in the summer food service program with the Department of Health and Human Services during summer school. Breakfast and lunch will be offered to anyone in the community under 18 years of age, though the meals must be eaten at school. The school will post the information around town and in the Unterrified Democrat.

• The school gym may not be getting refinished over the summer. Best noted the school reached out to Luebbert’s Flooring, and the company did not know when they would be able to refinish the floors.

“They are now thinking mid-August, which doesn’t work for us,” Best explained.

Luebbert’s is going to look at the schedule and get back to the school district with a plan.

“Worst-case scenario, we won’t be able to move forward with the sanding and painting on the floor this year, which is not the end of the world,” Best said. “We were just looking forward to it, so it is disappointing.”

The repainting of the Pirate murals in the gym has been completed.

Best said they hope to complete the basic refinish that is done annually before volleyball practice starts on Aug. 7.

Chamois R-1 has yet to hear back on a schedule for building a new handicap-accessible ramp into the gym.

• The school board approved outstanding expenses for the month of $108,676.71.

•Chamois R-1 had the following account balances: general ($1,894,660), special (-$35,107), and capital projects ($590,082).

• Board will meet at 6:45 on Aug. 9 to set the tax rate, and the regular meeting will follow at 7.

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

Best told the board that the safety laminate added to the entrances and some of the windows had been completed.

The school district has completed some cybersecurity measures including the multi-factor authentication requirement.

“There are only a couple of machines in the district that will require that, but it is completed,” Best said.

The last thing the school district needs to do is the Incident Response Plan. The school district will work on implementing that as soon as possible.