School board plans for 2015-16 year

The Board of Trustees for Hot Springs County School District No. 1 met on Wed., July 15 to discuss final budgeting items and other business as the start of the 2015-2016 school year approaches.

One of the most important items of the evening is the receipt of full accreditation received by the district from Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow.

The Department of Education reviewed staff certification, NCA accreditation, assurances and district systems before making the recommendation.

County taxpayers will be happy to hear that mill levies for education will not change for the coming school year, remaining at 33.250 mills.

The estimated assessed valuation for the county is $231,459,737, higher by nearly $4 million dollars over last year.

Of course, with a projected decrease in property values looming on the horizon, the board wants to ensure they have adequate funding for essential programs and therefore asked business manager Colleen Anderson to research how many mills the district is allowed in the event they need to be raised in the future.

The board approved signing an ongoing agreement with the Recreation District for use of school district owned vehicles (buses) for transportation as well as a waiver of fees for the rec district’s use of school facilities such as the gymnasiums in the various school buildings.

The board also approved a contract for audiology services for the year with Big Horn Basin Hearing, Inc., and physical therapy services through Gottsche Rehabilitation Center for the coming school year.

On third and final reading, the Transportation and Athletic Handbooks for the 2015-2016 school year were unanimously adopted as well as the student handbooks, on second reading, for the middle school.

The board also approved transferring Kevin Gerber from special education paraprofessional to behavioral intervention paraprofessional for the coming year, transferred Brockton Merrill from fifth grade teacher to third grade and transferred John Gores from third grade teacher to literacy instructional facilitator, effective Aug. 21