(Griswold) Prom and Graduation options were discussed at the Griswold School Board meeting Monday evening.
Superintendent Dave Henrichs said as a District they want to do their best to provide these opportunities for their kids, but of course this is unusual times. The Board asked that they extend the possibility of Prom to June 28th. Henrichs said that’s not necessarily the date Prom will be on, they’re just going to try to fit it in somewhere between the first part of June and the end of June based upon what type of restrictions may have lifted or still in place.
“If we’re not able to have Prom by the end of June then most likely it will be cancelled,” said Henrichs.
Two options were discussed for graduation.
“One was to do a virtual graduation which would involve many components such as the speakers being videotaped individually, having graduates report to school in small numbers to actually pick up their diploma and get their picture taken, of course that would be videoed along with that possibly a slide or two about each student about their accomplishments. We could also involve Jostens as they have some programming things for us; they have rights Pomp and Circumstance so that could be included on the videotape. But at the end of all that we would have a video with all those things put together that each student would get one and then we could either put it on Facebook or put it on YouTube or those types of media sources that the rest of the public could view that,” explained Henrichs.
The other option is to postpone it to a later date and try to do it live. The Board asked the High School Principal to survey all of the seniors and determine what their preference is and then they will go that direction. Those surveys have been sent out to the seniors and they are due back tomorrow.
The Board also gave the FFA Adviser authority to go ahead and begin sales at the Greenhouse under certain restrictions.
“The Greenhouse, we will allow two people in there at a time. We will have hand sanitizer available for both entrance and exit. There will be directional arrows on the floor as the aisles are not real wide and that way it will help practice social distancing,” said Henrichs.
Henrichs said some students may be recruited to help with the Greenhouse sales and the planting of the test plots with the permission of the students and their parents.
The Griswold School Board approved: the Master Contract for School Based Interventionist, as well as the Handbook; the Master Contract for Technology Coordinator and the Technology Coordinator Human Resource Handbook; contract renewals for Certified Staff, Coaches/Sponsors, Administration, Quasi-Administrators, and Support Staff; and the Master Contract for Non-Certified Staff and the Non-Certified Human Resource Handbook.
“The teachers got a 2.5 total package increase which amounted to about 2.293 salary increase and the balance of the 2.5 percent was insurance,” explained Henrichs.
Henrichs said they also added a new benefit to their support staff.
“That was to provide them with $10,000 worth of life insurance. We thought it was a great thing, another benefit for our staff. The cost to the District is $14.40 per year, per employee,” said Henrichs.
The Board also passed a CARES Act Amendment which allows their employees to take advantage of the flexible spending account to get reimbursed for over-the-counter medicines and those kinds of things.
The School Board discussed book fees for 2020-2021. Henrichs said the District, for the past many years, has imposed a technology fee for students and they are getting away from that. He said it was $40 per student per year and they are switching that to a book fee and reducing the price to $30 per student.
The Board approved the following resignations: Alex Wulfekuhle – Elementary Teacher and Teresa Engler – Middle School/High School Para Educator/Head Cross Country Coach/Assistant High School Girls Track Coach.
The Board approved the following new hires: Jeri Orstad – School Nurse, and Brooke Palmer -Dance Team Coach.
