School Board approves ARC Curriculum for Middle School, approves bleacher upgrade

The Clarke Community School Board meeting May 10 began with the board approving the 2021 calendar changes. Then the board moved into the public comment section. Pam Sereg spoke during this section to acknowledge the teachers and staff that she has worked with during her 22 years at Clarke Schools for Teacher Appreciation Week.

“I would like to publicly acknowledge the administrators I directly deal with on the elementary level. Under Jody and Becca’s leadership I have noticed teachers and students who are motivated to learn, teachers aligning lessons with standards, kids are involved in their learning and they’re doing hands-on things,” said Sereg.

Financials

The financial report was given from Superintendent Steve Seid. He told the board he was happy with how things looked.

“The Purchase Property Services, which is down just a hair under $68,000. That could be things like utilities. I’m thinking that we’re seeing some benefit from the LED lighting that we’ve established across the district. It’s saving the district a fair amount of money,” said Seid.

Approvals

The board approved server upgrades, a Graceland University agreement and a Simpson College agreement.

ARC Curriculum was approved by the board for the middle school.

“It’s really the exact same formats and function. You get the same kinds of materials just at an appropriate grade level,” said Curriculum Director Jean Bahls. “The teachers all had a chance to look through it and we had a couple of different meetings about it. We heard a couple negative impressions from a teacher perspective but the consensus was that they loved it and they’re really excited to have it.”

The football field home bleachers will be getting an upgrade by Expert’s Edge, LLC over the summer for $78,640.10. The work would include dismounting the 150 feet tall grandstand, saving the plank to be re-used and preparing existing frame for re-planking and upgrading the 10 row, 150 feet and 30 inches of elevated exterior bleachers with ADA features. The upgrade will include powder coated risers in school colors for the body of the bleacher stand.