Board ready for levy

The bulk of the proposed levy is expected to cover $860,885 of the district’s personnel expenses including teachers, staff, administrative wages and benefits.

The next largest chunk of $482,000 is allocated for keeping the UpRiver School open, followed by $365,000 to fund extra-curricular activities across the district, including stipends, benefits for extra staffing and transportation expenses for sports and clubs.

The remainder is eaten up by safety, security and maintenance ($198,000), curricular materials ($100,000) and the purchase of a bus ($68,500),

Superintendent Alica Holthaus will present the levy proposal to various community groups over the course of the next several weeks. Last month district staff shared a visual aid to help people better understand the district’s supplemental levy.

“It was very helpful to be able to see it while you were explaining it,” trustee Beth Halvorsen said. “It really drives the point home.”

Mrs. Halvorsen also noted that the language on the proposed ballot could be confusing.

“Taxpayers will still be paying the same amount,” she said. “Because the current levy is expiring and we are not asking for additional funding, we are just asking to have another levy approved that will continue to allow us to operate as we have been doing.”

Trustee Sandy Kennelly said the district has kept the levy at the same dollar amount since 2015.

“We’ve tightened our belt and the state has come through with some additional money to help make that possible,” she said.

The estimated average annual cost to the taxpayer is a tax of $210 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. The proposed levy would replace the existing one that expires June 30, 2020.

The levy election is March 14.

• • •

The board reviewed a policy proposal having to do with memorials on school property. Superintendent Alica Holthaus said she had been working on the policy since 2017 and has not since than found an appropriate time to introduce it with all the loss of life that has hit the district over the last few years. The new policy establishes guidelines for memorials. Superintendent Holthaus stated that the purpose of the policy is to allow for public grieving for a respectful period of time and then to allow for the business of school to move forward. The goal is to maintain a sense of respect for the dead, fairness to the ones left behind and to also protect students, she said.

• • •

The board set a schedule for completing their search for a new superintendent. The district will accept applications for the position and review the applications and narrow down the options at a special meeting Feb. 22. They will then review the candidates references and invite selected ones to the district office for a public meet and greet March 16 followed by an interview the next day. A candidate will be selected and an offer of employment made by March 27.

• • •

Angela Schultz will resign from her position as counselor at the St. Maries High School, effective Aug. 31, 2023.