Superintendent Greg McNary announced he has begun contacting parents personally about the district’s plan to move all 45 of District 8’s seventh and eighth graders to Garden Valley School come fall.
The switch means there will be adjustments in where teachers are placed.
“Our upper elementary grades are going to Garden Valley. We’ll divide the K-6 students amongst Round Prairie School and Stony Creek,” McNary said.
He estimates the move involves about 30 seventh graders and dozen plus eighth graders. “It’s going to allow us to offer foreign language, advanced math classes, art classes geared toward junior high kids. We’ll be able to offer some computer classes we normally wouldn’t be able to offer. We’re going to be able to offer some career development type material that we normally haven’t been able to do.” He said the curriculum changes were spurred in part by North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (DPI) requirements. “We had to do this in the most cost-effective manner possible,” McNary said. “The state wanted us to offer more electives, and we wanted to do it in a high-quality manner. This is the plan we came up with.” He said other than transportation costs for busing, this could help the district save money. “We had two teachers resign, and we don’t have to fill those positions. It’s allowed us to use staffing more efficiently.”
McNary said each parent involved will receive a personal phone call, and he will answer any questions they have about the change. Some parents have called back with follow-up phone calls to ensure they have the information. “We don’t think a letter is the way to go in this situation. Our patrons deserve a personal call.”
McNary believes the switch will improve the quality of education and save the K-8 rural school system money in the long run. He estimates 90 K-6 students will still attend Stony Creek School and 50 more will remain at Round Prairie School.
Board members also agreed to submit plans of a new special education addition for the Stony Creek School to DPI. A school system must receive approval to proceed for any project over $25,000 in costs.
McNary said he has started to receive bids for the 19 feet by 20 feet addition to be placed just north of a double module unit at Stony Creek School. It will consist of dividing the area into four sound-proof rooms.
He said existing conditions aren’t ideal for the teachers or students.
“It’s been kind of an overlooked entity at Stony Creek. The rooms we have aren’t conducive to what they’re doing,” McNary said. “We had them in the basement, and the dividers were paper thin. The noise levels of the different entities were interfering with one another. Sometimes, the temperatures were tough to control.”
Tuesday’s meeting functioned as the annual meeting of District 8. Incumbent Suzi Lee was sworn in to serve three more years on the board.
Ed Maisey was re-elected president and Lisa Heinrich was reinstalled as vice president at the annual New Public School District 8 Board meeting early Tuesday morning.
Thomas Firemoon was reappointed as business manager.
In other annual business, McNary was appointed to coordinate the Title I, Title II, Title IV, and special education programs.
Firemoon was named to head the hot lunch program.
The school calendar was officially set for opening day to be Aug. 21. The board agreed to its early retirement package, but may modify the wording slightly. Board members later accepted the resignation of long-time Garden Valley third/ fourth grade instructor Jean Berger and approved an early retirement package for her. Her resignation was accepted, but with regrets of her leaving from both the board and administration. When budgeting allowed, Berger previously served as principal to assist former administration.
The next regular board meeting is slated for 6:45 a.m. Aug. 5 at the District 8 Administrative Office.
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