School board buys new heavy-duty truck, gets ready for more purchases
Purchases were on the agenda for the Dundee Community Schools Board of Education on Monday, Jan. 12.

The board received several bids for many items. The board agreed to purchase a Sierra 2500 truck from Groulx GMC at a cost of $19,769. the heavy-duty truck is to be used for maintenance and may have a snow plow put on the front for removing snow from sidewalks.

The district will purchase three pairs of exterior doors for the west side of the middle school building at a cost of $9,000. The doors have run through their lifespan, said Superintendent of Schools Robert Black.

The board took no action on the purchase of a scissor lift for the buildings; the board wants to see if some can be demonstrated at school.

No action was taken although six bids were received for a 3,456 sq.ft. greenhouse with polycarbonate covering. Bids ranged from $61,000 to $156,000. Agriculture teacher Tom Stahl is to check the bids and specs to make sure everything is included.

The board will need to purchase two new school buses for next year, and will get them through the countywide consortium; figures were not available.

The board will be interviewing firms for legal services. The board may or may not choose to rehire Thrun, Maatsch and Nordberg, the current firm. Legal advice is needed for such things as elections, student issues, employment issues, and borrowing money and bonding.

Monitors in classrooms and DVD players have been installed. The next phase of the program is to upgrade electrical service in classrooms, and the district is ready to start this.

Mr. Black is to negotiate with maintenance employee Jerry Henry about a $5,000 raise over two years, this year and next year.

The board agreed to upgrade Helen Nabozny from clerk to secretary at the alternative high school, but turned down a request to upgrade teacher Darlene Baldwin from four-fifths to five-fifths time.

The board voted not to renew girls basketball coach Scott Stark.

A parent, Samantha Kelly, requested that the board change its policy to have buses pick up all students in grades K-8 who live in the village but are a mile or farther from the school. Currently the district only picks up elementary students in this area. The matter was referred to committee.

The Monroe Exchange Club is donating a “freedom shrine” to the high school, with a collection of 31 framed historic documents from U.S. history, ranging from the Mayflower Compact to speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy. These will be mounted in a hallway.

The board approved some high school classes, which will be available for students, and the administration will judge the level of interest in these new classes.

The board is requesting a proposal for the Universal Service Grant, for telecommunications. The local district can get a 40% return on its phone service costs with this grant, which originally was established during the Clinton administration to improve connectivity of rural schools.