Belle Plaine Assistant Principal Heather Coover, left, conducts a tour of Longfellow Elementary during a joint meeting of the Belle Plaine and HLV school boards Jan. 25. Shown to Coover’ right are HLV board members Laurel Hollopeter and Connie Niemeyer, Superintendent Bill Lynch, HLV director Amy Smith, business manager Lori McClenathan and HLV board member Jeff Cheney. Also pictured is Dr. L.C. Wilgenbusch, front.
Sharing of resources, now and in the future, was the topic of discussion when the Belle Plaine and HLV school boards met in joint session Jan. 25 in Belle Plaine.
Following a tour of the school buildings, conducted by shared Superintendent Bill Lynch and principals Cherie Brown and Heather Coover, the two boards sat down to talk about how the districts currently share resources and the potential for more sharing in the future. The meeting was for discussion only; no action was taken.
Lynch noted, “Sharing gives you the opportunity to offer programs together that separately you just couldn’t offer.”
Lynch presented a rundown of offerings now in place. Advanced Placement history and government are taught in Belle Plaine. AP math and science are offered in Victor.
“We’ve not always had students from one school going to the other, but that was the original (plan), we were trying to start advanced placement classes in both districts,” Lynch noted.
Belle Plaine employs a Spanish teacher who travels to HLV for one class a day. HLV’s German instructor teaches a daily class in Belle Plaine. The remainder of foreign language is taught through the Iowa Communications Network (ICN). “This gives us the ability to offer two foreign languages to the students,” Lynch said.
Vocational Agriculture is a shared program housed in Belle Plaine. No HLV students currently participate but four are interested for next year, said HLV principal Cory Lahndorf.
One Belle Plaine student travels to HLV for an Industrial Technology class. An HLV preschooler attends class in Belle Plaine.
The alternative high school program, started last school year and housed at HLV, served nine Belle Plaine and six HLV students during the 2010-2011 year. Lynch said the districts are now trying to program some of the students into regular education classes. The alternative program can also be offered on a part-time basis as students attend classes there and at their high school.
Other sharing Lynch outlined included the fall play and spring musical with transportation provided, teacher in-service and bus driver training.
Student transportation between districts is currently provided daily for the alternative school, Industrial Tech program and preschool.
Both districts share a bus maintenance facility in Belle Plaine, bus drivers, vehicles and equipment.
School officials the districts share, in addition to Lynch, are business manager/bookkeeper Lori McClenathan and transportation director Jan Kaplan.
Future options
Lynch said Project Lead the Way, a shared engineering program, will start next year at HLV. A grant application for funding has been submitted. One class will be offered the first year, with another class added in each of the following two years. The program will initially be offered to juniors and seniors. Classes will be in engineering and design, principles and manufacturing.
Lahndorf said administrators decided on manufacturing as the Project Lead the Way focus. “We felt that manufacturing was the best area for the businesses we have out there.”
A GPS academy could be added as part of the agriculture program, as well as a business academy at HLV, Lynch said.
More advanced classes for college credit are also under consideration. Extra curricular programs such as debate, soccer, tennis and summer sports are other possibilities.
Necessary equipment, the number of students and other factors will determine in which district shared classes are held, Lynch noted. Scheduling between the districts is a major consideration.
Other sharing opportunities include certain maintenance items and equipment districts occasionally use, such as a power lift, Lynch pointed out.
HLV board president Laurel Hollopeter said he would like the schools to team in an anti-bullying effort. “I’m not sure our staff, either district, is totally trained on how to stop bullying.” He called for staff training and a school assembly.
Belle Plaine board member Rima Johnson said parents and the school must work together. “We can’t do it alone. We have to start at home,” she stressed.
HLV board member Amy Smith said some parents don’t care about bullying unless their child is affected.
HLV director Connie Niemeyer coaches volleyball and said bullying starts at an early age. “Every coach and everybody in with the kids should sit the kids down and explain why you don’t do this, you are hurting everybody’s feelings.”
The boards also discussed the possibility of shared school trips such as HLV’s visit to Washington, D.C. every four years and other excursions.
Stratford said after years of cuts, Belle Plaine has added more staff. She asked about HLV’s staffing needs and how Belle Plaine could help through sharing. Hollopeter said HLV could use another administrator to aid Lahndorf with his duties.
Blended positions could be considered to fill such needs, Lynch offered.
Superintendent
Belle Plaine board president Marie Stratford said her board has informally talked about the best way to replace Lynch when he decides to retire.
“If it had to be filled by 1.5 people, or whatever, would that be something that’s wiser to start sooner than to try to get those two people brand new, so he (Lynch) could be a part of that transition?” she asked.
Commenting on Lynch’s eventual departure, Hollopeter observed, “We all know we probably have the best superintendent in the state of Iowa.”
Hollopeter said the HLV board last year discussed hiring an associate superintendent whom Lynch would mentor prior to retirement. An associate could also lighten Lynch’s load.
Hollopeter said both districts need to consider the added expense an associate would bring. “It’s something we need to discuss. It’s reality. It has to be budgeted. And we all know what the state’s doing to our budgets, taking away instead of giving.”
Lynch stressed that sharing is critical to the future of both schools. “Whatever the districts can do to continue to enhance that, that’s the way the districts continue to grow.”
More joint board meetings will help with the process, said Brad Cook, Belle Plaine board vice president.
The boards agreed to conduct a joint, rather than individual, yearly review of the superintendent.
In other matters, the boards agreed to hold another joint session, next time at HLV. A date was not set.
The next Belle Plaine school board meeting will be Wednesday, Feb. 15 at Longfellow Elementary at 6:45 p.m.
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