School officials continue focus on addressing community child care shortage

Mar. 11—MITCHELL — The Mitchell School District is making good progress on a number of its long term goals, but there is still more work to do, the Mitchell Board of Education heard at its most recent Monday evening, March 11.

The board heard the update during the superintendent's report portion of the meeting.

Joe Childs, superintendent for the Mitchell School District, said that district leadership was making progress with a number of academic and other overarching goals that

were established at a brainstorming meeting the board held over the summer.

Among the goals set at that meeting was looking deeper into establishing a preschool program within the Mitchell School District. Childs said research into that item continues, with conversations going on behind the scenes with several other districts about their preschool programs.

"The preschool feasibility study continues. (District Business Manager) Theresa Kriese and I have been busy visiting with school districts that have had both successful and unsuccessful preschool programs and what's included with that," Childs told the board.

Child care in the Mitchell community remains a serious issue within the district and the Mitchell community at large, especially after

the discontinuation of the Embe program in Mitchell.

Childs said there was no question that the issue of child care was a crucial one that district officials were continuing to explore.

Whatever is determined by this particular feasibility study, child care will remain an issue that needs to be addressed, Childs said.

"I can tell you right now regardless of how the study turns out, childcare is critical and is an important topic in every, every school district in South Dakota," Childs said. "Even those who have preschool programs have waiting lists. There is not enough child care, and I know that's critical for Mitchell as well, especially after Embe left."

Childs said more on his research into the topic would be presented at a future meeting of the board.

Childs noted that good progress had also been made on the subject of addressing chronic absenteeism with the recent addition of a district attendance liaison. Childs said Aaron Klinger,

who recently began his role in the new position,

is expected to consult with his counterpart in the Sioux Falls School District to discuss ideas on improving absenteeism numbers.

The Mitchell district program is being funded by a grant in the amount of $407,000 and is a step in the right direction to addressing the absenteeism problem, Childs said.

He said the goals of addressing student mental health as well as improving both the district website and its social media accounts are also ongoing, noting that the school has embraced

the Safe2Say anonymous reporting program

as well as made strides in funneling good information to the online spaces managed by the Mitchell School District.

"I think we're making some advancements and am happy to report where we're at so far," Childs said.

The board declared several pieces of district property surplus at the meeting, including a 2024 Lund 1875 Impact boat with a Mercury 150 horsepower motor and Shoreland'r trailer that was purchased and rigged by students at Mitchell Technical College Powersports-Marine program.

Among the other equipment declared surplus was a Ford lawn mower cab, a commercial dishwasher, a Silen Hoist FK7.5 forklift and a Coats 40-40SA tire machine.

The four pieces have already been taken out of service by the district. The Silen Hoist forklift is not in working condition.

Terry Aslesen, a member of the board, suggested making an intensified effort to get word of surplus equipment out to district teachers and employees so that they know about any equipment that may be useful in their classrooms.

"I'd like to bring back the concept that we need to do something differently than we're doing right now with surplus equipment. I think too many times, too many people aren't aware of what's out there that's been declared surplus, so it goes to the landfill," Aslesen said.

He suggested sending photos of surplus equipment to district employees in a group email to make sure that teachers know what is available and have a chance to claim it for their classrooms before the district lets it go.

Childs said that the idea was one he could look into for future cases of surplus items. He noted that the old music department space at the high school is currently being used to house a large amount of unused equipment that has yet to be declared surplus. He's held off on doing so because there may be items that teachers could use in their new classrooms once the new high school building is built.

In the meantime, Childs said teachers do occasionally check the stockpile for potentially useful items, but much of the time the equipment does not fill their current needs, either due to space limitations or the quality of the item, which is often less than ideal.

"There's a lot in there. It can be daunting, in fact," Childs said. "Over the past five or six years a number of teachers have come through, and typically they're not finding exactly what they want. But we do have some decent equipment and supplies in there, the one reservation I've had on putting it on surplus now is just waiting until the new high school is finished, because we'll have larger classroom spaces and teachers may in their current room not have space for an extra table or chairs, but in their new rooms they may."

Childs said he'd look into making school staff more aware of potential surplus items in the future.

A legal ad for sealed bid sale of the boat and trailer is expected to be published March 16 and March 23. The minimum bid amount will be set and published at the cost Mitchell Tech has incurred to purchase, set up and rig the boat. The boat will not be sold for less than the amount Mitchell Technical College has invested in the boat.

The big opening date will be April 3. If a successful bid is received, it will be presented for school board approval at its April 8 meeting.

Also at the meeting, the board is expected to consider the following personnel items:

* The new certified hires of Amber Hiles, head oral interp advisor, $491.00, effective 2023-24 school year; Chris Gubbrud, Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary principal to Mitchell Middle School assistant principal, effective 2024-25 school year and Emily Higgins, ELA at Mitchell High School, $51,800, effective 2024-25 school year.

* The new classified hires of Hailey Robbins, paraeducator at L.B. Williams Elementary, $18.25 per hour at 7 hours daily and Kern Parce, maintenance, $21 per hour at 8 hours daily. Both hires are effective March 4.

* The resignations of Madison Ortmeier, ELA teacher and debate coach, effective end of the 2023-24 school year; Cassey VerHey, directorship 21st Century Learning Grant; Diane Way, directorship 21st Century Learning Grant; Kelsey VanOverschelde, directorship 21st Century Learning Grant; Stacie Biggerstaff, directorship 21st Century Learning Grant and Maissa Abts, directorship 21st Century Learning Grant and Jacey Jira, directorship 21st Century Learning Grant. All resignations are effective June 30 unless otherwise noted.

* The retirement or early retirement of Jane Dahme, 3rd grade teacher and Cindy Bierman, special education teacher at PACT. Both are effective at the end of the 2023-24 school year.

* The Mitchell Technical College retirement of Julie Hart-Schutte, human services technician instructor and Mike Puetz, power line construction and maintenance instructor. Both are effective at the end of the 2023-24 school year.

Also at the meeting, the board:

* Heard board member reports, including board member committee assignments by board president.

* Heard the superintendent report.

* Recognized state wrestling place winners.

The next meeting of the Mitchell Board of Education is scheduled for April 8 in Room 10 at the Mitchell Career and Technical Education Academy.

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