School board approves live streaming of athletic events at meeting Monday

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

If all goes as planned, fans of Charles City varsity sports will have the opportunity to watch the Comets play live on the screens of their home computers and mobile devices soon.

The Charles City Community School District Board of Education approved an agreement with the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) Network at its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday. The NFHS Network sells equipment and software for live streaming school events. There will be a link on the Charles City School District website that would lead viewers to scheduled events. The viewer will have payment options to select, and a percentage of those funds will come back to the school district.

Currently, viewers can watch events at various participating school districts at the rate of $9.95 for one month, $40 for four months or $60 for a full year. Those will not necessarily be the rate options for Charles City, just an example of the cost of some of the options at some schools already participating.

Northeast Iowa Conference athletic directors have all agreed to move forward with this project by purchasing cameras to place in their gyms and football fields. At this point, Waukon, Cresco, Decorah and Oelwein have committed, and Waverly and New Hampton are expected to follow.

The cost of the video equipment will be covered by activity funds from the booster club and student council.

Superintendent Mike Fisher told the board that activities director Todd Forsyth and others had said that the streaming of athletic events live wasn’t likely to negatively impact attendance to those events.

In other action Monday, the school board approved the addition of the North Grand Building boiler project to the 2018 summer facility projects. The boiler in the North Grand Building is in need of repair before the winter heating season. The district has received an estimate of repair from Mick Gage, not to exceed $25,000. The project will be funded as an additional 2018 facility project, as the list of summer projects were under budget by $11,605 and three other facility projects are also under budget. With the addition of the North Grand building boiler project, the district should still be within the annual allowance.

The board also unanimously approved a facility assessment agreement with Estes Construction. Estes will perform an assessment of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing facilities in all school buildings, the athletic stadium and the transportation center. The basic cost is $9,500 with $3,000 in possible add-ons.

Board President Jason Walker, vice-president Scott Dight, and directors Missy Freund, Josh Mack and Robin Macomber were all present, as were Fisher and business manager and board secretary Terri O’Brien.

The school year is about to start, with new teacher days taking place Wednesday and Thursday this week, the rest of the staff returning Friday for professional development, and the first day of school with students on Thursday, Aug. 23. The next school board meeting will be Monday, Aug. 20 at 6 p.m.

In other business of Monday, the board unanimously accepted the nominees to the School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC). Appointed to the committee were Ruby Peterson, student; Cinnamon Evans, student; Brandi Johnson, parent; Veronica Litterer, parent; Chad Weber, parent; Naomi Yaddof, high school teacher; Michelle Williams, elementary teacher; Scotti Hagensick, middle school teacher; Sandy Thomson, elementary teacher; Frank Blaine, community member; Diane Winter, community member; Lorraine Winterink, community member; Michael Fisher, superintendent; Bryan Jurrens, principal; and Laurie Field, IC principal. Two more parents and two school board members will be appointed at a later date.

The board also unanimously appointed Fisher, Macomber, middle school teacher Brenda Bailey and Cambrex Human Resources Director Brittany Sickles to serve as the school district’s representatives on the labor management committee with the CCSDESA, as recommended by the school administration.

In other action Monday, the school board:

— Heard the financial report for August from O’Brien.

— Approved student and employee handbooks for the 2018-19 school year.

— Accepted the resignations of Sara Hemann, instructional assistant; Brittini Molstead, instructional teacher leader; and Gary Finger, bus driver, effective Aug. 13.

— Approved the appointments of Brandy Anderson, 9th-grade volleyball coach, at a salary of $2,997; Sharon Nikolai, early childhood elementary teacher, at a salary of $38,019; and Mark Sindlinger, 10th-grade football coach, at a salary of $3,300.

— Approved the appointments of middle school custodian Joe Ferch and high school custodian Michael Ludemann at salaries of $16.09 per hour.

— Approved the transfer of Joclyn Rawn from early childhood elementary teacher to kindergarten teacher.

— Approved the support staff transfer of instructional assistant Trisha Bonwell from the middle school to Washington Elementary.

— Approved the support staff transfer of instructional assistant Penny Willsher from Lincoln Elementary to the high school.

— Approved the support staff transfers of instructional assistants Deanna Kaiser, Ammie Joslin and Tammy Frascht from Lincoln Elementary to the middle school.

— Approved TLC beginning mentor teacher stipends of $750, effective Aug. 15, for the following teachers: Jake Gassman, Tim Malven, Darla Arends, Jen Seehusen, David Voves, Trudy McKeag, Stephanie Hervol, Michelle Williams, Marie Conklin, Kelly Bailey, Rob Pittman, Carrie Eiklenborg, Liz VanHagen, Bret Spurgin, Jim Lundberg, Brandy Mutch, Scotti Hagensick and Mollie Ott.

— Approved TLC veteran mentor teacher stipends of $500, effective Aug. 15, for the following teachers: Melina Davis, Amy Johnson, Renee Boss, Ann Hanes, Kim Niichel, Amy Speiker and Keisha Trettin.

— Approved the Floyd-Mitchell-Chickasaw early childhood contract, the foster grandparent memorandum of understanding, and the North Iowa Community Action Organization Head Start program.