School board takes a look at rock-climbing wall

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Community School District Board of Education took an up-close look at the recently finished indoor rock-climbing wall Monday during a presentation by social studies teacher Robert Pittman.

“Tons of people in the community helped raise a significant amount of money for this project, and I’d like to thank them,” Pittman said.

Monday’s regular meeting was held in the industrial technology area at Charles City High School, and at the completion of Pittman’s presentation, board members and all others present took a walk over to the stage by the gym to take a look at the wall. Pittman and student board member Isaiah Tilton gave the other board members a demonstration on how to climb the wall.

The student-designed, student-built rock-climbing wall is a school-wide interdisciplinary project for the 2018-19 school year.

Pittman said funding for the wall came from grants from Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the Charles City Excellence in Education Fund, First Security Bank in Charles City, matching funds from the school district, and money raised from an obstacle course race and a GoFundMe page.

Pittman said that the money spent on the building the wall was under $25,000, and that the cost to buy a similar but smaller wall would be over $100,000.

Pittman said the project was designed and built almost entirely by students, with some assistance from the Bergland and Cram architect firm and safety inspections by Quade Construction. He said the wall couldn’t have been completed without the help of vocational ag teacher Jim Lundberg and student Caleb Osier, who headed the project.

“Mr. Lundberg and his students are some of the best problem-solvers in our school district,” Pittman said. “Maybe the most active student was Caleb Osier. I don’t know how many extra hours he put into the project, but he made it happen.”

Lindberg estimated that the students put in about 5,000 hours on the project.

Pittman said that upcoming plans for the rock wall include integrating the wall into physical education classes, offering the wall for supervised use by local Scout groups and other organizations, and partnering with the local YMCA.

The board then heard information from Tilton regarding a school lunch focus group of which Tilton is a part. Tilton told the board that school lunches are a big deal due to obesity, chemicals in food, kids getting too much sugar and developing bad habits.

He said recent surveys the group had implemented discovered that elementary students in Charles City love variety in their lunch, and love fruits and vegetables and chili.

High school students, on the other hand, don’t enjoy most of the food served at school lunch, and typically take fruits and vegetables because they are forced to.

He said that some of the problems are caused by marketing and money, a difference in generations, and the growing popularity of energy drinks, which he said are surprisingly high in sugar. He told the board that some solutions might by offering more variety, encouraging students to participate in sports and other physical activities, less screen time and more water.

In other business, auditors Nolte, Cornman and Johnson completed the school district’s audit report for the fiscal year that ended June 30, and presented information from that report to the board Monday.

“The only finding they had was that certified enrollment was one student overstated,” said CCSD Director of Finance Terri O’Brien. “So when we do our budget, we’ll take that one student off.”

The entire detailed audit report is available for viewing and download at the Charles City School District’s website.

The board also unanimously approved an Internal Technology Connection project and estimated cost of $250,465.

Technology Director April Hanson requested approval of the project, which includes wireless access points, network switches and uninterruptible power supplies throughout the district. A request for sealed bids will be sent. Bids will be submitted by Friday, Feb. 15, and presented to the board at the following meeting. The winning bidder will be notified on March 1, pending board approval.

This project will be submitted for e-rate funding, which could mean an 80 percent discount, which could lower the cost to $50,093. The amount after e-rate funding will be paid from the general fund technology budget of $77,500.

In other action Monday, the board unanimously approved the summer 2019 annual facility projects, totaling $832,912, plus $250,000 from carryover funds. The carryover project is the removal of the blacktop and the addition of cement at the playground at Washington Elementary.

Other projects are a demo white office building on the college grounds ($20,000); resurfacing the track and adding new fencing at the football stadium ($200,000); replacement of two roofing sections and seal-coating the parking lot at the high school ($200,000); a new bell and public address system at Lincoln Elementary ($25,000); a sidewalk in front of the middle school ($20,000); purchase of a Suburban for the transportation department ($50,000); roof repairs, a new bell and public address system, and widening the entrance and resurfacing the parking lot at Washington Elementary ($89,000); district technological improvements ($122,872), athletic safety equipment ($3,000); Carrie Lane lease space at the high school and central services ($38,040); the River Hills Consortium Lease ($15,000); and $50,000 of district discretionary spending after general fund discretionary is used.

In other business at the meeting Monday, the school board:

— Approved a fee proposal by BLDD Architects for a high school renovation/remodeling project’s preliminary design. BLDD has been preparing preliminary design for the Charles City High School renovation/remodeling project. BLDD prepared a fee proposal related to the preliminary high school design work and how it may be offset against final design work.

— Approved the request for modified supplemental funds in the amount of $421,380, and the associated spending authority, for the purpose of implementing the district’s at-risk/dropout program.

— Set the date for lobbying at the state Capitol for Feb. 12.

— Approved the appointment of Terri Hay, clerical assistant central services, at the wage of $9 per hour, starting Jan. 15.

— Approved the appointment of Jenae Noonan, high school assistant track coach, at the salary of $3,237, starting Jan. 15.

— Approved the staff transfer of Heather Kowalski, part-time instructional assistant, to full-time transitional alliance program instructional assistant.

— Approved the staff transfer of Rick Lynch, part-time instructional assistant, to full-time behavior interventionist.