Elementary school adds 11 students

The elementary school is growing, according to elementary school principal Samantha Weaver. Eleven students have entered the school in the last month. The school is working on increasing attendance overall with various initiatives.

A Homeland Security Grant, which was submitted for an intercom system to be installed throughout the elementary school building, has passed the first two steps. It is unclear how many steps are in the process.

“We’re still waiting to hear the final word,” Weaver said.

Middle school students scored above average in the Northwest Avaluative Assessmenttests.

“Math, reading, science, language arts; in every test Hill City students outscored the national average by two to seven points. This is a great indicator. They did well,” said middle and high school principal Todd Satter. The test will be administered again this spring.  Satter is looking into innovative strategies to motivate students to try their best on mandated exams that don’t count towards their grade.

“We don’t do four hours of testing anymore,” Satter said. “We break it into chunks.”

Toni Brun, special education director, is working on developing and strengthening partnerships with various organizations in the region.

Special education students are attending Project Search Try it Day at Monument Hospital in Rapid City. The program teaches transition and work-related skills within a hospital setting and assists students with obtaining employment. Junior and senior special education students will also attend  “Catch the Wave” March 31. The event provides resources on post-secondary education to students with disabilities.

The angel fund is “looking really good,” according to food service director Roxann DuBois. The fund is used to help families who are struggling to pay for the meal program in the district. There is $3,300 in the fund presently.

Hill City Board of Education president Dennis Krull gave an update on recent crackerbarrel sessions he attended and bills affecting school funding measures.

“What we are monitoring right now are the capital outlay bills,” Krull said. “There are two of them. One of them is House Bill 1182, the other one is Senate Bill 95. One of them is a $3,800 cap for capital outlay. The other one is to repeal the $2,800, which it is right now, and go back to the mil levy. We would prefer that House Bill 1182 passes.” 

The board is working on getting other school boards to contact legislators in support of these bills. Krull also presented to local legislators at the Hill City crackerbarrel. 

“When the half cent sales tax went through it was earmarked 63 percent was supposed to go to teachers’ salaries, 34 percent was supposed to go to property tax reduction and 3 percent was supposed to go to post-secondary education for the teachers,” Krull said. “I’ve been monitoring this now since 2016 and the way that money is now it’s being put in the general fund. It’s not being earmarked. The bill was put into law that says that half-cent sales tax is earmarked for those two things and nobody has shown me where that is. By that half-cent sales tax being put into the general fund and then it goes into the state aid formula we don’t fall into the state aid formula so that means we don’t get it. ”

Krull has also contacted Gov. Kristi Noem regarding capital outlay bill proposals.

In honor of South Dakota School Board Appreciation Week, Hill City School District superintendent Blake Gardner presented board members with plaques and thanked members for their service.

“We are lucky to have a very functional, supportive, students-centered school board,” Gardner said. “It’s sometimes a thankless job and we certainly appreciate the work you do.”

The school board has received gold status through the Associated School Boards of South Dakota.

The board approved policy BDDH, which outlines the public participation policy for the school board meetings. The policy is different from the current policy. However the public will still have an opportunity to speak at meetings.

“This will discern the difference between public participation when we invite our patrons to speak and then once the board meeting starts and we move off the public participation the board meeting will belong to the five of you,” Gardner said.

The board authorized the business manager to seek bids for the 2020-21 financial audit.

“What I would like to have is not just the auditing of the books but  a relationship in place,” said business manager Anjar Voorhees.

Discussion on policy C of the district policy review took place. The policy outlines requirements for general school administration. The board listened to written changes to the policy for qualified administrators as outlined by Gardner.

“Just for the qualifications of the principal, all it said on there was a certificate,” Gardner said. “I put on there active South Dakota certificate which is a very standard job description. And for degree it just says required. And I think the standard in South Dakota is a masters degree or higher for educational administration.”

The maintenance department is working on capital budget projects for the summer. The board voted to dispose of an old exercise bike after it received no bids on the item. The resignation of district secretary Heather Robinson was approved.

The board voted to move its March meeting to Tuesday March 10. The meeting begins at 6 p.m.