West Burlington may once again join Burlington's high school swimming program, with a caveat
The Burlington School Board on Monday voted to approve an agreement that once again could allow students from the West Burlington School District to participate in its swimming program, but hurdles remain.
Business director Greg Reynolds informed the board that West Burlington has opted not to participate in the program for the past several years due to language in the agreement prohibiting would-be Burlington students who open-enroll into neighboring districts from participating.
"The district has always had 28E swimming agreements with regional districts," Reynolds told the board. "West Burlington has chosen not to participate in our swimming agreement for several years, basically because their concerns are about the language in the agreement stating that open-enrolled students from Burlington to those other districts are not allowed to participate."
The West Burlington School Board requested that Burlington remove that provision for this coming school year, citing concerns about the legality of such a stipulation.
During discussions on the measure, Burlington School Board members noted that the purpose of excluding Burlington students who are open-enrolled into other districts from being able to participate in the swimming program was to not reward students and families who choose to leave the district and noted that other districts participating in the swimming program have agreed to those conditions in the past.
“As a former employee (of the district) and a community member, before I was on the board, a lot of times, I won’t say the majority, but a lot of times, when you’d hear about kids leaving the district, they were heading to West Burlington because this district did whatever goals they had set for themselves and their family,” board member Scott Mason said. “So it doesn’t set well with me that to consider if a kid left here for one reason or another, to then say ‘Oh, but you swim,’ because there’s that jilted feeling, so to speak, that ‘when you left us, you left everything, and it was by your choice' … So to me, (that provision) is extremely important. If you’re a West Burlington kid, you’ve always been a West Burlington student, and you can’t swim because you don’t have a swimming program, I got no issue.”
The board ultimately approved the agreement without removing that provision in a 6-1 vote, with board president Joel Sieren casting the lone no vote.
The West Burlington School District will have to agree to the offer before the partnership becomes official.
The board also voted unanimously to approve similar agreements allowing Danville, Fort Madison, and Mount Pleasant districts and Holy Trinity Catholic High School in Fort Madison to continue their partnerships allowing their high school students to participate in Burlington's swimming program.
The board also voted unanimously to continue their partnership allowing Burlington Notre Dame students to participate in Burlington's swimming program, with the only difference between Notre Dame and the other schools' and districts' agreement being a $275 fee for Notre Dame students to participate, as opposed to the $550 fee required of students from the other districts.
More: Burlington School District names Robert Scott as new superintendent to replace outgoing Pat Coen
Teaching apprenticeship program moves forward with help from the state
The board voted unanimously to approve a grant contract from the state that will pay the salary, tuition and fees of 10 paraeducators working for the district as they pursue their teaching licenses through Iowa Wesleyan University.
In June, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that 19 recipient school districts were awarded $45.6 million as part of the Teacher and Paraeducator Registered Apprenticeship Pilot Grant Program, an initiative aimed at providing high school students and adults with opportunities to earn a paraeducator certificate and associate's degree, as well as help paraeducators earn their bachelor's degree, all while working in the classroom.
Burlington was awarded $485,792 in grant money from the program, which will, over the span of the next two years, reimburse high school students working to become paraeducators up to $40,5000 and paraeducators working to earn their bachelor's degree up to $47,000.
More: Burlington School District awarded $480,000 for teaching apprenticeship program
Full prices for breakfast and lunch set to increase
The full price of school breakfasts and lunches will increase this upcoming school year following a unanimous vote by the board.
Under the National School Lunch Program and the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, federal law requires participating schools to increase the prices charged for full-price meals to be in line with federal reimbursement rates.
The full price for elementary and intermediate students will now be $2.00 for breakfast and $2.75 for lunch.
The full price for middle and high school students will increase to $2.20 for breakfast and $2.85 for lunch.
Students at all grade levels within the district who qualify for reduced meals will pay 30 cents for breakfast and 40 cents for lunch.
And adults will now be charged $2.75 for breakfast and $4.10 for lunch.
More: COVID-era free meals program for Iowa students ends soon, and it will cost families
Board approves pay increase for substitute teacher working long-term assignments
The district will pay more to substitute teachers who teach for extended periods of time following a unanimous vote by the board.
Substitute teacher who work 60 consecutive school days for longer will now be see an increase from $180 to $195 a day.
Currently, substitute teachers who teach single days earn a pay rate of $125 each day.
Subs who teach for long-term assignments that last less than 60 days will still earn up to $180, but those who hit or exceed 60 consecutive school days working an assignment will be paid $195 per day as well as receive retroactive pay for the new, increased rate for the first 60 days.
Required math class may become an elective
BHS ninth grade students may no longer be required to complete the "Data and Measurements" class (also known as "Math Topics") as part of their graduation requirements.
The board voted 6-1 to pass to the first reading of a proposal to change the district's graduation requirement to make the class an elective, with only board member Darven Kendell voting against the measure.
The move will not change the total number of math or overall credits a student will need to graduate.
During the meeting, BHS Principal Monica Myers and Cory Johnson, director of curriculum for the district, explained that the course does not fit the education needs of all students, as some freshmen arrive at BHS having already taken Geometry in eighth grade and are considered to have already mastered the standards and requirements set forth in the "Data and Measurements" class.
The class still will be offered as an elective if the measure passes a second reading.
More: Monica Myers appointed as new principal of Burlington High School
New hires and staff changes at BHS
The school board also approved the hiring of two new associate principals at BHS during their June 29 meeting following a shakeup in the administrative structure that was announced in June.
DiAnna Perez and Nathan Marting both began serving in those positions on July 1.
Perez will earn an annual salary of $87,500, while Marting's salary will be $97,500.
These positions became available this summer due to the transfers of former BHS associate principals Alec Clark and Wesley White. Clark now serves as principal of North Hill Elementary School following the resignation of Mark Taylor. And White now serves as principal of Grimes Elementary School following the resignation of Karinda Wahls.
The board had already approved the hiring of Jason Guerin and Brandon Kurovski as BHS's new dean of students in June, with both earning a yearly salary of $75,000.
More: Burlington High School restructuring administration with addition of dean of students position
Under the new structure, one of the deans will oversee disciplinary issues among two grade levels at the high school, while each of the two associate principals will focus on curriculum and other academic aspects for two grade levels at the high school.
The board also approved a salary revision for Myers, who was officially appointed as the new principal at BHS in April after serving as interim principal beginning in December 2021, during the June 29 meeting.
Myers' salary now will be $123,600 per year. Previously, her yearly salary was $120,000.
Brad Vidmar covers public safety and education for The Hawk Eye and can be reached via email at BVidmar@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: Burlington won't budge on shared swim program agreement
