Malta fills nine vacant positions of departing teachers

It has been almost a month since the Malta Schools have released their students for the summer. Before the school year ended, the high school faced the daunting task of recruiting and hiring nine new teachers to replace the nine that retired at the end of the school year.

At Wednesday night's Malta School Board meeting, Malta School Superintendent Kris Kuehn told the board of trustees of two new hiring's, completing the task of filling the vacated positions.

"It might be the greatest accomplishment of my career that we replaced nine teachers and that we did it by the June board meeting," said Kuehn. "That is not a pat on my own back because I really turned that over to the principals to do the majority of the leg work. It brings an air of excitement about the possibilities."

Kuehn said that the nine teachers being brought in for the 2014-15 school year cover a wide range of ages and backgrounds, from a 23-year-old teacher to a "fairly season" teacher. He said that each of the teachers are excited to be able to teach in Malta. (Editor's Note: The Phillips County News will feature each of the new teaches as they make their way into the community this summer.)

Kuehn also thanked school board trustee Greg Skiff for the countless hours he spent at each and every interview conducted by the school during the hiring process.

The School Board also heard an update on the new boiler that is going to go into the elementary school this summer. Jay Cederberg, of Mechanical Technologies in Billings, said that low bid on the plumbing work that will accompany the new boiler was submitted by Star Plumbing out of Billings and that the low bid for the electrical contract was submitted by Spencer Electrical out of Malta. The total bill for the new boiler, according to Cederberg, is $109, 000.

Part of the total price tag for the project is a 10-percent fee to Mechanical Technologies. School Board Trustee R.J. Tollefson asked that Mechanical Technologies lower that 10-percent fee to 7.5-percent. Cederberg said that he doubted his bosses would go for the lower fee, but said he would ask. The School Board voted in favor of going ahead with the new boiler, at the 7.5-fee for Mechanical Technologies, in a unanimous vote.

On Monday morning, Superintendent Kuehn announced a special meeting for the school board as Mechanical Technologies denied the request to lower the 10-percent fee. The meeting is set to start at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, June 18. The PCN will follow up with the conclusion to the new boiler scenario in next week's paper.

During the new business portion of Wednesday night's school board meeting, Superintendent Kuehn showed the trustees a cost sheet for the new computers and copiers to be purchased and put into the junior and high school this summer while the students are on break. Kuehn said that there were two bids for the items, one of the two bids from a company that the Malta School district has bought many items from. The bid from said company was $7,000 higher than the other bid submitted and Kuehn recommended that the board go with the lower bid. The school board agreed with the recommendation and decided to go with the bid submitted by Technology Design of $17,000. Two different grants will cover the cost of the new equipment.

The final bit of business to be discussed at Wednesday night's school board meeting was carpet repair and re-placement for the middle and high schools. Superintendent Kuehn said that last year the school started a three-year plan to replace all the carpet in the schools. He said that last year about $40,000 went into the carpet job and added that this year the carpet replacement will cost about $27,000. Among the rooms to have the carpet replaced at the schools, Kuehn said the auditorium has the most that needs to be replaced. Trustee Tollefson asked if there was any alternatives to using carpet in the school. Kuehn said that if it was up to him, he would rip out all the carpet and paint the concrete floors beneath, but added that acoustically, carpets make more sense. "

"It has nothing to do with cleanliness," he said. "It has everything to do with sound. If you could mute everybody, I would take everything out of these hallways, paint the concrete and be done with it. But last year when they had (all the carpet removed), you wouldn't believe how loud it was in the hallway with just two people in it."

Much of the carpet that is to be replaced was installed 15 years ago. The school board unanimously approved the purchase and installation of the carpets, the cost to be covered by grant monies.