School Board Hears Updates After Break, Approves Two New Lifts

During the last School Board meeting, the board approved the purchase of two new lifts for the Malta High School. The old lifts that the school has now are beyond repair. There are no parts available. Because these lifts are used for cleaning purposes high up in the gym and auditorium, ESSER or Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund money can be used.

It was asked how much of the ESSER money was still available. Jane Knudsen said that they are not touching the ESSER III money. That is earmarked for the new HVAC system for the elementary. The ESSER II fund has about $40,000.

With these funds, the schools have to meet certain criteria in order to use them. They can’t be used for just anything.

Some of the Elementary staff brought up the fact that there are other issues in the Elementary school like one of the boys’ bathrooms that can’t be used right now.

Board President, Conner Clausen said, “That is the exact reason that we needed the building reserve levy to pass. Those are the types of problems that come up and the funds from the building reserve levy are used for.”

Other action items that were taken care of:

A shortlist of contracts for new bus drivers, coaches, etc. were approved.

Athletic Director Nick Oxarart ran through a list of proposals that were to be voted on at the MHSA meeting on Monday, January 17.

The current COVID protocols were looked at, with no changes made at this time.

In the administration reports, Mr. Bleth had three students come in and tell the board about their experiences with the online curriculum called Edgenuity.

All three students said they liked the courses that they took. There was a wide variety of classes they could choose from. One took Animation, another took Medical Terminology, and the third one took Latin to help with the medical field. All three said they only had minor issues with the program, but overall, they liked it.

Mr. Bleth said, “There was a lot of success with that program. The grades that students got were all over the board. They had to put the effort in. They didn’t just get an easy grade. All of those that took the courses did complete them.”

Bleth told the board that the Career Day went very well. There were over 40 presenters at the school. He said he felt old looking at how many of the presenters were alumni of the school. He gave a shout-out to the Malta Chamber for all of their help and to Mrs. Webb for organizing the whole thing.

Bleth said that there are 10 students in 9th through 12th grades that are enrolled in the CAN course. It is an online course right now and the students will still be at the school for two weeks after the school year ends to finish that course and for the clinicals.

The High School enrollment right now is at 145 students 9-12.

Mrs. Cederberg told the board that Middle School Boys Basketball is underway. They have a lot of jamborees coming up.

The Army National Guard visited the Middle School students and showed off some cool medical technology.

All of the Middle School Clubs are kind of coasting right now. They were all busy before the Christmas break and are now working on fundraisers to build back up some of the money they had spent.

Middle School enrollment is currently at 110 students.

Mrs. Seymour told the board that the Christmas concerts went really well.

The kids gathered over 200 boxes of cereal and donated them to the food bank.

On the last day of school before the break, the kids went up to the theatre and watched The Grinch.

The Elementary School is starting to organize the Science Fair.

The current enrollment for the Elementary School is 247 students.

Mr. Sargent informed the board of all of the problems the buses have been having with the below-zero weather.

Mr. Genger thanked Mr. Sargent for everything he did and is doing to keep the buses going telling everyone that Mr. Sargent had been up at all hours of the night to come up to the school and start the buses and keep them from freezing up.

This is also why Mr. Genger made a point to say that one of his priorities this spring is to get the plans in place and have a bus barn built to keep the buses out of the weather.

The next Malta School Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 9, at 7:00 p.m.