North Clay Board Acts on Bans from Campus

North Clay school board members Thursday acted on bans of people from school district property.

The Board dealt with an incident involving Erin Tomasek that occurred during parent/teacher conferences. Tomasek's mother, Sandy Lamar, spoke on her daughter's behalf, while grade school principal Penny Arnold spoke regarding a recommendation.

Board members voted 5-0 to restrict Tomasek to supervised communications only at and through the school with either the principal or special education coordinator through the remainder of this school year.

The Board also voted 5-0 to ban Brogan Simms from all North Clay School District grounds for a period of one calendar year for driving off the highway and into and through district grounds recklessly, according to the motion. The Board also recommended leaving the Clay County Sheriff's Department in charge of issuing a citation appropriately.

Also Thursday, North Clay board members voted 5-0 to continue a year-long ban of Logan Hilderbrand from district grounds, and to use the district's attorney to send Hilderbrand a letter of warning that further violations will result in criminal trespassing charges. School officials say Hilderbrand entered onto school district grounds last week while on a current year-long ban.

In other business, the North Clay board voted to purchase a new school bus for just over $97,000 after a trade-in of a used bus at $2,500; and heard from FFA Alumni Vice President Bryan West on plans and goals of the group. There was some discussion regarding the future of the farm plot on the District's 20 acres on the south side of the campus.

Superintendent Monty Aldrich reported that the District doesn't need to increase its tax levy beyond the maximum of 5%, so no hearing on the levy will be required. The Board then voted to place the levy on public display in advance of a final vote on the measure at the December meeting. Board members also directed Aldrich to gather information on equipment that could be used for snow removal.

Building principals shared school district report card information, and discussed some results of the PARCC testing done last year. The Board expelled a student on a 5-1 vote until the beginning of the second semester of the 2016-17 school year, but stayed that decision until the end of the current school year provided that the student enters and successfully completes a 40-hour substance abuse program by that time. Tony Smith voted against the motion.

In personnel moves, the North Clay board hired Chad Traub as educational technology paraprofessional, approved a maternity leave request for Kaitlin Zink, hired Kaylee McCollum as junior high head volleyball coach for one year, and hired Avery Peters as junior high assistant volleyball coach. The Board also voted to allow a group of high school students to travel to Washington, DC for the 2017 presidential inauguration.