Malta School Board hears reports, makes purchases

At last week’s monthly Malta School Board Meeting, each of the school’s principals presented progress reports through the first two months of school and two major purchases were made by the Board of Trustees.

Malta Elementary School News

During the Malta Elementary School report, Principal Theodore Schye said the school’s enrollment is at 144 students – the largest class with 44 and the smallest with 28 – with an average of 38 students per grade.

Principal Schye said that students will be up and running with the Google Chrome books by next year and that internet at the school this year is running much faster than last after tweaks to the system were made.

In elementary activities, the sixth grade boys’ basketball season Principal Schye said that the work on the new boiler in the elementary school is almost complete but that a portion of the new system wasn’t plumbed correctly. He added that the boiler, though not entirely complete, is ready to heat the school and is good to -35.

Schye added that the school is also looking to replace the old PA system in the building that has been wonky since a lightning strike last school year near Big Flat Co-op.

Malta Middle School News

During the Malta Middle School report, Principal Shawn Bleth told the Board of Trustees that he sat in on an eighth grade keyboarding class at the school and the students learned about the consequences associated with certain types of social media, an application called “Snap Chat” in particular.

“It is absolutely the Bain of cell phone existence,” Bleth said. “It might be the worst app ever created for kids.”

Bleth said the app was designed for the sole purpose of getting children to do things with their cellular devices that they should not be doing. The app allows users to send pictures to friends that are supposed to disappear within a few seconds, but the user agreement clearly states that all photos are stored in the Snap Chat servers.

“It’s not a good app,” he said. “If you or your children have it on their phones you should delete it immediately...(the app) was made by college guys for the sole purpose of getting pictures of college girls that they wouldn’t normally send over their phone. ”

The second term of the Middle School’s first trimester ends today (October 15) and Bleth reminded the Board of Trustees that the school will not be sending out paper copies of mid-term grades, but rather electronic copies on Infinite Campus (unless parents have requested the paper copies continue to be mailed) at http://www.mtstate.epm.infinitecampus.org. Bleth added that over 60-percent of middle school parents have Infinite Campus accounts, up 10-percent from the start of the school year.

“Right now we only have one person who has requested a paper copy to be sent and we hope that the 60-percent using the site continues to grow,” Bleth said.

Middle School basketball for the boys starts next Wednesday and at a recent meeting for basketball it was discovered that 22 athletes have showed up for the two teams.

Bleth said Parent-Teacher Conferences at the Middle School will be held on October 29, the school’s new computer lab is up and running and that the after-school snack program continues to gain popularity, 172 children showed up for the program in September.

“It’s a pretty good thing for those kids to be able to get a snack and then get some help after school,” Bleth said.

Malta High School News

During the Malta High School report, Principal Scott King told the Board of Trustees that enrollment at the school is at 150 students after losing two in the past week. King said the first quarter of school ends this week and that Parent-Teacher Conferences at the high school, like the middle school, will be held on October 29.

Principal King said during the week of November 3 the high school seniors will be working on getting college applications filled out and sent. The Malta School Council will be holding a blood-drive on November 6 and those interested in giving blood should call the high school office to set up an appointment.

Principal King told the Board that the Speech and Drama Club has held their first practice, the group has around 18 students signed-up and the Malta Meet is scheduled for January 10. On October 28 the Malta Choir and Band will be giving a performance and added that if the Mustangs Football team should finish in second place this season that they will host a first-round playoff game (the same week as Class B District Volleyball.)

New and Unfinished Business

During the unfinished business portion of Wednesday night’s meeting, the Malta School Board voted in favor of purchasing a new Bruco Floor Cleaner. The cleaner is to be paid for using interest money and the building fund, according to Malta Schools Superintendent Kris Kuehn.

“We are using funds at our disposal that are not taxpayer dollars,” said Kuehn.

During the new business portion of the Malta School Board Meeting, Superintendent Kuehn informed the Trustees that the dishwasher in the elementary school cafeteria needs to be replaced.

Kuehn obtained price quotes for two different types of dishwashers, one that uses only hot water to clean at a cost of $10,640 and a washer which uses hot water and chemicals to clean for $4,852. The dishwasher to be replaced – installed in 1999 -- uses chemicals to disinfect and clean.

“I realize that there is a substantial difference in price,” Principal Schye said, “but I would prefer that we were using the high-heat as opposed to putting chemicals in.”

The Board of Trustees approved the purchase of the high-heat washer pending the price tag on the installation of the new machine.

The next Malta School Board Meeting will be held on November 12 at 7 p.m.