Malta School Board Holds Its First Meeting of the Summer

It was pretty much business as usual for the Malta School Board of Trustees as they get everything ready for the summer months and start planning for the next school year.

The trustees got their new committee assignments. Personnel will be Carter Clausen and Jessica Oyler, Finance will be Clausen and Scott Meneely, Building will be Justin Lamb and Meneely, Transportation will be Kevin Koss and Lamb, and Curriculum will be Koss and Oyler.

The student handbooks were approved for the next school year, with very minor changes, mostly grammatical and wording. Each of the principals telling the board what those changes are.

Malta Superintendent Mr. Genger and Elementary Principal Shiloh Seymour had a walk-through of the new Armory and learned about the STARBASE program. This is a program that offers a positive approach to creating excitement in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). The project is focused on fifth-grade students and offers a very hands-on approach to projects and experiments in those subjects.

“I think it would be a wonderful thing for our students to be a part of,” said Genger. “And the only cost to the school would be transporting the students there.”

The board approved the down payment for the bus barn purchase, and also approved the transportation committee to look for and purchase an E-Class bus for up to $70,000. Basically a suburban. There are many small groups that don’t need to use a large bus that the E Class can be used for. The money used for this purchase will come out of the transportation fund.

The board tabled a couple of items for the next meeting. Next year’s bus routes were tabled so that more information could be obtained, and the buy-sell agreement for the bus barn was tabled to allow the attorney to look it over.

Other action items approved were 2021-22 contracts for councilors throughout the summer for students, 2022-23 contracts, 2022-23 membership dues and/or agreements, and final expenditures to be paid as needed for the end of the year.

Whitewater and Turner transportation requests were approved as well as individual transportation contracts and out-of-district attendance agreements.

In Superintendent Genger’s report, he said that repairs are being made on some sprinkler mains that had frozen and burst.

With the rain we have graciously received, some leaks have occurred in both buildings and in the old gym. They are being attended to.

The City of Malta is allowing the district to store the pole vault and high jump pits in the old cardboard building.

Genger said that the First State Bank had donated $3,000 towards the shot clocks, and the district is still waiting on the new lunch tables for the elementary school that was ordered a year ago.

The next Malta School Board meeting will be on Wednesday, July 13, at 7:00 p.m.