By Jeff Bertrang

ISD 88 Superintendent

While it may look and feel like February, it really is April. Because winter is fighting to release its hold on us, all of our spring athletic programs are struggling to keep athletes motivated and ready for their first competitions. It looks like snow and cold will continue for at least another week. Once the warmer weather hits, we will be off and running to get all of the events in. In order to play, the snow must be gone, the frost out and grass starting to germinate. This may take a few weeks. While we need to get games in, we also have to take care of all of our fields in the district.

At the March board meeting, contracts for summer work were approved. In order to make sure our buildings remain safe and inviting for students and staff, we need to update older areas of our buildings, replace failing equipment and make changes to meet student and program needs. Not everything we are updating was completed during the remodeling of our buildings. We will continue to fix and/or replace our roof systems as they reach their anticipated lifespan, along with other areas of our building envelope. Some of the equipment in our buildings is outdated and also needs replacement.

Each spring we present to the school board a revised budget for approval. This occurred during the March board meeting. All public schools are required to pass a budget by June 30th for the next school year. We use historical information and program reviews to plan expenses and make assumptions for revenue based on student enrollment and state funds. When we get to February, we have a better idea of revenue and expenses and we update our budget for the year. With that completed, we now move to preparing the budget for next year.

School Safety is always at the forefront of what we do. There have been many conversations this year about our safety plans, procedures and training for staff and students. While I believe we are in a good place with what we have for physical safety features in our buildings, and the training provided for our staff and students, we continue to review all aspects of our safety plan. We are working with the School Safety Center, a division of Homeland Security, to walk through our buildings and review our safety plans. This review will provide us with feedback we can use to continue to make changes to our plans and minimize risk and exposure to potential dangers for our staff and students.

Go Eagles!