by Jennifer Parker
LA VETA- Tuesday night’s work session dealt primarily with the school’s budget plans for the 2008-09 school year. The school is getting an increase in revenues from the state and it will be needed to compensate for such items as increases in medical coverage rates, and extra pay for the teachers who have recently furthered their education, as well as for those teachers who are taking on extra projects within the school.
A new program will hopefully be introduced for next year for the third through eighth graders from Scholastic. This program will help to implement the opportunity for kids to read about the same information, yet read on their own individual level.
The school recently had a nutrition audit and the report gave the school several commendations, one of which is the availability of more fresh fruits on the menu.
The highlight of the evening was the introduction of a local grant writer, John Manos. The idea of bringing Manos on board was introduced last month when Superintendent Dave Seaney suggested that hiring a professional grant writer would increase chances for more school funds. Until now, Seaney and other Board members have been taking time out of their schedules to write proposals. Manos will take a look at several projects that the school has been working on to see if any might look viable for donations; they include the Garland Street project, a new all-weather track along with a field house, technology, and energy grants.
Manos comes from the Denver area and most of his professional career was in fundraising. His experience is mainly in the private sector rather than government agencies, but he is eager to get started in trying to help the school.
The next regular school board meeting will be on Tues. April 22, where teacher contracts for next year will be approved, as well as notification of teachers that will not be returning.
