Road concerns Arlee BOE

ARLEE — With winter weather comes poor driving conditions, and the Arlee school board is concerned with a particular patch of road near their schools.

Chairman Hank Adams said at the last board meeting the shoulder along US Highway 93 north of Lumpry Road is dangerous for vehicles and school buses. Superintendent John Jay Miller said he has left several messages with Tom Benedict at the highway department, and has received no response. Lake County Superintendent Gale Decker and Kevin Howlett have also written letters to the highway department addressing their similar concerns.

Trustee Amy Burland is gathering signatures on a petition regarding the span of the highway going to Arlee, the crossing of Jocko Bridge by bikers and walkers, and the speed limit near N’Kusm School. Miller said he would continue efforts to contact Benedict, and asked the board to direct him to write a letter to the highway department asking them to fix the dangerous edge of the highway.

Also at the board meeting, high school principal Jim Taylor said the first town meeting to discuss a four-day school week will be held on Jan. 12, in the elementary lunchroom. The community meeting will allow for community dialogue with the administrators regarding the shortened school week.

Elementary counselor Dana Eisenberg presented the Family Resource Center proposal to the board and asked for their approval on the WORD/AmeriCorps program. She said the program would provide a better school environment for students.

The program provides a room where parents and community members can meet with school administrators and staff, and elementary principal Lisa Miller said she would make room somewhere and said she believes the program is beneficial. Burland said she has seen the program work in the Ronan school district and said she thinks it is wonderful.

The program would cost $2,312 for the remainder of the 2009 school year, with a part-time AmeriCorps member on site. The board approved the WORD program.

Miller addressed the board regarding junior high boy’s sports head coach Brian Bertolt’s request to receive the assistant coach pay, on top of his current pay. Superintendent Miller said this request is reasonable because he said Bertolt coached all the teams this season. A motion to pay all head coaches, who worked their season with no assistant, additional assistant coach salaries was carried by a majority vote.

Discussions regarding chaperones and additional supervision of students on teams without assistant coaches ensued, and the board agreed to address the issue in the near future.

Jay Kirby told the board that the gymnasium/multipupose facility would be finished in a couple days, and said the elementary school is 99.9 percent complete.

Superintendent Miller and principal Miller said the nurses’ station needs cabinets, and Adams said the shop students could help with this to alleviate some of the cost.

The board accepted the resignation of high school girls’ basketball coach Tim Morin, and head high school volleyball coach Lonnie Morin.

The board approved the hiring of Theresa Brown as head high school girls’ basketball coach, for fiscal year 2009 and assistant high school girls’ basketball coach Scott Palmer.