MEEKER | Meeker School District Board of Education met Monday, Oct. 9 for a short special meeting followed by work sessions. During the special meeting the board approved personnel hires of Nicole Baldwin as a classified substitute (custodial) and Kevin Borchard as a Middle School Boys Basketball assistant coach. They also accepted the resignation of second grade teacher Becka Yarbrough and approved an expenditure from Capital Reserve (Fund 43) not to exceed $6K to add snow guards to the Meeker School District Bus Garage.
MHS ENERGY USE
Meeker School District Superintendent Chris Selle said the energy use at the High School remains high following a recent overview of energy consumption in the building. He said unlike other buildings in the district MHS uses “double what our energy models predicted when we were building it.” A technical study proposed by Mesa Point Energy would look at natural gas usage in particular.
One of the factors affecting the energy use in the building is that models did not originally account for COVID mitigation strategies that involve improving ventilation by bringing in more fresh air. Selle highlighted barriers to effective solutions for energy use including complexity of HVAC systems, and asked the board to weigh the pros and cons of hiring an additional third party for a technical study to review natural gas consumption at MHS. Johnson Controls is an example of a group that could offer third party upgrades with a proposed maximum of $14K and up to 50% reimbursement, though Selle said he wasn’t sure where exactly that maximum number came from. The board held off on approving a study from Mesa Point Energy pending exploration of other “front end” options that could cost less.
TEACHER RECRUITMENT
The board talked about how the shortage of affordable housing creates challenges for recruiting new teachers. They discussed multiple solutions including purchasing leases for employee housing, subsidizing rent, partnering with developers and/or other educational institutions in the region, utilizing short term rentals such as AirbNb or tiny homes, among others.
POLICY CHANGES
Final readings of proposed policy additions/revisions will be up in the next few weeks. Proposed areas for revision include public’s right to know/freedom of information requests, student suspension/expulsions and corporal punishment, complaint procedures, sexual harassment and many others. You can access documents listing proposed changes via school board agendas which are available on the district website at meeker.k12.co.us/documents