MEEKER | The Meeker School Board held a special meeting and work session last week at the district office, approving an early elementary school bond payoff and accepting a major curriculum donation before discussing enrollment trends, graduation policies, facility use guidelines and budget planning.
Board President Bill deVergie, Secretary Hannah Borchard and board members Ann Franklin, Joe Nieslanik, Heather Sauls and Tony Theos attended the meeting. Vice President Tom Allen participated remotely via Google Meet.
During the special meeting, Superintendent Chris Selle reported that strong tax collections have allowed the district to pay off its elementary school bond about two and a half years ahead of schedule.
“We are at a point where we’ve collected enough tax revenue to go ahead and pay off our elementary school about two and a half years earlier than planned,” Selle said.
The payoff totals approximately $5.54 million, while the bond fund contains about $6.5 million.
“Our payoff was 5,537,050, so we got almost a million dollars more than what we need to make the payment,” Selle said.
Under state law, excess bond funds must be transferred to other debt obligations. Selle said the remaining balance will be moved into the district’s high school bond fund.
“We will have money in that elementary loan redemption fund. We’ll transfer that into the high school fund, and then we’ll continue with that same strategy and probably be able to pay the high school off at least five years earlier,” he said.
The board unanimously approved the payoff.
Board members also approved acceptance of a $130,000 contribution from the Meeker Library District to help fund curriculum purchases for the 2026-27 school year.
“We received a $130,000 commitment from Meeker Library District to help with our curriculum purchases, which is incredibly beneficial to us this year,” Selle said.
He said the donation will cover major curriculum purchases and allow the district to redirect budgeted funds to other needs.
“We were able to reallocate those funds somewhere else on our budget,” he said.
The board also approved a formal letter of appreciation to the library district.
During the subsequent work session, board members reviewed proposed revisions to Policy JEB regarding entrance age requirements and discussed preschool enrollment.
Selle said preschool enrollment remains steady.
“We have right now, I think, 28 kids that are on the radar for preschool,” he said. “We’re going to try to go to three half day sections.”
The district previously operated two morning and two afternoon preschool sections. Under the proposed model, two morning sections and one afternoon section would qualify for half-time funding.
Selle also discussed enrollment trends, noting that incoming classes are significantly smaller than graduating classes.
“We’re bringing 20-30-ish kids in grade school,” he said. “We’re graduating 50-ish. There’s just not as many kids.”
The board also discussed homeschooling and student participation. Selle said previous outreach to homeschool families found that many chose homeschooling for religious reasons.
“About 80, 85% of them were religious based,” he said. “The other 15, 20% were mad at the school.”
He added that the district continues to offer opportunities for homeschool students to participate in district programs.
“We can try to provide outstanding opportunities and partner with those homeschool families when they want to engage with us,” Selle said.
Board members also reviewed policies related to early graduation and early completion.
“The early completer is a student who typically by Christmas of their senior year they have acquired their credits to graduate,” Selle said.
He noted that early graduation requires a much more extensive review process.
“Early graduates aren’t graduating a year earlier. There’s a much more robust process those students have to go through,” he said.
Discussion also focused on GPA weighting, transfer credits and class rank requirements.
“You have to have all your credits from Meeker High School to be eligible for those awards,” Selle said of valedictorian eligibility.
Meeker High School Principal Amy Chinn said safeguards are in place to prevent students from boosting grade-point averages through outside coursework.
“We try to put some safeguards in place to keep them from taking calculus at some homeschool program and transferring in an A,” Chinn said.
A significant portion of the work session centered on proposed updates to facility use guidelines and how school programs and club sports share district facilities.
Selle said the guidelines originated during the COVID-19 pandemic but have evolved to address ongoing scheduling conflicts.
“This document … was actually during Covid, and trying to figure out who got to use the gym, and how many kids you can have there in a certain amount of time,” he said.
He said the district’s goal is to support community access while prioritizing school-sponsored activities.
“The intent here is just to be really direct,” Selle said. “This is when it’s available, we’re not going to argue about it.”
Sauls questioned the consistency of scheduling for some outside organizations.
“It felt like somewhat haphazardly throughout this,” she said.
Selle responded that scheduling changes occasionally occur after facilities have been reserved.
“We’re sorry that your competition is a week later,” he said. “If you want to practice again, you just have to find another place.”
Chinn said previous scheduling conflicts led administrators to reconsider portions of the policy.
“We said first competition, and that’s our fault,” she said. “We wanted to say first practice.”
Barone Middle School Principal Dr. Atwell explained that athletic schedules often cannot be finalized until shortly before competition dates because of varying participation numbers among schools.
“We really can’t set the schedule for all the games until about a week and a half before,” Atwell said.
The discussion expanded into concerns about year-round athletic specialization and its impact on participation in school sports.
“We can’t overrun our own programs with club sports or we won’t have programs,” Chinn said.
Selle said maintaining participation is critical for small schools.
“You gotta have numbers,” he said. “The only way to have numbers in a small school is to have a bunch of kids involved.”
Chinn agreed, saying, “If you want successful sports programs, you cannot have specialized athletes.”
Near the end of the work session, Selle provided an update on the district’s budget outlook.
“The good news is that we’re tracking a deficit of about $516,000, which is certainly in the comfort zone over what we did the last few years,” he said.
He added that the district continues to evaluate capital projects and student outcome initiatives.
“I just wanted to keep it on the radar, so we’re continuing to think about outcomes for kids,” Selle said.
The district is expected to consider adoption of its 2026-27 budget at its regular meeting June 22.
Following the discussion, the board adjourned.
