In a lightly attended meeting on Monday, June 26, in which four of seven board members were present for action items, the Mid-Prairie school board approved updates to a dozen board policies and elected to hold the superintendent’s wage constant through the next school year.

The board considered Chapter 600 policies as part of their regular five-year review.  Current policies were compared to current Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB) recommendations; while most of the board’s policies were left unchanged, twelve policies needed updating to stay current with new legislation.  Those policies included Instructional Materials Selection, Objection to Instructional Materials, Reconsideration of Instructional Materials, Media Centers, and Student Health Services.   

The board passed first readings of the updated policies.

Tabled at the last board meeting on June 12 was the matter of Superintendent Brian Stone’s wages for the 2023-24 school year because Stone, as well as two other board members, were not present.  The intention was to call a special session where all members would be present, but this did not happen, which board member Jake Snider expressed displeasure with.

Noting that the situation felt awkward, Stone reiterated that it was his preference that he not be given a wage increase for year two on his contract.  The four board members present voted to honor Stone’s request and specified that the lack of wage increase in no way reflected his job performance.

During the meeting, which exceeded two hours, Tad Morrow of Carl A Nelson reported to the board on the various construction projects underway in the district.  The new softball lights have been installed and reconstruction of the track is on schedule.  Additions at the middle school are about 1.5 weeks ahead of schedule, and additions at East Elementary are about two weeks ahead of schedule, mostly thanks to favorable weather conditions.

Additionally, Superintendent Stone noted the hiring of Alec Clark for the position of District Activities Director, which the board approved in their consent items.  Clark comes from the Burlington Community School District, where he has been an elementary school principal for the past year and assistant high school principal prior to that.  His athletic experience includes serving as State Director of Instruction for Iowa Soccer, for whom he has also been a referee, instructor, and coach.

The Mid-Prairie Board of Education’s next regular meeting will be Monday, July 10 at 6:15 p.m. in the Central Office Community Room.