Superintendent Ken Crawford

The Highland School Board held their regular meeting on Monday, June 13 to cover projects for the upcoming 2022-2023 school year. The board primarily focused on building plans for the new Pre-K and Elementary playgrounds.

Melissa Schreiner was also welcomed to the group as the district #5 board member.

“She talked about successful board members having an attitude for honesty on getting stuff done, [the] roles of a board working together as a team. Overall, just making sure the students get the best education possible,” Superintendent Ken Crawford said.

Schreiner will hold the position till November 2025.

Bids for the Pre-K and Elementary playground were made for approval and discussion Monday evening. The school is working with MMS Consultants for the plans to replace asphalt and add turf to the area. The asphalt base bid is $526,000 and the playground’s is $225,000. Both bids had alternatives for other additions such as painting and extra turf.

The board motioned to accept both bids with JHarding Inc. and alternative to paint the new asphalt for $4,000. The bid is paid through the school’s bond money, and other additions like basketball hoops and more turf can be paid through the rest of that bond.

Moving on, annual bids for gas, LP, and sanitation were discussed and approved.

“Everyone has noticed the huge price jump in gas, so it makes cost-effective decisions even more difficult if we don’t know when those prices will break,” said Crawford.

The board will move forward with their sanitation with Johnson County refuse and gas with Stuart and Sons.

Another service the school will be moving forward with is Grant Wood AEA for their IT services. The cost for those services does not come out of the general fund, where teachers’ salaries are affected. The school will be able to receive the tech support they need without taking away from the teachers.

The contract with AEA for the 2022-2023 school year was approved and will cost $50,000.

“This is a great deal, great service, and they help us with all our technology decisions. With how much we rely on electronics now, this is the best we can get,” Crawford said.

Finally, the board covered costs of safety equipment for the football team. Helmet reconditioning will cost $1,800. The board hopes for the football program to be “self-sustainable”, but in the case of helmets and shoulder pads, the school will step in.

“It’s important that the team is able to fundraise money for themselves, and the same goes for other programs, but as costs rise, especially for officials, that’s out of our hands,” said Crawford.