Potomac School Board
POTOMAC – At their Feb. 14 meeting, the Potomac School Board approved their lease with the Potomac Greenough Community Center (PGCC) and the bid with Shadow Asphalt to pave the parking areas behind and in front of the school to meet ADA compliance. In other business, they received an update regarding the eighth grade trip fundraising and approved several contracts for next year.
Chair Dr. Courtney Hathaway said much of the lease was the same with the PGCC. She highlighted some of the changes and explained why some of the cost increased.
Historically, the school has been responsible for covering insurance premiums for the PGCC. A portion of the lease covers insurance and it went up about $1,000 from last year.
The lease states the PGCC is responsible to ensure that the building is cleaned and trash removed by non-school users and paper products provided by the school are not used by other groups. It also listed the maintenance items, some of which have already been completed by the school.
Hathaway outlined the additional funds, on top of the lease agreement, the school put into maintenance and building improvements because they had extra general funds.
“Last year we were in a really abundant financial situation,” Hathaway said. “It has been a nice way for us to contribute to the community center.”
However, this year nearly all excess in the general fund is going towards satisfying the civil rights suit or was allocated to the park.
“We’ve hit some big, unexpected expenses that cannot come out of our grant funds,” Hathaway said. “We can’t pay money towards a leased building out of our grant funds.”
They amended the lease putting a blank line item that would allow the school to contribute to the maintenance as they are able.
“It is our intention to always give what we can to the community center but the understanding that there is going to be years that that is it not always going to be possible,” Hathaway said adding PGCC Chair Dawn Downs was understanding of the school’s budget limitation this year.
Another point of discussion during negotiations was scheduling. In the lease it is worded that the school has the absolute and exclusive use to the PGCC during the school day but events can be scheduled using the gym and the restrooms during non-school hours. The classrooms will be limited to the School, Fire Department and Potomac Valley 4-H Club unless it is arranged. While the school retains rights to schedule events outside of regular school hours, this needs to be coordinated with the PGCC and the first event scheduled will have the priority.
Hathaway said she wanted to be more explicit in the wording, blocking the schedule on weekdays from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. from the first day of school through the last day of school. She said Downs was concerned that this limited the PGCC’s use during school holidays, breaks and on Fridays when school is not in session.
While she acknowledged it was not ideal because last minute things will come up, Hathaway recommended the board be very proactive and aggressive with blocking out their cleaning and maintenance days, events, and putting the makeup days in the calendar next year. If they don’t need those days, they can remove them from the calendar.
Hathaway said the general sentiment is that the school takes really good care of the building, keeping it clean and maintained, and it is in their best interest to do that as well. These contract negotiations must strike a fine balance between protecting the school and working together for the good of the community.
The board unanimously approved the contract as presented.
Principal John Rouse presented the board with the bid from Shadow Asphalt to pave 7,800 square feet of parking area. The Board’s Facility Committee met with the church, addressed all their questions and said it was determined that paving the parking lot would not result in flooding the church basement.
The area to be paved includes from the back of the building out to the storage buildings down to Potomac Loop Road to the chain link fence. In the front, it will be the trapezoid section next to the chain link fence. Everything will be striped either as a parking area or marked in front as no parking. There will be van accessible parking that will be paved out by the flagpole. After all the asphalt work is completed this summer, they will get the signs posted at the right height. Rouse said this will meet all the concerns in the Office of Civil Rights complaint.
The final bid including prep, materials, sump installation and striping was $31,010. The general fund will be about $6,000 - $8,000 short. Rouse feels they can make a good enough argument to use the Building Reserve funds due to the ADA requirement or they will have to explore other options.
“We will find the money,” Clerk Heather Marcella said and Rouse echoed the statement. “Just letting you know it is tight.”
Board approved unanimously the bid for paving.
The eighth graders have $150 more to raise for their class trip. They asked if they could pass down extra funds to the next class. The board said it is a nice gesture but not an expectation. They decided they would like to donate any money remaining in their fundraising to the seventh graders for their class trip next year.
In other business, the board unanimously approved:
• The Majestic Bus Contract as presented for 2022-2027.
• The Multi-District Pre-K Bus Contract 2022-2027.
• Madison Chiotti to fill Terri Klein’s position following Klein’s retirement for fiscal year 2022/2023 and to substitute for FY 2021/2022.
• The list of surplus items for disposal, donation, recycle or sale
• Revisions to the Return-to-School Plan
• Changes to permissive levy for 2022/2023
• Records disposal from 1974-2013
• Website design contract with Rebecca Vann, a senior at UM studying graphic and web design. The School’s website was made through Google and it is no longer supported so they need to update it.
• The Principal’s Contract for 2022-2023 was approved with an increase in Per Diem and a 2% raise, the same as the teachers’ increase.
The next meeting is scheduled for March 14 at 7 p.m. at the Potomac School. Someone can also request online access by contacting Rouse, jrouse@potomacschoolmontana.us
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