NEW LONDON -- The New London-Spicer School Board on Monday approved moving drivers' education classes from the high school curriculum for ninth-graders into the district's community education program.
High school principal Kevin Acquard presented the change to the board along with a request to reinstate a computer exploration course as a freshman requirement for graduation and to add a nutrition class to the Family and Consumer Science curriculum.
Many other area districts have already moved their drivers' education training to community education, Acquard said, noting that the change is a part of what needs to be done as the district faces future budget cuts due to declining enrollment.
"It's not a total cut, it's a shift in programming," he said.
Acquard had announced to parents of incoming freshman that a change was coming, so they wouldn't be surprised by the move, he said.
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"I wouldn't say it's a total surprise, at least not for the 55 or so parents at the meeting last year," he told the board.
The move was approved on a 4-2 vote with board chairperson Karen Nelson and board members Dan DeGeest, Helena Lungstrom and Jeff Roguske voting for the measure. Board members Mike O'Brien and Robert Moller voted against the action. Board member Holli Cogelow-Ruter left the meeting before the vote occurred.
The community education class will likely be offered in three sessions in the summer and two school-year sessions in mid-November and mid-March.
Acquard noted that the timing and structure of the sessions is still to be determined. Students are required to have 30 hours of classroom training before they begin behind the wheel driving instruction. The instructors of the community education program would be the current staff members, he noted.
Cogelow-Ruter's absence left the subsequent vote on changing the graduation requirements to include the computer class in a 3-3 tie, with DeGeest, Lungstrom and Nelson voting for the measure and Moller, O'Brien and Roguske voting against.
A tie means that the motion fails, Nelson said. The requirements would have been for the class of 2011, currently in the eighth grade.
In other action:
- The board approved seniority lists for the teachers, education support professionals and Early Childhood/Family Education teachers.
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- The board received a project summary of costs for the two-year Prairie Woods Elementary roofing project. The total cost was $798,391, with the roofing costs coming in below costs because the district purchased the roofing materials in the fall of 2005 and avoided cost increases due to the rising price of petroleum, according to Barb Gjerde, business manager. The bid from McDowall Company was for $788,970 and the actual cost was $759,588.
