South Tama Finance Director and Board Secretary Randy Denham administers the oath of office to newly elected South Tama County Board of Education members Beth Wiese (left) and Elizabeth Dolezal (right) during the board’s Nov. 15 meeting. -- Photo by Darvin Graham

Heading into the second semester and possibly a second bond vote on replacing South Tama’s aging Middle School, the composition of the Board of Education has officially changed.

Newly elected members Beth Wiese and Elizabeth Dolezal were sworn into office during the board’s regular meeting on Nov. 15.

They replace retiring members Alan Kline and Ronald Houghton.

Kline was the senior member of the board having previously served two terms beginning in 2013. Houghton served one term and was first elected in 2017.

Superintendent Jared Smith addressed the board thanking Kline and Houghton for their time and service to the South Tama community and school district.

The 22nd Partners in Education recognition was announced during the Nov. 15 South Tama school board meeting. Receiving the Partners in Education plaque on behalf of Lincoln Savings Bank in Tama are Jared Schirmer and Jessica Manfull. Presenting the plaque are program coordinator and school liaison Nicole Hitchcock and Superintendent Jared Smith. -- Photo by Darvin Graham

“It’s heartfelt and sincere work and seeing the kids grow and progress makes it all worthwhile,” Kline said.

During the reorganizational part of the meeting Mandy Lekin was nominated and unanimously voted in as the Board President for the upcoming term.

Penny Tyynismaa was voted the Vice President.

This will be the first term for Lekin leading the board after previously serving multiple terms as Board Vice President.

Middle School Discussion

Retiring Board Member Alan Kline served at this final meeting on Nov. 15. Kline was joined by his wife Pat and heard words of thanks and encouragement from Superintendent Jared Smith and other members of the board once the meeting had concluded. -- Photo by Darvin Graham

As the team working toward a Middle School Project referendum were at the halfway point of the public input process, Smith presented to the board survey results from an open survey that was administered to the public following the first two public input sessions.

The survey asked two questions regarding the Middle School Project and the options presented by the Facilities Task Force.

Which option do you think is best for students?

Out of 499 people responding to that question, 260 (52 percent) said the Juvenile Home renovation option was best, 195 (39 percent) said the High School site option was best and 44 (9 percent) said either site option was best.

Which option do you think is most likely to be approved by voters?

The newly constituted South Tama County Board of Education will serve for the upcoming two-year term. Pictured are, back row (l-r): Board President Mandy Lekin, Clint Werner, Board Vice President Penny Tyynismaa; front row: Beth Weise, Elizabeth Dolezal. -- Photo by Darvin Graham

Out of 499 people responding to that question, 364 people (73 percent) said the Juvenile Home renovation option was most likely, 91 (18 percent) said the High School site was most likely and 44 (9 percent) said either option was most likely.

With two public input sessions scheduled for later in the week, the group discussed what they observed from the first public meetings and what they thought could be tweaked or improved going forward.

Smith said he felt the feedback from the sessions was overall positive though there were clearly differing opinions within the groups about the two location options.

He said the level of detail being provided in the plans by the architects this time around was a point of improvement compared to 2019/20.

Dolezal said in her observation of both meetings she didn’t see very many parents of school-aged children in attendance but instead more retirees and school staff.

She also said she would like to see the architectural renderings of the two plans duplicated and posted around the room for the upcoming in-person session as she noticed most of the people gravitating toward that station at the first meeting.

In other business…

The board heard an update from Smith about the ongoing federal vaccine mandate topic being discussed with OSHA that would require employers with over 100 employees to require their employees to have the COVID-19 vaccine or be regularly tested. Smith said that the situation is fluid at the moment and could ultimately be decided in the court system. With some additional rulings expected throughout the week, guidance from the IASB for Iowa schools was to wait to implement any such policies at least for another week. The board decided to continue to wait on the vaccine policy until the federal situation becomes clearer.

After months of deliberation the board approved the hiring of the Donovan Group for public relations services related to the Middle School referendum project. The agreement will allow for a fee of $1,000 in November and $2,000 each month from December-February.

Heather Gould and Maureen Hanson from Central Rivers AEA were before the board to give an overview of services provided to South Tama by AEA.

Resignations were accepted from Dawn Vest (bus driver) and Ruth Kosbau (costumer).