Union Board of Education member Maureen Hanson speaks on the merits of conducting a community survey as part of the superintendent search process during the regular board meeting held on Feb. 21 in the District Office Board Room at the high school in La Porte City. Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

1. Instructional calendar

During the regular meeting of the Union Board of Education on Monday, Feb. 21, the 2022-2023 instructional calendar was approved with the board choosing Option A which included a traditional spring break. Superintendent Travis Fleshner shared Option A received the most teacher support between the two calendar options. The first day of school for the 2022-2023 calendar is set for Wednesday, August 24, 2022, with preschool beginning Aug. 30; winter break is set for December 23, 2022-January 2, 2023; spring break is set for March 13-17, 2023; the last day of school is set for Wednesday, May 31, 2023, with an 11:00 a.m. dismissal time; Commencement for the graduating class of 2023 is set for Saturday, May 21, 2023. The new calendar can be viewed on the district’s website: https://www.union.k12.ia.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2022-2023-Instructional-Calendar.pdf

2. Girls’ wrestling

As part of the Superintendent Report, Fleshner shared he plans to include Girls’ Wrestling at Union beginning with the 2022-2023 school year on the agenda for the Monday, March 7, special board meeting. The announcement that the sport would be sanctioned for next school year was made by Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) Director Jean Berger on Jan. 22, at the Iowa High School Girls Wrestling Championships in Coralville. Prior to sanctioning, more than 50 school districts sent letters to IGHSAU in support of sanctioning girls’ wrestling but Union declined to do so. Fleshner, who is treasurer for the IGHSAU Board of Directors, shared his reasoning for not sending a letter of support had to do with the ambiguity of the word “support.” Now that the sport is officially sanctioned, Fleshner said he has been working with boys’ wrestling head coach Bart Mehlert to formulate a plan for Union girls’ wrestling. Mehlert will continue to be the head coach for both teams with an assistant coach assigned to the girls’ team. Practices will run at the same time – Union has two full wrestling rooms adjacent to one another. During the 2021-2022 wrestling season, Union fielded four female wrestlers as part of the boys’ team.

3. Substitute pay

As part of the Superintendent’s Report, Fleshner discussed with the board the possibility of increasing the substitute teacher pay rate at Union. Currently Union pays $110 per day to its substitutes which equates to more than $110,000 a year. “I don’t think it’s going to create more subs,” Fleshner said but added he believed the rate needed to be increased in order to be on a more equal footing with area school districts. Several area districts’ sub rates were mentioned including Cedar Falls which pays subs $132 per day. Board members agree Fleshner should add the item to a future meeting agenda.

4. Superintendent search

As previously reported in the Feb. 25 edition of the Telegraph, Fleshner’s resignation from the district was approved by the board during the Feb. 21 meeting following Fleshner’s announcement the week prior that he had accepted an offer to become the next superintendent for the Aplington-Parkersburg Community School District effective July 1, 2022. Two superintendent search firm proposals were reviewed during the meeting by the board, one from Grundmeyer Leader Services and one from McPherson & Jacobson, L.L.C. Following a lengthy discussion among the board members on the merits of conducting and not conducting a community survey as part of the search, the board unanimously approved Grundmeyer Leader Services as the district’s superintendent search firm – selecting the full package proposal which included community stakeholder surveys. Following approval, board president Corey Lorenzen asked the board if he could give Grundmeyer the go-ahead to be “aggressive” with the search timeline. Board members gave Lorenzen the green light to move fast with the search, however, board member Maureen Hanson added the caveat of the search not moving so fast as to exclude the proper processes.

5. Softball sharing agreement with G-R

A one-year softball sharing agreement with the Gladbrook-Reinbeck School District beginning with the 2021-2022 season was approved unanimously by the board. Under the agreement, G-R must provide transportation for their athletes as the sport will be based out of the Union district. Per previous Telegraph reporting, there are four G-R softball players interested in a sharing agreement. The agreement would be for a year at a time as G-R’s softball numbers at the lower grade levels are big enough to support a future team. Fleshner told the board G-R plans to provide some softball equipment. As of publication, Union still had not hired a head softball coach.

6. Personnel appointments

As part of the Consent Agenda which was approved unanimously, associate Amy Eikamp voluntarily took a transfer from DG Elementary to the middle school while Cara Glenn – who is currently employed at Union Middle School as part of the nutrition staff – was hired as Head of Food Service beginning with the 2022-2023 school year.