North Tama senior Isabella “Isa” Allen, right, is administered the oath of office as the 2026-27 nonvoting student school board representative by President David Calderwood, left, during the Wednesday, Sept. 16, regular board meeting held in the Junior High Commons in Traer. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

TRAER – Five years’ worth of free student breakfasts, the swearing-in of a new student board representative, sewage in the 1917 building’s basement, attendance trends, a new promotional video, the search for a superintendent, and decisions regarding the long-running conundrum over replacing the North Tama Athletic Complex concession stand were just a few of the agenda items addressed during the regular meeting of the North Tama school board held Wednesday, Sept. 16, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Junior High Commons.

Board president David Calderwood presided over the meeting with all directors present except for LeRoy Staker. Superintendent John Cain, School Business Official/board secretary Sara Forrester, Principal Taylor Howard, Assistant Principal Jordy Brown, and several department heads were also in attendance during the nearly 3-hour meeting.

1. One of the most exciting announcements made during the Wednesday night meeting took place during Superintendent Cain’s report. “We had a community member stop in and talk to Taylor (Howard) and some others … and has decided to make a considerable donation to our Nutrition programs, specifically allowing North Tama students to eat breakfast for free,” Cain informed the board. The donation totals $50,000 and will last at least five years, he further explained. “You don’t see that every day,” Cain later concluded. The district recently began offering free breakfast. This donation will allow the district to continue to do so, regardless of income eligibility. The donor has chosen to remain anonymous as of presstime.

2. Following approval of the meeting’s agenda and just prior to approval of the consent agenda, the 2026-27 nonvoting student board representative was administered the oath of office by President Calderwood. Senior Isabella “Isa” Allen will fill this school year’s student rep role, replacing Lillea Cluts, Class of 2026. Later in the meeting, Allen provided an update to the board on various student clubs and activities, including information on a new Women’s Leadership Club which currently has four members and is looking to recruit more. Both the North Tama band and choir each number 80 students this school year, she said. FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America) has 25 members and was scheduled to compete in a grilled cheese-making challenge this past Monday at Iowa State University (as well as charcuterie board and children’s book challenges). Drama Club has 20 members and is currently planning a fall play as well as a spring production.

3. During his report, Cain also addressed recent troubles that bubbled up in the 1917 building involving sewage. The building no longer houses the bulk of the district’s secondary classrooms following completion of the new addition on the east side of campus. Per Cain, prior to construction of the new building, a hole was found in the building’s steam HVAC system which allowed “hot, moist air” to blow into the campus tunnels, which led to degradation of some of the 1917 building’s pipes. Age could also have played a factor. Earlier this month, a sewage backup was discovered in the 1917 building’s basement leading to a mess in the tunnels. The situation was discovered by SBO Forrester on Wednesday, Sept. 9, after reports of a foul smell in the building the day before. The issue was “immediately addressed,” Cain said, and a cleaning company has since sanitized the tunnels which had to be first cleared of a lot of items that had been stored or otherwise abandoned in the basement, some for decades. The cost will most likely exceed $10,000. The administration used an emergency process for approval through the AEA. The next step is to identify the condition of the piping that remains.

4. As part of Assistant Principal Brown’s report which was given in Principal Howard’s absence as he arrived later in the meeting, attendance trends were addressed in light of the state legislature’s recent overhaul of public school attendance and truancy laws. Generally, attendance at both the elementary and secondary levels has improved, Brown shared, citing data from the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. At the elementary level, students with eight or more absences decreased from 12 to 6 between the two school years, while secondary went from 16 to 12. During those two school years there were zero calls to the county attorney for elementary students with 16 or more absences; there was one call to the county attorney’s office in the second semester of last school year at the secondary level. “Generally speaking, the data shows that law has impacted our attendance for the better in terms of kids being at school,” Brown surmised. During his report, he also briefly touched on (among other things) certified staff switching classrooms ahead of the 2026-27 school year, switches that included both voluntary and involuntary transfers. When contacted following the meeting, the school district told the newspaper the following teachers were in new positions this year: Leigh Sell went from first grade to sixth grade; Shannon Licht (Degener) from first grade to fourth grade; Reilly Clark from fourth grade to kindergarten; new hire Taryn Davis is teaching first grade; and Mary Howard from sixth grade to first grade. Per Brown, teachers are “adjusting” and “adapting” to the changes.

5. Brown also talked about a new promotional video in the works for the North Tama CSD by the video production company Good Era based out of Cedar Falls. The company will be filming Sept. 29 and 30 in all areas of the campus, including in the new facilities. Brown explained this would be a “great way to highlight” “where the community’s money has been going for the last three years,” while also serving as a showcase for family recruitment. He shared with the board a sample video from the University of Northern Iowa. The goal of the endeavor is to produce a two- to-three-minute video that highlights as much of North Tama as possible, including using drone footage of the campus. The video should be completed in late October. The cost is less than $10,000.

6. Under discussion items, the board addressed the district’s superintendent search following Cain’s announcement this past July that he would be retiring at the end of the 2026-27 school year. North Tama shares Mr. Cain through an operational sharing agreement with neighboring South Tama County, an agreement that results in nine (9) students’ worth of additional state funding to the district, roughly $72,000 – an amount that will need to be replaced if the district elects not to share again with another district. As part of the discussion, the board opted to tackle the superintendent vacancy in two ways, operating in tandem. Cain and Forrester will inquire with area/surrounding school districts about possible sharing opportunities. At the same time, the district will advertise on Teach Iowa (the state platform for posting Iowa education jobs) a position combining 0.5-full-time-equivalent (FTE) superintendent with 0.5 FTE “other administrative official.” If the board ends up hiring a combination part-time superintendent/part-time other administrative official, the “other” duties will be determined once the individual is hired based on their expertise/skillset. Following discussion, President Calderwood asked Forrester to prepare financial information regarding operational sharing dollars for the October meeting. Cain first began serving as South Tama’s superintendent in 2022, adding superintendent duties at North Tama at the start of the 2024-25 school year following David Hill’s resignation to take the superintendent position at Waverly-Shell Rock. At the time of his hiring at North Tama, Cain’s base salary was $27,544 per year – a savings of more than $100,000 over Hill’s 0.75 FTE salary. Cain currently dedicates two days per week to North Tama.

7. Under action items, the board considered a potential proposal for a new concession stand at the North Tama Athletic Complex located on the eastern outskirts of Traer. Bid plans were submitted to contractors in late August for construction of a 20-foot by 20-foot concession stand to replace the decaying stand currently at the complex. As a cost-saving measure, the project was broken into several bid packages, including cement foundation work, framing, roofing and interior finishing. Volunteer labor would be used for demolishing the current building as well as for some of the interior work. The district already has a materials bid; contractors would be required to construct using those materials. The project was previously bid out as a single package, eliciting at least one bid for $70,000 that was characterized as over budget. Prior to taking action Wednesday night and as part of a discussion item addressing construction updates, the board was informed that zero bids had been received with six or seven contractors declining to bid this go-around for various reasons, including full schedules; inability to meet the district’s timeline for completion of late May 2027; the bid package being broken out; previously bidding on the project and declining to do so again. “That’s how we cheapened it up,” Calderwood explained. “Sounds like we want to have our cake and eat it, too,” Director Doug Dvorak commented. “We gotta change something.” The board elected to put the project out to bid again as one package and allow bidders to submit a potential timeline.