The Meridian CUSD #15 Board of Education held its regular May meeting on Monday, May 20. Information from administration was shared with the Board that included: (full administrative reports can be found on pages 2-7 at this link)
Spring sports have concluded. The high school softball team finished with a record of 25-7. The baseball team ended with a record of 3-17. The girls soccer team finished 9-10-2. High school track concludes this week with Lleyton Miller competing in the 100 at the state track meet. Nora Roush also qualified for state in the high jump. Morgan Knerim, Corbin Neihart, Trenton Dowdy all qualified for the 3A middle school track meet. Morgan Knierim finished fourth in the 400.
The elementary school thanked the PTO for putting on a wonderful staff appreciation week. The elementary summer program will begin on June 4, with 76 kids participating.
The last month at the middle school has been busy with awards ceremonies, music concerts, and activities to end the school year. Alyssa Meisenhelter won a competition to design the Blue Mound Fall Festival booklet cover.
The high school has received initial data from the SAT and both the sophomore and junior classes scored better than the state average. MHS also had an academic award ceremony in which over $40,000 of scholarships were awarded.
During the course of the meeting, three excellent educators were recognized for their upcoming retirement. Mrs. Perkes, who has served as a pre-k aide since 2011, is retiring at the end of the year. Mrs. Spain, who serves as the district’s reading specialist at MES, is retiring. Also, Mrs. Dust, who has served as an elementary teacher for 33 years, is retiring at the end of the year. The district is thankful for their years of service to our children. There was also a group of MHS students from Young Leaders in Action who gave a presentation about their activities throughout the year.
The Board accepted resignations from the band director, Tyler Clark, and a bus driver, Jennifer Phipps.
The district is nearing the end of the fiscal year, so an update and projection of the FY24 budget was delivered. The Board also continued an ongoing discussion about a potential solar project. At the current time, the district will not be moving forward with the project.
The Board unanimously approved the following action items: 2024-2025 IESA membership, the FY25 Consolidated District Plan, an FFA Officer retreat, an IGA with the ROE for alternative education services, Floyd & Associates for the FY24 audit, and a tentative amended FY24 budget.
There were a total of eight personnel action items including the employment of eight summer school/program teachers, Barb Luka was hired as a cafeteria/recess monitor at MES, Randi Terry was hired as a paraprofessional at MES, Audrey Miller was hired as a paraprofessional at MES, Heather Noland will transition from a recess monitor to a paraprofessional next year, Allison Bickel was hired as the high school cheer coach, Justin Allen was hired as the middle school girls basketball coach, and all of the assistant coaches were hired for the 2024-2025 school year.
The next regularly scheduled Board meeting is Monday, June 17, at 6:30 p.m. at the Blue Mound Township Building in Boody.