School board approves of unused equipment disposal

Nick Johansen
The Red Oak Express

The Red Oak School Board tackled a light agenda at its regular meeting Aug. 24.
Superintendent Ron Lorenz discussed options for the disposal of old lockers and a five-man sled.
“We’re working to clean up the stadium area a little bit, and we have old lockers that date back to the 1960s and 70s that we took out of the field house. The blocking sled also hasn’t been used in quite some time,” advised Lorenz.
As the law says the board has discretion to dispose of those items in any legal means, there was no need to have a hearing with the items valued at less than $5,000.
“We would be able to dispose of the items using Purple Wave, which is the online auction service that we used to dispose of the items at Webster and Bancroft as well as a bus,” commented Lorenz.
The board approved the use of Purple Wave to dispose of the items. If no bids are received, the lockers and sled will be disposed of locally.
Also on the agenda was approval of the 2023 legislative priorities. After some discussion, the board approved a local proposal which was teacher recruitment.
“It will provide the board with flexibility to use district management funds for either early retirement programs or locally defined teacher recruitment incentives,” said Lorenz.
The board also wanted to see some clarification regarding open enrollment regulations, specifically funding deadlines, as well as adequate school funding, and mental health reports.
Also on the agenda was approval of a bid for a replacement boiler at the technology center. After receiving an estimated cost of $291,000, and the district received two bids, with the low bid from Ray Martin at $163,000.
“The bid from Ray Martin was considerably less expensive, and we were really glad about that,” commented Lorenz.
The board unanimously approved the bid from Ray Martin, at a cost of $163,000.
Finally, during a work session, the board discussed potential policy and procedures for school lunch accounts of students or adults that reach a negative balance. Lorenz said the policy had to be reviewed due to the Federal Government not renewing the Free Breakfast/Lunch program for all students for the upcoming 2022-2023 school year.
Due to the fact that the board was in work session and no action could be taken, Board Member Roger Carlson suggested two board members meet with Lorenz to discuss potential policy which would be brought before the board for further discussion and action at the first meeting in September.
In other business, the board:
• Approved paraprofessional guidelines for the 2022-23 school year.
• Approved the support staff handbook for the 2022-23 school year.
• Appointed Jamie Sherley as the district’s level one investigator and Tony Jones as the disctrict’s alternate level one investigator, per Iowa code.