Broken Bow School board Monday, Feb. 15

BROKEN BOW - Contracts for two new teachers were approved at Monday evenings Broken Bow Public School (BBPS) board meeting. Sierra McQuade will teach English/Language Arts. Keaton Kleespies will teach social studies. Both will be first year teachers beginning with BBPS in the fall of 2021.

Board members on the negotiating team said negotiations with the teachers are going well. It’s expected that an agreement will be approved by the school board in March. The board agreed to increase teacher base pay by $700. New teacher base pay will be $36,400. “It gives us a competitive advantage on recruiting new teachers,” Superintendent Darren Tobey said. “It makes Broken Bow more attractive.”

The board accepted a bid of $14,597.50 from M&M Electric for new lights in the high school gym. A bid was also submitted by Central Nebraska Electric.

There will be a March 10 meeting of members of the committees evaluating facilities and programs. “There’s an understanding that there’s a need for something,” board member JB Atkins said. Future meetings will determine if that “something” is renovation or building. The March 10 meeting will begin the visioning process of specific needs and suggested changes.

As board treasurer, Atkins said the district’s finances are in positive shape. Overall, finances are down $60,000. However, Superintendent Tobey said $300,000 was paid towards the track in this fiscal year, so in reality, finances are $240,000 ahead. $117,526 in purchases of new computers and technology was approved.

The decision to not hold school on Tuesday was made out of concern that the buses would not safely run in the intense cold. The decision to hold the basketball games scheduled Tuesday was made so that games did not have to be postponed to Ash Wednesday.

Present at the meeting were board members Tom Osmond, JB Atkins, Tim Chancellor, Pam Holcomb and Amy Staples, as well as Superintendent Darren Tobey and secretary Kay Einsphar..

The board meets at noon, Monday, Mar. 1 for a work session. The next regularly scheduled meeting is at 7:30 p.m., Monday, March 15.