Friday, March 6, 2009

Business Manager Clarifies Superintendent's Contract

The Washington Community School District's Business Manager wants to clarify the latest superintendent's contract approved by the school board. The board approved keeping Interim Superintendent Dave Sextro on for one more year at around $124,000, which is the same value of the contract the district had with previous superintendent, Dave Schmidt. District Business Manager Jeff Dieleman says this year's contract pays Sextro around $93,000, but the district pro-rated the contract because Sextro started in late August and he had some unpaid vacations scheduled. So while the value in the latest contract appears higher, Dieleman says it's actually the same contract.

City Council Approves Budget

The Washington City Council has approved their budget for the upcoming fiscal year and it will mean a little higher property taxes. After the council held a public hearing on the budget they passed it last night. According to City Administrator Dave Plyman for someone with a $100,000 home, they paid around $1700 in property taxes last year, about $560 of that was city property tax. He says if the home value was the same this year you'd pay around $600 in city property taxes. Plyman says the driving force behind the increase is a drop in money coming into the city from sales taxes.

New GPS System For County Engineers

The Washington County Engineer's Office is getting a new GPS system. County Engineer David Patterson says this will replace an older system they have which is about 10 years old. Patterson says this new system is not like the one you by at a department or the Garman GPS units, this is much more accurate, with as he puts it golf ball size accuracy. The new system will cost $22,500 and work with a new GPS network the state is activating. Patterson says the equipment is instrumental in their work.

Washington Y Director

Today is Washington Community Y Director Darren Pickles last day. Pickles is moving to Pennsylvania to run a brand new 45,000 square foot facility on 10 acres of land in the Lancaster metro area. Pickles says he wasn't looking to move and the opportunity just kind of fell on him. He says one of the toughest decisions he's had to make is to leave the Washington area, but the move will mean his family will be closer to friends and relatives in the east. Darren Pickles has been the director of the Washington Community Y since March 2005.

IMS Sports Trainer

One of the most important parts of playing sports is staying healthy. Eric Turner with Jet Physical Therapy says Chuck Miller is a therapist that goes to IMS to help with the sports department. Miller is an IMS Graduate and enjoys helping the teams out. Turner says the post season is very important to athletes and that they put a lot of pressure on themselves and that can cause unwanted injuries. Miller says he is hopeful for the IMS boys basketball team in the post season and hopes to see them go to the finals of the state tournament.

Kalona Elementary Super Kids

Kalona Elementary School has a program in place to help kids learn to become the best they can be. Principle Jim Cayton says its called the Super Kid program. He says it is a reward system for good behavior and good academics. Cayton says they have many prizes available from pizza slices to an iPod. He says the kids have been having fun with the program and are enjoying wearing the t-shirts that are black in color and have a big superman logo on the front. The program runs all year.

Winfield-Mt. Union School Board

The Winfield Mt. Union Community School Board will be meeting on Monday. On the agenda the board will be employee conduct and appearance and what is expected. The School Board will also be discussing the senior class trips and a shared wrestling program with New London. The School Board will be meeting on Monday at 6:30pm in the media center.