The Fort Madison Community School District Board is scheduled to meet for a regular board meeting at 6:00 p.m. on August 19. The agenda includes personnel and financial consent items, proposed food pantry coordinators, agreements for athletic training and preschool services, updated employee handbooks, a substantial slate of policy reviews, disposed assets, and discussion of an S&P bond-rating adjustment.
Key Items on the Agenda
Food Pantry Coordinators
The board is scheduled to consider appointing Brook Wagner and Sue Astheimer as Food Pantry Coordinators for the elementary and Jr./Sr. High School campuses. The proposal is connected to establishing a district food pantry intended to serve students and staff.
Staff requests a $500 stipend for each coordinator, for a combined $1,000.
Athletic Training Services
The board is scheduled to consider a one-year agreement with Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center for athletic training services. The proposed agreement runs from August 1, 2026, through July 31, 2027, at a district cost of $2,500 for the year, paid in two $1,250 installments.
Services would include access to an on-call athletic trainer, baseline concussion testing for grades 8–11, concussion-management support, and coverage for specified home athletic events. The agreement also calls for football practice coverage two days per week and provides for additional school visits when requested and when a trainer is available.
Y Kids Preschool Agreement
The board is scheduled to consider a contract with Y Kids Preschool for the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program for Four-Year-Old Children. The agreement covers July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027 and provides for half-day classes totaling at least 10 hours per week.
Fort Madison would pay Y Kids $389.40 per student for nine payments, using the student count on the first school day of each month. Payments would be proportionally reduced if state funding for the program is reduced or eliminated. Y Kids would not charge families tuition or fees for Fort Madison's instructional portion of the preschool day.
Employee Handbook Changes
The board is scheduled to consider approval of separate 2026–2027 Custodian/Maintenance and Support Staff handbooks. Packet materials specifically identify proposed insurance-language changes as part of the handbook review.
The handbook language provides medical and dental insurance eligibility for employees scheduled and working at least 30 hours per week. Eligible employees would receive up to $827 per month through a Section 125 cafeteria plan toward district medical, dental and/or vision insurance premiums. The packet also describes handbook provisions covering employment practices, leave, workplace expectations, training and other employee procedures.
Policy / Governance Items
Long-Range Planning and Anti-Bullying Policies
A chronological policy review includes draft versions of:
- Policy 103 — Long-Range Needs Assessment
- Regulation 103-R(1) — Long-Range Needs Assessment
- Policy 104 — Anti-Bullying/Harassment Policy
- Regulation 104-R(1) — Anti-Bullying/Harassment Policy: Investigation Procedures
- Exhibit 104-E(1) — Complaint Form
- Exhibit 104-E(2) — Witness Disclosure Form
- Exhibit 104-E(3) — Anti-Bullying/Harassment Policy
These documents are presented as drafts for review rather than as already adopted policy changes.
Quarterly Policy Review
The packet also includes 17 draft policies, regulations and exhibits in the quarterly review. Subjects include:
- Licensed employee tutoring
- Employee family and medical leave
- Disruptive behavior
- Student activity programs
- Administration of medication to students
- Basic instruction programs
- Private instruction
- Talented and gifted programming
- Community use of district buildings, sites and equipment, including the fee schedule
The number and breadth of documents make policy review one of the larger governance components of the August agenda.
Financial Items
July Financial Reports and Bills
The consent agenda includes the district's balance sheet, revenue summary, expenditure report and student activity report, along with multiple groups of bills for approval.
One August 19 board-bill report totals $773,527.95 across the Operating, Physical Plant & Equipment and Debt Services funds. Among the larger expenditures listed are curriculum materials and payments to other educational entities, including:
- $36,300 to Open Up Resources for elementary language arts materials.
- $30,504.52 to Kendall Hunt Publishing Company for math materials.
- $28,254.29 to Great Minds PBC for Eureka Math materials.
- $24,742.32 to Amazon Capital Services from the Physical Plant & Equipment Fund, including a teacher laptop refresh and four classroom smartboards.
- $21,100.80 to Contract Paper Group for the 2026–27 school-year paper order.
Separate packet reports list $21,574.39 in Student Activity Fund bills, $2,212.01 in School Nutrition Fund bills, and $6,325.52 in American Express-related bills across operating, nutrition and student activity accounts.
Disposed Assets
The board is scheduled to consider approval of the district's disposed-assets listing for fiscal year 2025–26. The report covers equipment and other property disposed of through methods including sale, recycling for parts, junking and other inventory adjustments.
The listing includes older buses, technology equipment, musical instruments, maintenance equipment and other district property. The report shows totals of $648,654.61 and $649,594.61 in its final asset-cost columns.
Personnel Items
Personnel matters appear on the consent agenda, including four resignations and 10 proposed hires, along with contract modifications, a leave-of-absence item and open-enrollment requests.
Among the documented employment recommendations are:
- Reagan Dickens — Special Education Associate-Elementary at $14.50
- Liberty Lightfoot — Special Education Associate-Elementary at $14.50
- Jodi McFadden — 21CCLC Student Support Services at $15
- Jill McKay — Special Education Associate-Elementary at $14.50
- Alexis Rehm — General Education Associate-Elementary at $12.35
- Luke Rickelman — Assistant Summer Athletic Enhancement at a $978 salary
- Candy Stark — 21CCLC Student Support Services at $15
- Ann Sutcliffe — Building Secretary Jr./Sr. High at $14.50
- Katlyn Wilson — Part-Time General Education Associate-Elementary at $12.35
- Mark Bunt — Drama Club Sponsor-Jr./Sr. High, Lane 1, at a $1,632 salary
Proposed August contract modifications include hourly-rate corrections for Shawnna Williamson from $12.68 to $12.37 and Sheleigh Hull from $14.50 to $12.35. The packet also lists a change for Dannette Sargent from Lane 1/Step 1 at $42,266 to Lane 4/Step 1 at $46,962, and for Jessica Weber from Lane 3/Step 6 at $53,224 to Lane 4/Step 6 at $54,789.
Credit Rating Discussion
The agenda includes an S&P rating adjustment as a discussion item. A draft S&P Global Ratings report dated August 5 says the district's school infrastructure sales, services and use tax revenue bond rating was lowered from A+ to A, with a stable outlook, and removed from CreditWatch.
The draft attributes the downgrade to changes in Iowa law that reduce pledged revenue available for debt service, combined with declining district enrollment. It notes that Senate File 2472 increases the portion of the statewide school infrastructure sales tax diverted to property-tax relief from 8.1% in fiscal 2026 to 25% in fiscal 2031.
The report also identifies rising special-education costs as a source of budget pressure and says recent facilities consolidation, other cost reductions and use of the cash reserve levy are part of the district's strategy to rebuild reserves beginning in 2027 and beyond. S&P's draft lists maximum annual debt-service coverage at 1.36 times and describes the outlook as stable.
What to Watch at the Meeting
The August agenda combines routine operational approvals with several items carrying longer-term implications. Key points to watch include:
- Whether the board approves the $2,500 athletic-training agreement and the 2026–27 Y Kids preschool contract.
- Whether the proposed $500 stipends for each of the two food pantry coordinators are approved.
- How the board handles the proposed insurance language and other provisions in the two employee handbooks.
- What questions emerge from the extensive chronological and quarterly policy reviews, particularly the anti-bullying/harassment and employee leave materials.
- How district officials discuss the S&P rating change, declining enrollment, pledged SAVE revenue and the district's strategy for rebuilding financial reserves.
