Midland Comm School District Packet Summary — 2026-08-12
Meeting: 08/12/2026 - 06:00 PM Regular Board Meeting Regular Board Meeting
Scheduled time: 6:00 PM
Location: District Board Room, 106 W Webster St, Wyoming, IA 52362, with Zoom joining information also listed in the packet.
The Midland Comm School District Board is scheduled to consider a substantial set of policy updates tied to 2026 Iowa legislation, along with the District Career and Academic Plan, snow removal services, a special education agreement, open enrollment applications, fund transfers, insurance renewal, and a school board vacancy. The consent agenda includes July meeting minutes, bills, financial reports, personnel recommendations, fundraising opportunities, and an emergency transportation agreement.
Key Items on the Agenda
Extensive Board Policy Updates
Policy work makes up a significant portion of the agenda. The board is scheduled to consider a second reading of 15 policies, regulations, and related items and a first reading of 25 policies, regulations, and exhibits.
The second-reading group includes policies covering board elections and meeting notices, equal employment opportunity, employee leave, open enrollment, student expression, purchasing and bidding, federal awards compliance, financial reporting, district records, and technology and data security.
The first-reading group includes policies addressing student conduct, disruptive behavior, medication administration, instruction, special education, physical education, gifted and talented programming, technology, counseling, investments, responsible technology use, stock prescription medication, and public records. Many of the proposed changes are connected to legislation enacted during Iowa's 2026 legislative session.
Notable proposed policy changes include:
- Disruptive student behavior: New Policy 503.11 and accompanying regulations establish procedures for removing students for violent and nonviolent classroom disruptions. The draft includes readmission procedures, special provisions for students with IEPs, and requirements for attendance-center oversight committees.
- Teacher recovery leave: Proposed policy language provides up to three days of full-pay physical recovery leave for teachers injured because of a student's violent disruption, with the board able to consider requests for additional time supported by a physician's note.
- Technology in elementary classrooms: Draft Policy 605.04 would require the district to set a daily digital-instruction limit for kindergarten through fifth grade that cannot exceed 60 minutes per school day, subject to specified exceptions. The draft still contains a placeholder for the district's specific limit.
- One-to-one devices: The proposed technology policy would require board adoption or renewal of district one-to-one device programs and completion of a technology adoption checklist addressing instructional purpose, age appropriateness, content filtering, and student data practices.
- Gifted and talented programming: Proposed changes call for systematic and uniform procedures for screening, identifying, and serving gifted and talented students using multiple sources of evidence.
- Physical education: Draft Policy 603.06 incorporates a requirement for physically able students to be assessed using the Presidential Physical Fitness Test, while noting that the assessment requirement does not take effect until federal guidance is issued.
- Student activities: Draft Policy 504.06 includes optional language allowing eighth-grade students, with parent or guardian permission, to participate in high-school interscholastic competition under specified conditions.
- Public records: Draft Policy 901 addresses public access to district records and adds language allowing the district, in rare circumstances and consistent with applicable law, to pursue legal remedies involving vexatious records requesters.
Several draft policies still contain brackets, placeholders, alternative options, or choices requiring district-specific decisions before final language is settled.
District Career and Academic Plan
The board is scheduled to discuss and act on the 2026–2027 District Career and Academic Plan (DCAP). The packet states that the secondary principal will present information about the plan for board approval.
School Board Vacancy
The board is scheduled to discuss and act on a recent school board member resignation. According to the packet, the district is looking to appoint a replacement to serve the remainder of the vacant term, which expires November 2, 2027.
Special Education Interagency Agreement
The board is scheduled to consider an interagency agreement involving Monticello CSD and Midland CSD. Under the packet description, Monticello School District would administer and supervise appropriate special education instructional programs and services for a student in accordance with Iowa Department of Education special education rules and state law.
Open Enrollment Applications
The agenda includes action on open enrollment applications. The packet reports three open-enrollment-out applications and four open-enrollment-in applications.
Financial and Operational Items
July Financial Reports
Financial reports are included on the consent agenda. The packet says the 2026–2027 year is off to a good start and explains that July General Fund receipts are significantly higher than in prior years because the state is now sending State Aid payments quarterly at the beginning of each quarter.
The packet says those State Aid payments are expected in July, October, January, and April, rather than being distributed over 10 months beginning in September as in prior years. The final report for fiscal year 2025–2026 is expected to be presented at the September meeting once the CAR is ready to be finalized.
The July General Fund comparison reports $1,025,080.35 in revenue and $133,045.82 in expenditures, producing reported revenue over expenditures of $892,034.53 for the period.
Bills
Bills are included among the proposed consent items. Packet reports list:
- $510,640.73 in General Fund bills dated for August 12.
- $15,427.44 in Activity/Nutrition bills dated for August 12.
- $203,521.13 in prepaid General Fund bills.
- $47.47 in prepaid Activity/Nutrition bills.
The General Fund bill report covers a wide range of district costs, including special education and open-enrollment tuition, equipment, insurance, utilities, technology, instructional materials, maintenance, professional services, and other operating expenses.
Transfer of Funds
The board is scheduled to discuss and act on fund transfers intended to address positive and negative account balances and posting errors identified during year-end review.
The packet specifically notes that an NHS revenue and expense posting was corrected and states that the Class of 2026 balance is to be moved into the Class of 2027. Staff recommends approving the transfer as presented.
Snow Removal
The board is scheduled to discuss and act on a proposed snow-removal agreement with Daehn Farms LLC for the 2026–2027 winter season. The packet describes services including plowing, sidewalk maintenance, and salt application at established hourly rates, with provisions covering response times, equipment, and billing procedures.
Insurance Renewal
The agenda includes discussion of the district's SU Insurance renewal. The packet states that Midland is accepting the renewal policy with Jester Insurance.
Consent Agenda and Community Items
The proposed consent agenda includes approval of the July 8, 2026 Regular Board Meeting minutes, bills, financial reports, personnel recommendations, and fundraising opportunities.
Two Senior Class fundraising activities appear in the supporting materials:
- Sale of leftover World's Finest Chocolate bars from the prior year's fundraiser in the teachers' lounge, scheduled from August 18, 2026 through May 17, 2027, to support Senior Class items and trips.
- A penny/change war scheduled for September 8–18, 2026, culminating in selected seniors being pied in the face during the Homecoming assembly. Proceeds are also designated for Senior Class items and trips.
The packet indicates that funds from both activities would be deposited into a school account.
Linn County Emergency Transportation Agreement
The consent section also includes discussion of an emergency transportation agreement with the Linn County Emergency Management Agency.
The agreement would establish Midland Community School District support for emergency transportation, including potential evacuations related to the Duane Arnold Energy Center, when district resources are available after student transportation needs have been met. The packet says the agreement also addresses district training, reimbursement of costs, and liability protections during emergency response efforts.
Administrative Updates
The agenda includes reports from the athletic director/dean, middle/high school, elementary school, school business office, and superintendent.
The superintendent's packet update notes that the administrative team attended the 2026 SAI Annual Conference in Des Moines and connected with Innovation Learning as the district continues work toward launching a before- and after-school program. The update also says state auditors recently completed their annual review and that the results will be shared with the board when available.
What to Watch at the Meeting
- Policy choices: The large policy package contains several district-level choices and draft placeholders, making the first-reading discussion particularly significant before later adoption.
- Student behavior rules: Proposed Policy 503.11 and its regulations would establish detailed procedures for classroom removals, readmission, repeated disruptions, students with IEPs, and teacher protections.
- Elementary technology limits: The proposed technology policy calls for a kindergarten-through-fifth-grade digital-instruction limit of no more than 60 minutes per school day, but the district-specific limit remains to be determined in the draft.
- Board vacancy: The district is seeking an appointment to fill a board seat through November 2, 2027.
- Financial timing: Higher July General Fund receipts reflect a change in the timing of State Aid payments rather than the prior 10-month payment schedule.
- September follow-up: The packet anticipates presentation of the final fiscal year 2025–2026 report at the September meeting once the CAR is ready to be finalized.
The next regular board meeting is scheduled for September 9, 2026 at 6:00 PM.
The packet was summarized from publicly available meeting materials provided through Simbli, the official meeting source identified for Midland Comm School District.
Official Meeting Source URL: https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/ViewMeeting.aspx?S=36031606&MID=32262
Public body's meeting/document listing page: https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/SB_MeetingListing.aspx?S=36031606
Provider: simbli
Provider Meeting ID: simbli-32262
Civic Translator summarized publicly available meeting materials.
