Meeting: Board Meeting
Date: July 14, 2026
Scheduled time: 3:00 p.m. in the Board Room
The Mount Ayr Community School District Board of Education is scheduled to consider a broad set of annual organizational, instructional, policy, financial, and operational items. The packet includes proposed 2026–2027 handbooks and professional development plans, a curriculum guide, banking arrangements, CTE-related items, policy revisions, fundraisers, personnel matters, bills, and financial reports.
Key Items on the Agenda
2026–2027 Fees, Admissions, Meal Prices, and Driver Education
The board is scheduled to review and accept the district's 2026–2027 fees, gate admission amounts, charges, meal prices, and driver education arrangements. The agenda identifies these collectively as an action item.
The packet's elementary handbook lists food-service prices of $2.45 per day for lunch, $1.65 per day for breakfast, and 50 cents per day for milk or juice. The bills included with the packet also show a $5,200 payment to Southwest Iowa Drivers Education.
Board Officers, Attorney, and Banking Depositories
The board is scheduled to appoint a Board Secretary/Treasurer and Board Attorney and name banking depositories.
The proposed depository information identifies US Bank, First Interstate Bank, City State Bank, PCSB, Wells Fargo Bank of Iowa, Bankers Trust, and ISJIT. Proposed maximum deposits are:
- City State Bank: $10,000,000
- Wells Fargo Bank of Des Moines: $2,000,000
- First Interstate Bank of Mount Ayr: $1,250,000
- US Bank: $1,500,000
- PCSB: $500,000
- Bankers Trust: $2,500,000
- ISJIT: $500,000
Handbooks, Curriculum, and Instruction
Multiple 2026–2027 Handbooks Scheduled for Approval
The agenda includes proposed approval of the Elementary Handbook, Little Raider Preschool Handbook, Secondary Handbook, Flexible Education Handbook, and Employee Handbook. The board is also scheduled to consider the elementary and secondary professional development plans and the district's curriculum guide.
The secondary principal's report specifically identifies the MACS Flexible Education Program Handbook 2026–27, Student-Parent Handbook 2026–27, and Secondary PD Plan & Testing Calendar 2026–27 as items for board approval.
Flexible Education Program
The proposed Flexible Education Program handbook describes an alternative educational setting for students whose needs cannot be addressed in a traditional classroom. Placement would generally be limited to juniors and seniors and determined by the principal and counselor rather than through student application.
The proposed program includes:
- Sessions generally scheduled for 8:00–10:00 a.m., with missed time required to be made up.
- Online coursework aligned with district graduation requirements.
- Individual progress plans and extended hours when students fall behind pace.
- Up to two work-experience credits per semester beginning in a student's junior year, with one credit earned for every 90 verified work hours.
- A $50 computer deposit.
- Continued participation in district and state assessments.
- Completion of regular graduation requirements, including community service.
The handbook also allows surrounding districts to purchase available program seats, with the home district paying tuition equal to the state-established per-pupil rate and remaining responsible for transportation.
Professional Development Plans
The elementary professional development plan emphasizes LETRS Writing, Belonging in School, teacher collaboration, and continued use of PLC and MTSS strategies. The schedule runs throughout the 2026–2027 school year and includes training, coaching, collaboration, conference preparation, ISASP testing, and review of ISASP results.
The broader district professional development program sets goals for student achievement and instructional improvement. Secondary goals include raising ISASP proficiency to 90% in math and 95% in ELA, while the elementary plan calls for raising Fastbridge aReading and Early Reading performance to 80% of students at benchmark and sets the same 90% math and 95% ELA ISASP proficiency targets.
Secondary professional development is expected to emphasize performance-based assessments, multidisciplinary instructional teams, PLC practices, and continued Leader in Me work. Students in grades 8–11 are also expected to transition to the Life-Ready Leadership curriculum during Raider Time.
2026–2027 Curriculum Guide
The board is scheduled to consider approval of the high school curriculum guide. The packet's guide retains 52 total credits as the graduation requirement: 32 required core and elective credits plus 20 elective credits, with students required to carry at least seven credits per semester.
The guide includes career and technical education pathways and work-based learning opportunities across agriculture, business, family and consumer science, industrial technology, health, and other areas. It also includes dual-enrollment opportunities and career-focused offerings such as welding, certified nurse aide training, internships, robotics, construction, electrical technology, plumbing, culinary education, and agriculture.
Imagine Learning
Imagine Learning appears as a separate approval item on the July agenda. The packet also documents that Imagine Learning was among curriculum purchases presented for the 2026–2027 school year at the prior June meeting, along with Wilson Phonics, My Perspectives, and IXL Learning.
Student Policies and Governance
Search Procedures
The secondary principal's report highlights a proposed search-policy update involving:
- Use of a metal-detecting wand when specified conditions are met.
- Requiring a student to retrieve an item when the wand detects something or face consequences.
- Use of sweeps involving drug-detection dogs from the Ringgold County Sheriff's Office.
The proposed secondary handbook states that searches must be based on reasonable and articulable suspicion. It provides for handheld metal detectors or similar devices to assist searches and allows the school to partner with law enforcement for certified drug-detection dogs to search school property and vehicles.
IASB Policy Primer
The board is scheduled to consider an extensive IASB policy update. The agenda identifies revisions, new policies or regulations, and rescissions covering governance, employment, student conduct, medication, instructional programs, technology, records, and search procedures.
Among the items listed are:
- 201 — Board of Director Elections
- 210.05 — Meeting Notice
- 401.01 — Equal Employment Opportunity
- 409.02 — Employee Leaves of Absence
- 501.15 — Open Enrollment Transfers – Procedures as a Receiving District
- 502.03 — Student Expression and Student Publications
- 503.01 — Student Conduct
- 503.11 — Disruptive Behavior — new
- 503.11 R1 — Disruptive Behavior Regulation — new
- 503.11 R2 — Disruptive Behavior: Students with IEP Regulation
- 504.06 — Student Activity Program
- 507.02 — Administration of Medication to Students
- 603.04 — Multicultural Gender Fair Education — proposed as rescinded
- 603.10 — Global Education — proposed as rescinded
- 604.03 R1 — Program for Gifted & Talented Regulation — new
- 605.04 — Technology and Instructional Materials
- 713 — Responsible Technology Use and Social Networking
- 804.05 — Stock Prescription Medication Supply
- 901 — Public Examination of Records
- 502 — Search Procedures
The packet labels several of the included policy documents as drafts, so these materials should be understood as proposed policy changes pending board consideration rather than already-adopted policy.
Facilities, Technology, and CTE
CTE Equipment and Track Resurfacing Addition
The agenda includes separate approval items for CTE equipment and a track resurfacing addition.
These items follow CTE and track investments documented in the prior meeting materials. The June minutes show that the district previously approved a $113,695 Fisher Tracks resurfacing quote, while leaving open the possibility of adding colored exchange zones if donations could be found. The same prior minutes document CTE furniture and vehicle-lift purchases funded with Dekko grant support.
The July bills also reflect continuing CTE-project activity, including $164,601.12 to Burkett Construction LLC, $74,888.42 to Camblin Mechanical, $53,327.21 to Bartlett Electric, $7,469 to Midwest Automatic Fire Sprinkler, and other CTE-related expenditures. These bill entries document financial activity in the packet; they do not by themselves establish what additional CTE equipment the board will approve at this meeting.
Technology Update
The July technology report says new wireless access points have been installed at the elementary building, bringing its systems in line with those at the high school. New HUDL cameras have also been installed at the football field and high school gym, while completion of the middle school gym installation is waiting on the gym floor. Computer preparation was described as nearly complete, with some devices still at the shop.
Financial Items
Bills and Financial Report
The board is scheduled to consider bills to be paid and the Secretary-Treasurer financial report.
The packet's list of paid bills reports:
- General Account: $1,236,961.42
- Nutrition Fund: $24,633.86
- Grand total: $1,261,595.28
Large entries in the general-account listing include $289,860 for commercial property, auto, and workers' compensation insurance, along with substantial CTE-project payments and payments associated with open enrollment and other district operations.
District Fund Balances
The packet's balance report shows total ending balances of $9,132,233.01 across the listed funds. The report includes an ending General Fund balance of $2,989,406.95, Capital Projects balance of $2,237,036.34, PPEL balance of $1,885,068.50, and Food Service balance of $179,762.71.
The June lunch report shows $24,103.31 in monthly receipts and $54,510.22 in expenditures, resulting in an ending lunch-fund balance reported as $175,883.18, with an additional amount bringing the reported food-service balance to $179,762.71.
Administrative Reports
The board packet includes reports covering the Activity Fund, Buildings and Grounds, Transportation, Lunch, Technology, and Principals.
The secondary principal's July report notes that 11 students completed 20 courses during summer school to recover credits, involving students in grades 7–11.
Fundraisers and Personnel
The agenda includes proposed approval of fundraisers and a separate personnel item. The agenda itself does not identify the specific July fundraiser or personnel recommendations in the extracted material, so any action on those items remains for the board meeting.
What to Watch at the Meeting
- Annual operating decisions: The board is scheduled to establish or accept fees and charges, make board officer and attorney appointments, and designate banking depositories.
- Student and employee rules: Multiple 2026–2027 handbooks and a substantial IASB policy package are up for consideration.
- School search procedures: Proposed secondary rules specifically address handheld metal detectors and law-enforcement drug-detection dogs.
- Instructional direction: Professional development plans, the curriculum guide, Imagine Learning, and multiple handbooks could establish significant parts of the district's 2026–2027 instructional framework.
- Facilities and CTE: The agenda continues work related to the district's CTE investment and track resurfacing project.
- Finances: The board will receive financial reports and consider bills associated with more than $1.26 million in listed invoices.
The official public-body source used for this packet is the Mount Ayr Community School District meeting document source.
Civic Translator summarized publicly available meeting materials.
