Meeting: Board Meeting
Date: August 10, 2026
The Mount Ayr Community School District Board of Education is scheduled to consider administrative appointments, gym lighting bids, annual policy reviews, fundraising requests, personnel matters, financial reports, and a late open-enrollment request. The amended agenda also calls for a closed session concerning confidential records.
Key Items on the Agenda
Coordinator Appointments
The board is scheduled to consider approval of three district coordinator roles:
- Equity Coordinator
- Affirmative Action Coordinator
- Title IX Coordinator
The agenda identifies the appointments as separate approval items.
Gym Light Bids
The board is scheduled to consider approval of bids for gym lighting. The packet lists the matter as an approval item but does not provide enough clear information in the agenda to identify a recommended bidder or contract amount.
Fundraising Requests and Personnel
The agenda includes approval of fundraising requests and a separate personnel item. The packet does not clearly specify the individual fundraising proposals or personnel recommendations in the published agenda, so those details should be established through the materials presented to the board.
Policy / Governance Items
Annual Policy Review
A substantial group of district policies and related regulations and exhibits is scheduled for annual review. Topics represented in the packet include:
- Policy 103 and 103-R(1): Long Range Needs Assessment and its regulations.
- Policy 501.05: Attendance Center Assignment.
- Policy 505.08 and 505.08-R(1): District-wide Parent and Family Engagement policy and regulation.
- Policy 506.01: Education Records Access, together with its regulation and multiple exhibits governing access, release, correction, examination, transfer, subpoenas, juvenile-justice information sharing, and annual notice.
- Policy 506.02: Student Directory Information, including the regulation governing use of directory information and an authorization exhibit.
- Policy 506.04: Student Library Circulation Records.
- Policy 600: Goals and Objectives of the Education Program.
- Policy 601.01: School Calendar.
- Policy 605.04: Technology and Instructional Materials, along with a one-to-one digital-device technology adoption checklist.
- Policy 606.01: Class Size – Class Grouping.
- Policy 606.06: Insufficient Classroom Space.
The supporting policy materials address subjects ranging from student-record confidentiality and directory information to educational planning, technology, class size, and attendance-center assignments. Several packet materials also reference Iowa statutes and administrative rules governing these areas.
Major Financial Items
Bills Scheduled for Consideration
The packet's list of paid bills reports $513,615.82 in total invoices, consisting of $512,582.49 associated with the General Account and $1,033.33 associated with the Nutrition Fund. The report covers a check-date range from July 15 through August 10, 2026.
Notable entries include:
- $61,832.87 to BusinessSolver.com, Inc. for items including health and retiree health insurance.
- $49,415.24 to Diagonal Community School for special-education tuition.
- $49,221.46 to Lenox Community School District for special-education tuition.
- $30,476.94 to the U.S. Treasury, described as an ESRP penalty.
- $22,746.25 for Jodie Geist Grant Writing Services.
- $21,632.46 to Alliant Energy/IPL for electricity and gas.
- $21,000.00 to Imagine Learning.
- $19,977.17 to Green Hills AEA for services including a master social worker, English-language services, and consulting.
- $17,366.16 to Greenfield Contractors, LLC for the CTE project.
- $15,520.90 to Worthington Direct.
- $14,157.14 to Bartlett Electric Inc. for the CTE project.
- $10,976.50 to Camblin Mechanical, Inc. for the CTE project.
- $8,201.63 to Terracon Consultants, Inc. for dirt testing for the CTE project.
- $5,000.00 to the City of Mount Ayr for a land purchase identified in the report as "806."
These amounts appear in the packet's financial documentation; their inclusion should not be read as confirmation of action at the August 10 meeting.
District Fund Balances
A district balance report lists combined beginning balances of $9,132,233.01, current activity of ($290,807.52), and combined ending balances of $8,841,425.49.
Reported ending balances include:
- General Fund: $3,381,412.90
- Activity Fund: $392,313.02
- Management Fund: $317,828.44
- Capital Projects: $1,932,044.76
- PPEL: $1,889,897.37
- Debt Service: $190,787.19
- Food Service: $188,831.50
- Junior Raiders: $94,789.96
- Construction Fund: $1,342.53
- Gifts and Memorials: $449,677.82
The board's agenda includes consideration of the bills and the Secretary-Treasurer financial report.
Activity and Nutrition Funds
The July activity-fund report shows $9,262.00 in receipts, $14,093.64 in expenditures, and an ending balance of $386,625.82 across the listed activity projects.
The July lunch-fund report records $65,030.68 in monthly receipts and $55,961.89 in monthly expenditures, a difference of $9,068.79. The financial materials report a Food Service ending balance of $188,831.50.
Administrative and School Updates
Secondary School
The August secondary principal report provides several beginning-of-year updates:
- A Pride of Iowa conference kickoff is scheduled for August 14 in Mount Ayr. The report notes that Nodaway Valley has voted to leave the conference after the following year and identifies conference stability as a major discussion topic.
- New-teacher training is scheduled for August 12, with two new teachers identified in the report.
- High school athletic registration was held August 4 to address registration issues and help ensure fall athletes are cleared before practices begin.
- Sixth-grade orientation is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. August 20, followed at approximately 6:45 p.m. by middle-school athletic registration.
- Southwestern Community College hired an automotive instructor for the district's new building following a search for an instructor.
Counseling and Telehealth Space
The secondary principal reports that the counseling office has been relocated to the sixth-grade hallway. The new area includes a private counseling office, a student meeting room, and two telehealth rooms.
According to the report, a significant number of students have been using telehealth for therapy as a way to avoid missing extended periods of school for recurring appointments. Grants were written to furnish the rooms, and the new location is intended to provide designated, confidential space.
Closed Session and Open Enrollment
The amended agenda calls for a closed session under Iowa Code Section 21.5(1)(a) to review or discuss records authorized by state or federal law to remain confidential.
Following the closed-session item, the agenda lists an "Action Item – Late Request for Open Enrollment." The packet therefore signals that the board is scheduled to consider the late request, but it does not establish the outcome in advance.
What to Watch at the Meeting
Several agenda items could produce substantive board action or discussion:
- Which individuals are selected for the Equity Coordinator, Affirmative Action Coordinator, and Title IX Coordinator roles.
- The outcome of the gym-light bid consideration, including any selected contractor and approved cost.
- Whether the board approves or makes changes to the annual policy package, particularly the extensive student-records, family-engagement, technology, and educational-program provisions.
- The fundraising and personnel recommendations presented for approval.
- Questions arising from the district's financial reports and the $513,615.82 invoice total.
- Any public action taken after the confidential-records closed session concerning the late open-enrollment request.
Civic Translator summarized publicly available meeting materials.
