Nashua-Plainfield Comm School District Packet Summary — 2026-08-03
Meeting: 08/03/2026 - 06:00 PM August Regular Board Meeting Board Meeting
Location: Nashua-Plainfield JH/HS Commons
Date: August 3, 2026
The Nashua-Plainfield Comm School District Board is scheduled to consider fiscal-year 2027 fuel purchasing, 2026–2027 handbooks, agreements for student programming and inter-district collaboration, a special education funding transfer agreement, and a substantial set of student-related policy updates. Several proposed policy changes respond to 2026 Iowa legislation, including requirements involving student discipline, physical activity, technology, talented and gifted programming, public meeting notices, and eighth-grade participation in high school athletics.
Key Items on the Agenda
FY27 Fuel Bid
The board is scheduled to review and consider an FY27 fuel bid from AgVantage FS. The bid offers both pricing tied to the Iowa Department of Transportation daily rack average and fixed-price options, with applicable taxes additional.
Fixed-price bids per gallon are:
- Dieselex Gold premium diesel: $4.3407
- Gasohol, 87 octane with 10% ethanol: $3.3485
- #1 diesel for winter blending: $4.6907
- B-5 biodiesel: an additional $0.08 per gallon under either pricing option
The alternative variable-price proposal adds $0.186 per gallon to the IDOT daily rack average for each of the three listed fuel products.
2026–2027 Handbooks
The board is scheduled to consider approval of the district's FY27 handbooks, including:
- Employee handbooks for junior/senior high, elementary, and paraprofessional staff
- Athletic handbook
- K–12 student handbook
The agenda specifically identifies eighth-grade student participation as a key update to the athletic handbook.
The proposed student handbook contains district expectations covering attendance, student conduct, technology, artificial intelligence, mobile devices, transportation, academic integrity, extracurricular eligibility, and other school procedures. Among its provisions are separate AI expectations for elementary and middle/high school students, emphasizing authorized educational use, academic integrity, privacy, and restrictions on submitting AI-generated work as a student's own.
Spring and Summer Coaching Contract
The agenda includes review and possible approval of a spring and summer coaching contract. The packet identifies the item for board consideration but does not provide enough additional detail to characterize the proposed contract terms.
Agreements and Partnerships
Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa
The board is scheduled to consider a 2026–2027 Memorandum of Agreement with Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa. The proposed partnership is intended to provide students with programming focused on financial capability, career and work readiness, entrepreneurship, and experiential learning.
Under the proposed agreement:
- Junior Achievement would provide program materials and support for volunteers and instructors.
- The district would identify a partnership coordinator and participating classes.
- The district could select from classroom and experiential programs offered by Junior Achievement.
- The district would pay $14.50 per participating student for covered programming.
- The agreement would run from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, including school-year and summer programming.
- Certain experiential programs and student events would be available at no additional per-student cost, excluding transportation where specified.
EDK Consulting and North Iowa Consortium
The board is scheduled to consider an agreement with edkconsulting, LLC associated with participation in the North Iowa Consortium. The packet describes the arrangement as joining the consortium and identifies other participating schools or districts, including Tripoli, Charles City, Riceville, and Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock.
The proposed consulting agreement covers coordination of sharing among districts, including communication and collaboration, identifying shared-resource opportunities, advising on inter-district cooperation, and assisting with compliance, policy development, and shared programs.
The agreement provides for:
- $1,000 for FY27 work, payable by August 15, 2026.
- Reimbursement of pre-approved travel and related expenses.
- A term continuing through June 30, 2027, beginning upon district approval.
- Either party being able to terminate the agreement with 30 days' written notice.
Student Policy and Governance Updates
The board is scheduled to consider a series of student-related policy updates tied in part to 2026 Iowa legislative changes and recommendations from the Iowa Association of School Boards.
The packet highlights several areas requiring district attention:
- Meeting notices: physical posting of meeting notices in addition to online posting.
- Student discipline: procedures and communication requirements associated with student behavior and classroom removal.
- Physical activity and technology: changes associated with the 2026 "MAHA" legislation, including additional elementary physical activity, technology requirements, and Presidential Physical Fitness testing.
- Talented and Gifted programming: clearer procedures for screening, referring, identifying, and serving TAG students.
Talented and Gifted Program — Policy 604.03
Policy 604.03, Program for Talented and Gifted Students, is an existing adopted district policy being presented for a first reading of proposed revisions.
The draft would specify that the district use systematic and uniform procedures for screening, referring, identifying, and serving gifted and talented students. It would also provide for at least annual review of student progress to determine whether district services are meeting students' academic needs.
The packet says no district-specific revisions have yet been made to the IASB proposal; any additional district changes or recommendations would be incorporated for the second reading.
New Student Behavior Policies
Administration recommends that the board consider a first reading of several new IASB-recommended policies and regulations that are not currently in the district's policy manual:
- Draft Policy 503.11 — Disruptive Behavior
- Draft Regulation 503.11-R(1) — Disruptive Behavior: Removal Procedures
- Draft Regulation 503.11-R(2) — Removal Procedures for Nonviolent Behavior for Students with an IEP
- Draft Regulation 604.03-R(1) — Program for Talented and Gifted Students
These are presented as first-reading drafts. The packet indicates that district-specific revisions or recommendations could be brought forward during a second reading before final adoption.
Eighth-Grade Participation in High School Athletics
The board is also scheduled to consider both the first and second readings of a revision to Policy 504.06 — Student Activity Program. The proposed change addresses the option under Iowa law for eighth-grade students to participate in high school athletics.
The district's accompanying proposed participation framework would make such participation case-by-case rather than automatic. An eighth-grade student would need to satisfy at least one of two criteria:
- Demonstrate exceptional readiness to serve as a varsity starter or significant regular varsity contributor; or
- Be needed because high school participation numbers are critically low and eighth-grade participation is necessary to field a varsity or junior varsity roster.
Other considerations would include student safety; physical, emotional, social, and academic readiness; input from coaches and administrators; roster effects at both junior-high and high-school levels; and the student's anticipated role and playing time.
Final decisions under the proposed framework would be made by the Activities Director and Building Principal, with the Superintendent serving as the final level of review. Written parent or guardian consent would be required.
Administration recommends approval of both readings at this meeting. The packet notes that the middle/high school principal, activities director, and superintendent gathered feedback from district coaches in developing the accompanying administrative framework.
Special Education Funding Agreement
The board is scheduled to review and consider an AEA Special Education Transfer Agreement with Central Rivers AEA.
The proposed contract establishes an automatic process for transferring 90% of the state funds allocated to the district for AEA special education support services to Central Rivers AEA, in accordance with Iowa law.
Key terms include:
- Effective period of July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2029, unless modified or terminated as provided by the agreement.
- Transfer of 90% of applicable state special education support-services funding.
- Payments in four quarterly installments each school year.
- Payments due no later than five business days after the district receives the state aid funds.
- Payments to be made through an ACH arrangement.
The contract states that it governs the funding-transfer process rather than defining the specific special education services Central Rivers AEA will provide. Those services remain subject to applicable federal and state requirements.
Financial Items
Monthly Financial Reports and Bills
The consent agenda includes approval of monthly financial reports and monthly bills.
The June 2026 financial report shows General Fund revenue of $8,103,593 year to date, or 96.34% of the listed $8,411,535 budget. General Fund expenditures totaled $8,399,928 year to date, or 102.93% of the listed $8,161,202 budget, producing a reported year-to-date deficit of $296,334 and an ending General Fund balance of $1,283,170.
The board vendor report dated August 3 lists a grand total of $640,981.92. The report includes expenditures across insurance, educational services, tuition and open enrollment, curriculum and textbooks, technology, maintenance, transportation, utilities, athletics, and other district operations.
The packet also includes information regarding MidAmerican Energy's announced 5%–12% increase in natural-gas distribution rates. Information supplied by the Iowa Local Government Risk Pool states that districts participating in its natural-gas program would not be affected by that increase because the program provides protection from distribution-rate changes occurring after the program year begins.
Consent Agenda and Personnel
The board's consent agenda includes:
- Minutes from the July 10, 2026 regular board meeting
- Monthly financial reports
- Monthly bills
- Personnel recommendations and/or resignations
- Fall athletic volunteer coaches
Personnel recommendations listed in the packet include:
- Deedie Cerwinske — Head HS cross country and .5 JH cross country
- Carla Cray — K–12 Art Teacher
- Jill Stille — Lane Change
- Ann Robert — Elementary Reading Associate
- Glenna Karnatz — Food Service Building Head (Elementary)
- Jalynn Pratt — JH Head Volleyball
Proposed fall volunteer coaches include positions in cheerleading, football, and cross country.
Reports and Other Agenda Items
The agenda includes principal reports and a superintendent report. The district's Spotlight in Education feature is expected to begin in September.
The packet also includes an entry-plan update reporting 22 one-on-one meetings completed against a goal of 16, with an August goal of 12 additional meetings. Other superintendent-related material references Leadership Edge work, collaboration with Tripoli administrators, professional growth activities, mentor connections, and project updates involving boilers, the track, and Denovo.
The board is also scheduled to set the date for its next monthly board meeting.
What to Watch at the Meeting
Several agenda items could establish district practices for the coming school year or beyond:
- Whether the board accepts the proposed FY27 fuel purchasing arrangement and which pricing approach is selected.
- Whether the 2026–2027 employee, athletic, and student handbooks are approved.
- How the board handles the proposed eighth-grade high school athletics framework, which is presented for both first and second readings.
- Whether the board advances new student-behavior and TAG-related policies through their first reading.
- Whether the Junior Achievement and North Iowa Consortium agreements are approved.
- Whether the district enters the proposed three-year funding-transfer arrangement with Central Rivers AEA.
Because this is a pre-meeting packet, these items represent proposals, recommendations, and scheduled considerations rather than completed board actions.
