October 8, 2024 School Board Meeting - Supt. Summary

Dear Columbus Cougar Families & Community,

I hope this finds you all well. In an effort to improve communication and transparency of the operations of the Columbus School District, I will be sending a school board meeting summary after the regular meeting. Please know that this is only a summary and not official minutes. If you are ever interested in viewing previous agendas and meeting minutes, you can find all of that on the school website https://www.columbuscougars.com

Please contact me with questions, comments, or concerns.

Sincerely,

Casey Klasna - Superintendent

The following is a summary of the board meeting that was held on October 8, 2024.  The meeting was rich in discussion and lasted 2 hours.  

The biggest discussion was the community use weight room policy.  The district is not shutting off community use, just managing and controlling  access to the buildings.  The policy stems from safety and liability reasons.  The policy, which was not adopted yet, would spell out the process for accessing the weight room/gym.  There was concern on charging people to use the weight room, which the discussion was $25 for 6 months.  This fee would not be charged to coaches, faculty, or students, just individuals in the community outside of the school.  The intention of the fee is to use that to help maintain and replace equipment as budgets are getting tighter.    The other concern was the times for allowing community members to access the school.  That is still a discussion point and will be determined. 

Coaches/faculty can monitor open gyms and weight rooms as needed.  So, if a coach wants to open up the gym on a Sunday for kids to shoot or workout, that is fine.    If a parent wants to open it up for a group of kids to work on skill development, etc., that is acceptable as well, as long as the parents fill out the paperwork so we know that they are using the facility.

The board adopted the 1st reading of the Therapy Animal policy.  This policy describes the procedures for Therapy Animals in the school. 

A discussion was had on the 30 acre parcel that the district owns and the need for a new bus barn as well a practice facility for wrestlers and other spring sports.  The discussion prompted the board to direct Supt. Klasna to pursue this bus barn facility.  Right now, we would be looking at a new bus bar on the 30 acres and remodeling the current bus barn into a practice facility.    Supt. Klasna will be reporting back to the board in November.  

Mrs. Jennifer Larson presented and proposed the district to approve a NASA Club for HS students.  That program was approved with Mrs. Jennifer Larson as the advisor. 

The following coaches were approved: Mr, Max Schwabe for Asst. HS wrestling, Mr. Cooper Cook for 7/8th grade wrestling, and Ms. Becca Gardner for Asst. speech and debate.

Mr. Casey Olson and Supt. Klasna were approved as sub bus drivers and activity drivers.

The Principals and AD gave reports to the board.  

Supt. Klasna shared with the school board his Fall Supt. Conference recently in Bozeman.  

Supt.  Klasna  presented to the board the need to pursue elementary cafeteria flooring to match the flooring in the hallways.  The current flooring  poses a safety concern as the cement floor in the cafeteria becomes very slippery.  This may be a project that will be completed over the Christmas Break.

The mine layoff was discussed and what that looks like.  Right now we are not certain of the numbers and how it is going to impact us.  The district will continue to monitor this and will keep the community informed.   

As always, please stop by if you have any questions. Thank you all for your continued support of Columbus Schools.