(PHOTO BY JESSE DAVIS / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
SOYBEAN SALE SUCCESS … Delta High School FFA President Walter Hallett describes the efforts of the club and their results managing soybean crops over the last year during Wednesday’s meeting of the Pike-Delta-York Local School District Board of Education. Hallett said the club raised about $12,000 when the harvest sold, enough to potentially cover the cost of new drainage tile under the field.
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
President of the Pike-Delta-York Local School District’s FFA chapter Walter Hallett gave a presentation to the Board of Education regarding the performance of their soybean crops during the board’s meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Hallett pointed out several challenges they faced during the growing season, including a wet spring that turned into drought conditions into the fall.
Despite the challenges and a lower moisture content in the soybeans (roughly 9.5 percent compared to their goal of 15 percent) reducing the harvest, they were able to sell the beans for about $12,000.
As they incurred no expenses this year due to everything being donated, those funds could go a long way toward making corrections identified by Hallett which he believes will improve the future performance of the fields.
One of his recommendations was to do an analysis of the field and add drain tile to the low-lying areas that tend to flood. He estimated that would cost between $5,000 and $10,000.
The other issue to be addressed is runoff from the bus garage that is located on the property. Hallett said there are certain areas so flooded by runoff during storm events that anything planted there is a complete loss. He posed other drainage or water redirection options to deal specifically with the runoff.
Among the donations this year was services provided by alumni Anthony Pelton, who planted and harvested the fields.
OTHER BUSINESS
The board approved a pair of resolutions authorizing the issuance and sale of a $2,160,000 bond and a $3,000,000 bond for the purpose of refunding them at a lower interest rate, reducing interest payments and saving taxpayers money.
The board approved changes to the administrative salary schedule to allow faster increases for low-salary employees while more quickly tapering and leveling off increases as they move to the top of the schedule.
The board approved a slate of personnel changes, including contracts to Brenda Schraber as cook, Walter Steele as track and field assistant coach, and Logan Feffer as maintenance supervisor.
Superintendent Jon Burke was particularly excited for Feffer to start, as he already identified during a facilities walk through, several areas he believes the school can save a significant amount of money on maintenance.
The board approved several policy updates including those recommended by Neola Inc. as well as a new annual-renewal policy agreeing to follow the state’s model policy for special education. Adherence to the model policy is not new, only the requirement for its annual approval.
The board voted to accept donations totaling $1,995 for Cory’s Backpack and the Jerry Demaline Memorial, $2,450 for archery, $2,350 for boys’ soccer, $272 for athletics, $438.74 for softball, $1,900 for the wall of fame, $1,000 for the Panther Pantry, $717 for the class of 2029, $350 for the class of 2031, and $337.90 for the FFA.
The board approved an overnight trip for five Odyssey of the Mind teams to travel to Steubenville for a state competition on April 11 and 12, with parents transporting their children.
The next regular meeting of the Pike-Delta-York Local School District Board of Education will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 25 in the Delta High School auditorium.