Three new Ignacio School Board members were sworn in on Nov. 12. They are Kelly McCaw, Yvonne Conley-Chapman, and Doug Little. They were the top vote getters among eight candidates in the Nov. 3 election.
Bobby Schurman and Luke Kirk are the other board members. Schurman was elected board president, replacing Toby Roderick who was term-limited. Kirk was elected vice president, replacing Troy Webb who also was term limited.
Superintendent Rocco Fuschetto welcomed the new members by handing out a thick book of school law for their late-evening reading.
Tranportation Director Clyde Pearson gave a run-down on the district's buses and small vehicles. The district has seven daily bus routes. All of those buses are diesel, he said and advised, "In the future I look to convert to propane." He listed a current propane cost of $1.34 per gallon, and the district gets a 50¢ rebate, so there will be a considerable fuel cost saving.
Propane is better in cold weather, and it will be better with emission standards coming in 2017, Pearson said. There are no codes for propane, versus around 349 for diesel, he said.
The district bought four buses via a lease-purchase deal in 2009 to beat 2010 emission requirements, and that saved $8,000 to $10,000, he said. The lease-purchase was paid over four years, in effect one bus per year. Pearson said he wants to do this again if interest rates stay low.
"A lot of districts try to refurbish buses, but you can't tighten the body after traveling on dirt roads," he said.
His immediate concern was the small vehicles. The board approved purchase of a used Chevy Equinox for $23,900 to replace a 2001 Chevy Cavalier. There was no action on buying route buses.
Fuschetto reported the district's official Oct. 1 enrollment count at 819 full-time equivalent (FTE) for per pupil funding. That's up from 764 last year. The count includes partial funding for kindergartners and home school students. Ignacio provides full-day kindergarten. The district does not get per pupil funding for students who enroll after Oct. 1. There are a few of those, Fuschetto said.
Referring to the state's ongoing take-back of per pupil funding, known as the Negative Factor, Fuschetto said, "I met today with (State Rep. and former Ignacio School Board member) J. Paul Brown. I proposed since the state is going to give us money and then take it back, I'll propose that the state fully fund kindergarten. We don't pay our kindergarten teachers 50 percent. They arrive and leave at the same time as the 1st grade" teachers. And each kindergarten classroom also has an aide, he said.
In other action, the board approved two students for early graduation with a warning that the approval can be rescinded if they slack off now.
