By Barb Strozewski
The 2014-15 school budget of $1,827,593 for the Edgemont School District was approved by the school board at their Sept. 8 meeting.
Board members in attendance were Connie Gerard, Gary Darrow, Nikki Ostenson, Justin Printz; with Susan Humiston absent.  Administration attending were Dave Cortney, Lane Ostenson, Amy Ferley, and Diane Stevens.
After call to order, pledge of allegiance, and roll call, there was an approximate 25 minute tour of the school buildings.
The Agenda for September 8, and minutes for August 11, 2014 were approved.
The board  made a motion to go into executive session for discussion of personnel at 7:30 p.m. They came out of executive session at 8 p.m.
Diane Stevens reported the budget is ready for approval, and it was accepted for approval by unanimous vote. She is also attending the Business Officials Fall Conference in Pierre on Sept. 24-25.
Dean Lane Ostenson reported both the pre-school teacher in-service (with a full day scheduled for September 5), and the open house on 8-19; went well.
Lane said there is one major change to the sports schedule, which is Edgemont will be hosting the Jr. High Conference Volleyball Tournament Sept. 27. Edgemont will also host the Jr. High Girls Basketball Tournament Monday, December 15, and because it is an all day event the gym and lobby area will be ‘tied up’ during the day.
Regular staff meetings have started and Mr. Ostenson reports the Assistant 7-12 Principal, Mrs. Ferley, has taken the lead on the junior high and high school meetings.
He also commented on the good start the football team has made picking up a win over Crawford, and the young volleyball team has shown improvement from their second game with Hill City.
Lane mentioned the one application for the junior high football position and interest from a current staff member for same position. Additionally, there is only one person interested in the high school assistant football position and Mr. Ostenson has given his recommendations for these positions to Mr. Cortney.
Homecoming was September 8-13, with the theme board games or game night. The Thursday night Coronation was at 7 p.m. with the bonfire afterwards.
Amy Ferley gave the principal’s report beginning by talking about learning the new job and discovering how well the new teachers are fitting with the rest of the staff and seem to be doing a great job with the students. ‘Rocking and rolling’ was the term she used to describe the process with the new teachers.
She plans to have a birthday cake each month to honor the teachers having birthdays that month and hopes to have a potluck at the same time. She is also working to bring more professional development in to support our teachers as they work with a new curriculum, and looking for other opportunities for PD that will benefit specific teachers.
Superintendent Cortney reported he and Stevens have been working with completing reports which include the consolidated application for Title 1, the flowthrough report for SPED and the school’s annual report.
Connie Gerard was nominated as the delegate chosen  to attend the ASBSD 2014 Delegate Assembly on Nov 21, 2014, with Susan Humiston as the alternate.
On the maintenance report it looks like the maintenance crew of Dennis Tubb, and Nate Cortney have kept very busy making sure everything was in order for their shifts, cleaning supplies, vacuums, mops, and etc. All that, plus drain the water heater in the teacher’s lounge so the elements could be changed, working on five units that were locked out due to condensate problems, seeded the front lawn and lots of smaller projects.
Nate and Lane Ostenson changed bulbs on the score board, Nate mowed and lawn swept the field, cleaned out concession stand and bathrooms, scraped and leveled the old baseball field, painted the lines and numbers and put in fence posts and fence.
The biggest problem now seems to be with the condensate pumps plugging up. Nate is busy learning a lot from the guys who are coming down to work on them. He submitted the maintenance report to the school board ending with his appreciation for all the compliments and kind words on how things looked this summer.
On transportation, it was reported the bus driver training can be online with eight online sessions recommended.
The final budget was unanimously approved.  The tax levies will be included in the budget and were set at their maximum levels as required to accept state aide. Under New Business, Personnel, the board made a motion to accept the resignation of Sarah Callan the assistant cook, and to advertise for this position, as well as, advertise for  the following other positions: substitute teachers, and bus drivers.
It was recommended and approved to hire Christina Heisler as a substitute teacher, Nate Cortney as junior high assistant football coach at $689.13, and Jason Ostenson as  assistant varsity coach at $1836.69.
There are some surplused  books which are available for passing on. Mr. Cortney said they are junior high algebra and old math books and there is no interest for selling them. The general consensus was to approach Pam Koller and see if she  would like to handle this as she did so effectively previous.
The contract with Custer Regional Hospital Occupational Therapy services had a $2 increase from $60 to $62 an hour. After a little discussion the motion was made to sign the contract, and was approved unanimously.
The board changed and approved the wording of the signatories for the General checking and preferred public accounts to reflect the following people be listed as signatories: Diane Stevens, Gary Darrow, Susan Humiston, Connie Gerard, Nicole Ostenson and Justin Printz.
Regarding Alley Cat, the Edgemont web service,   Mr. Cortney recommended going to a school created website which has been worked on by students and Mrs. Tonkin. He also wanted to issue a huge thank you to Alley Cat site for getting the school up and running several years ago, and for all the help  they have provided.
Meeting adjourned at 8:34 p.m.