Mid-Prairie Community School District
Kalona, Wellman, West Chester
Mid-Prairie Central Office Community Room, Wellman, IA 52356
September 22, 2025– 6:15 p.m.
President Jake Snider called the meeting to order.
Board members present: Mary Allred, Randy Billups, Denise Chittick, Gabrielle Frederick, Ryan Schlabaugh, Jed Seward, and Jake Snider.
Board members absent: None.
Also Present: Superintendent Brian Stone, Board Secretary/School Business Official Jeff Swartzentruber.
Pledge of Allegiance
Read the School Mission Statement by Vice-President
Mary Allred moved to adopt the agenda as presented. Seconded by Jed Seward. Motion carried 7-0.
Business Meeting
Consent Items
Ryan Schlabaugh moved to approve the following consent items.
Payment of Bills
The bills as listed for September 22, 2025, and prepaid bills;
Open Enrollment Requests
Open Enrollment In Requests total 1 students;
Open Enrolled Out Requests total 0 students;
Personnel Items
Approve a 0.5 FTE Position for a Paraprofessional at East Elementary for IEP requirements;
Resignation of Lori Schultz, High School General Cook, $16.22 per hour, effective September 11, 2025;
Resignation of Katy Debler, East Elementary Media Secretary, $17.75 per hour, effective October 10,2025;
Resignation of Ron Swartzendruber, MS Girls Basketball Coach, $3,390 per annum, effective September 18, 2025;
Volunteer Coach – Fall – Brian Hervey – HS Football
Fundraising Requests
FCCLA requests approval to raise funds through a Pampered Chef on-line event from October 15th to November 15th for replacement of essential kitchen equipment for the FCS Lab;
Jed Seward seconded the consent items. Motion carried 7-0.
Business Item
Special Education Deficit Spending Authority Resolution – Resolution 0922251
SBO Swartzentruber reviewed the SBRC Resolution for Additional Allowable Growth as a result of the Special Education Spending Deficit for the recently completed fiscal year ending on June 30, 2025. The reported deficit was $382,863.09 for last year as compared to $81,494.48 for the previous year. The request is rounded up to $385,000 to allow for any upward adjustment that might be found during the Department of Education’s year-end review.
Denise Chittick moved to approve Resolution 0922251 to authorize the Superintendent to submit a request to the School Budget Review Committee for additional allowable growth of up to $385,000 to cover the deficit in Special Education funding from the year ending June 30, 2025. Gabrielle Frederick seconded the motion.
Roll Call Vote: Gabrielle Frederick - yes Mary Allred - yes
Jed Seward - yes Ryan Schlabaugh - yes
Randy Billups - yes Jake Snider - yes
Denise Chittick - yes
Motion carried 7-0.
Work Session
Fund for Academic Excellence Information – Brenna Goode
Superintendent Stone introduced Breen Goode, Chair of the Committee for Fund for Academic Excellence. She provided a report of the projects funded by the committee through the application process to each Building. Teachers apply for funds through a grant application process that is awarded in late October of each year. The fund has provided $26,000 in grants to Mid-Prairie Teachers since the 2020-2021 School Year—5 year. This year’s available funds are $6,000.
Survey Information – Ben Curtis from Eocene Environmental Group
Vice President Schlabaugh introduced Ben Curtis from Eocene Environment Group to discuss approaches to preparing and administering staff surveys. The desire is to have independent, third-party data collection from staff. Eocene does a broad range of consulting mostly for municipalities although they are comfortable operating in this type of setting. Schlabaugh asked if there are further questions about the process. The Board discussed goals to strengthen the “caring learning environment” component of the mission statement and recognize the staff as an integral part of the statement. Then, as a Board what can the Board do to help strengthen the environment with the data that comes from the staff at all levels of the District, although it is recognized that the hard work is not done by the Board. The Board is in agreement and asked about viewing some example surveys. Informal next steps will be to receive a proposal from Eocene and discuss the focus areas of the first surveys.
PL Agendas
Superintendent Stone shared a document that is used by the District that links to a document for each building and grade level. These documents guide the Friday Early-Out Professional Learning of each group as they establish goals and collaborate as teams. This is an intentional work in process system and is recognized as in its second week of early outs. The system will be refined further throughout the year.
FAC Update
Superintendent Stone provided an update from the Facilities Committee that met on Wednesday, September 17th. He walked through an overview of the Power Point used that showed progress on the Activity/Wrestling Center, plans for the West Elementary addition and improvements, and the initial work that has been done on the Auditorium study. The Board expressed appreciation for the work performed.
State Report Card
Superintendent Stone shared the results of the State Report Card for the District that was released on Thursday, September 18th. All schools moved up to acceptable and commendable per building. He shared data on Literacy and Math proficiencies. The District is definitely moving in the right direction. There will be more analysis in the future.
Next Meeting and Suggestions for Next Agenda
The next regular Board meeting will be on Monday, October 13, 2025, at 6:15 p.m. at the Central Office Community Room. Agenda items to include: Superintendent Evaluation Planning, Further discussion on the PLs and State Report Card, though the latter may be at a future Work Session.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 7:18 p.m.