Keota Board Discusses Door Lock Bars

KEOTA – During the May 9 meeting of the Keota School Board, the board again talked about purchasing locking door bars from Barracuda Intruder Defense System. Board member Jim Tinnes stated that he had gone through the schools with both principals and identified 23 doors in the elementary and 21 doors in the high school that could use door bars. Buying all of the door bars would cost $4,498 for the elementary and $4,071 for the high school. Tinnes stated he hadn’t heard back from Barracuda yet, but would try to find out if the school could get the door bars at a reduced rate.

The board also talked about three push bar doors on the second story that do not have normal locks and are instead locked with an Allen wrench. Barracuda does not have anything that can be used on these doors. Tinnes suggested they have all upstairs teachers carry a wrench to lock the doors in the case of an emergency. Superintendent Lisa Brenneman discussed adding rope ladders that can hook onto windows and be used to evacuate the second story in the case of an emergency. Tinnes stated a 15 foot ladder would cost $65 and a two-story ladder would cost $75.

Tinnes again brought up the idea of running an ad at movie theatres to attract students to Keota. He stated that he had spoken to the State Theatre in Washington, which receives 18,897 attendees per year and charge $17,697 for a sixty-second ad. Tinnes also brought up the idea of looking into the theatre at the Coralville mall, which would likely receive ten times many viewers. Tinnes stated the ad would not run until two weeks to a month after being given to the theatre, meaning that the ad would have to be completed quickly to air before the July 1 school signup deadline. Board president Billie Kindred stated it was okay to take more time on the ad, because the district will not be able to make the deadline anyway, meaning the effect of the ad won’t materialize until the 2025 school year. The board discussed trying social media posts advertising the four-day week in the meantime.

The board did not approve having a Developmental Kindergarten program in the fall, due to a lack of sign-ups. Elementary Principal Seth Milledge stated that the elementary school had finished Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress testing. He noted that the current sixth-grade class in particular had improved substantially, going from 70% not proficient to 67% proficient in English Language Arts and from 65% not proficient to 73% in Math.