Pekin Board Receives Petition Requesting Change To At-Large Elections

PACKWOOD – During the July 15 meeting of the Pekin School Board, the board acknowledged a parent-distributed petition requesting the board be elected at-large instead of by districts had received enough signatures to be put to a special election vote. Currently, five of the seven board seats are district-based, with the remaining two being at-large. If the special election is successful, all seven seats will become at-large.

Board president J.J. Greiner asked board treasurer Cherie Westendorf how much the election will cost; Westendorf stated that the last special election cost roughly $8,000-$9,000. Griener stated that the new election will likely cost $10,000, because of inflation. He noted that the results of the special election cannot be changed again for six years, according to Iowa code.

Earlier in the Monday meeting, a concerned citizen brought up his thoughts on the ongoing discontentment a lot of the public has with the school board. He stated that he had seen a lot of people call former superintendent Derek Philips by his first name, which he said was a sign of disrespect, and that he thinks a lot of parents treat their children like friends instead of acting like a source of authority and holding them accountable for their actions. He brought up the at-large petition and stated he opposed it, arguing that there needs to be equal representation for the different areas making up the Pekin district. He pointed out that advocates had approached people for signatures at sporting events and called doing so immoral, claiming that people signed to end the conversation. He also argued that making board positions at-large would increase election costs.

The board approved ten different open enrolment requests for students wanting to leave Pekin. Board member Ray Fear asked Superintendent Jeff Maeder if students open enrolling this year were students who had open enrolled in the past. Maeder stated that he tracks the reasons parents say they are open enrolling their children and that he did not see a pattern, with open enrolled students having different written reasons. He stated that, if a student would leave on bad terms, it would be important to fix the situation.

The board went over a new student handbook. Maeder requested that approval of one policy change, an alteration to the good conduct policy, be delayed due to it contradicting a board policy. Under the previous policy, seventh and eighth grade students who violated the policy would be barred from activities for four weeks or half a season. The proposed change would reduce this time to two weeks. Secondary Principal Shawn Dorman explained that, because a lot of junior high activities only last four weeks, the school has in the past barred students for half a season, or two weeks, to prevent them from missing entire seasons. Dorman explained that this was a change for transparency and would not alter how long students were barred.

The board approved a new preschool handbook. This new handbook featured increases in hourly costs, including a raise from $3.15-$3.30 for children two and under, $3.10-$3.25 for three year-olds and preschoolers, $3.25-$3.40 for kindergarten through second grade, and $3.50-$3.65 for third and fourth graders.

The board approved a new special ed policy that will allow the school to assign “points” to students based on severity of disability and distribute students to try and have teachers have even caseloads. The board approved the RISE Program transitional service from Indian Hills, which helps students with individual education plans transition to secondary education. The board approved an agreement with River Hills Community Health Center for athletic training. The board approved sharing a sharing agreement with Great Prairie AEA for a library one day a week at a cost of $22,000. The board approved a sharing agreement for a social worker from the AEA. The board approved a physical therapy contract from Jet Physical Therapy and University of Iowa interns.