Sigourney Superintendent Discusses Governor’s Address

SIGOURNEY – During the Jan. 10 meeting of the Sigourney School Board, Superintendent Kevin Hatfield brought up Governor Kim Reynolds’s Condition of the State address given the prior night. In this address, the governor promised to raise teacher starting salaries, from $35,000 to $50,000 and the minimum salaries for teachers with 12 years experience to $62,000, and to massively overhaul the state’s Area Education Agencies by shifting authority to the Department of Education, allowing schools to use special education funding for outside companies instead of the AEAs, and prohibiting AEAs from providing services other than special education, like mental health support or math and literacy programs. Hatfield stated that he was happy about the raise in teacher salaries, but worried about the changes to AEAs. Hatfield explained that the AEAs provide vital services that would “cost an arm and a leg” if paid for separately and there are no private companies in the area that provide many AEA services. He stated that, if the AEAs were to close down, Sigourney would be forced to partner with other schools and create a similar organization to manage costs. Hatfield was also suspicious of the raise in salaries, bringing up the costs of school vouchers and recent cuts to income tax as reasons to think the state may not give schools the funding needed to account for these raised salaries.

Also during the Wednesday meeting, the board approved a $143,223.10 bid from Bush Turf to replace the high school football field’s drainage and irrigation system, which is worn down and has deteriorated and clogged pipes. It was noted that the field will be used more in the future due to soccer being added as a sport. The project will begin in the middle of May and should end by Aug. 2.

Hatfield noted that the plans for the elementary infrastructure updates were 98% done and that a walkthrough was planned for Jan. 15 to help vendors plan their bids. Bids will be due on Feb. 6 and voted on on Feb. 14. Both schools’ boilers passed inspections. The emergency lockdown buttons at both schools were confirmed to be working after an inspection. The board approved adding the new fire alarm system to the infrastructure project, at a price of $234,000, pending attorney approval.