The four staff members who were presented Awards of Merit contributed a combined 84 years of involvement in education and include Boone Middle School special education teacher Susan Brown, Associate Superintendent Sharon Dowd-Jasa, Franklin Elementary School third-grade teacher Nancy Niemants and Boone High School Dean of Students Bob Terrones.
Commending Brown for her 22 years of being an educator, 18 years of which were spent in Boone, was BMS Principal Carolyn Clark.
"She has been a wonderful asset to our school, to our school system, a role model for many teachers and they are going to be hard shoes to fill," Clark said. "We want to thank you for your commitment and education for all of our students - you've made a big difference."
Dowd-Jasa has been involved in education for 33 years and has served as the associate superintendent overseeing curriculum assessment instruction in Boone for the past eight years. Superintendent Theron Schutte said that she has been a tremendous asset to the district with a strong commitment to education.
"She's been a huge asset to us, not only with her knowledge of curriculum instruction and assessment, but with her prior involvement working with departments of education both in Iowa and Minnesota, and she's also worked in the private sector which brought in a different perspective and one for which most of us didn't have a lot of experience with, so I think she helped us greatly in terms of navigating that," Schutte said. "On a personal level, she's been a tremendous right-hand person for me...I would say that you probably won't find any person who works harder and is more dedicated on behalf of kids."
Niemants, who was born and raised in Boone, has worked as a third-grade teacher at Franklin for her entire 22-year career. Franklin Principal Dan Gould said for a number of years Niemants has been a strong supporter of the district's foster grandparent program. Though Gould said it is hard to see a dedicated educator retire, he realizes that she is looking forward to retirement and he was also thankful to inform the board that Niemants will still be serving the district from time to time in the future as a substitute teacher.
"Twenty-two years ago, I pulled into this district and the first teacher that I met was Nancy," Gould said. "I think it speaks highly of the educators we have here in Boone. We have outstanding educators and Nancy is a prime example of that - very hardworking, very dedicated and creative."
Terrones has taught and served in a number of capacities during his 30-year career with the Boone district. He taught junior high science, high school physics, chemistry, biology, physical science, field biology, elementary math, middle school science, as well as a wide array of subjects at Futures Alternative High School. In 2008, Terrones returned to BHS to serve as dean of students and BHS Principal David Kapfer praised him for his dedication to the district over the course of the past three decades.
"He says one of his fondest memories is working with the students in the Boone district, those who want to learn, and creating opportunities for all kids to learn and working with all kids so we're very pleased to present you with this plaque for all of your services," Kapfer said.
Aside from honoring the four staff members who will be retiring at the conclusion of this school year, the board voted unanimously to approve Schutte's recommendation of terminating the contracts of six staff members, effective at the end of the school year. The contracts that will be terminated include elementary music teacher Amanda Cunningham, elementary nurse Mary Ann Moklestad, elementary teachers Gabrielle Patterson and Kyle Seidl, BHS health occupations teacher Cristy Phipps and seventh-grade assistant football coach Aaron Holm. The staff members' contracts that were terminated had the option to request private hearings before the board took action on the recommendation, however none of the staff members requested hearings.
Other items discussed by the school board are as follows:
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CLASSROOM AMPLICATION TECHNOLOGY: The board listened to a presentation from Cindy Moses, who is an audiologist from Region 11 of the Area Educator's Association, regarding how student achievement can be improved by removing invisible barriers in classrooms to allow students to hear and learn by creating a sound environment through the use of classroom amplification technology.
207 BHS SENIORS TO GRADUATE MAY 24 Approved a recommendation from Kapfer to approve the list of the 207 BHS seniors who have qualified for graduation on Sunday, May 24, provided that students maintain passing grades in the subjects they are currently enrolled in. Two foreign exchange students will also receive certificates of attendance at the graduation commencement ceremony.
SWENSON IS IOWA STRING TEACHER OF THE YEAR The board recognized and congratulated BHS Orchestra Director David Swenson for being named the 2009 Iowa String Teacher of the Year by the Iowa String Teacher's Association.
CLARK RECOGNIZED FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS: BMS EXCEL teacher Sue Duffee and Franklin Elementary School fifth-grade teacher Randy Paulsen and Clark recognized BMS eighth-grader Jonathan Clark for receiving both the Belin-Blank Award and the BESTS National Award from the University of Iowa.
SPECIAL THANKS FOR $5,000 DONATION: BMS physical education teacher Scott Kelley and Clark gave special recognition to Tom Heeren of Whitetails Unlimited for a $5,000 donation of archery equipment to be used at BMS.
INTERNATIONAL THESPIAN FESTIVAL PARTICIPANTS: Approved a recommendation from Kapfer and BHS teacher Mary Neumayer to grant permission to Thespian Troupe #2845 to take two of its members, Hallie Cook and Jess Fullerton, to the International Thespian Festival which will be held in Lincoln, Neb. from June 22-28.
BOONE EDUCATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION RECOGNIZED: On behalf of the Boone district's administrative team, Schutte recognized and thanked the 2008-'09 Boone Educational Endowment Foundation Board of Directors for its continued efforts and support of enhancing educational opportunities for Boone students.
IOWA SCHOOL BOARD RECOGNITION WEEK: With the Week of May 10-16 marking School Board Recognition Week, members of the Board of Education were recognized for their service. This year's theme is "Making Strides in Public Education." On behalf of the students, parents, staff and community of the Boone district, Schutte thanked Board of Education President Dr. Jeff Anderson, Vice President Kirk Leeds, Brad O'Neal, Everett Johnson and Shiloh Burke for working collaboratively to provide vision, structure, accountability and advocacy while generously donating their time to public education.
