Cheers joins East Union leadership

AFTON - Dennis Cheers was sworn in to the East Union school board last Tuesday after winning an election for the seat earlier in November.

Cheer’s rise to the board involved beating out incumbent Adam Tallmon, who served as board president prior to the latest meeting. A shuffling of officers was needed heading into the next year of East Union business.

Involved with East Union in various activities and working for the district as a bus driver, Cheers brings a background of 25 years in public service positions as a firefighter, EMT and ambulance tech across the Union County area.

Sworn in alongside Cheers was Buffington, who ran unopposed as an incumbent.

Carol Eckels was named president of the board, with Sam McKnight nominated for vice president. School Business Official Rhiannon Tessum will continue to serve as secretary and treasurer.

Meetings will remain at the same time: the third Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. during the summer months and 5:30 p.m. during winter months to avoid conflict with school activities.

Other routine decisions made by East Union during the organizational meeting include:

— Approved Tessum and Eckels to sign for the district’s bank accounts

— Discussed annual board policies up for review

— Approved utilizing the Afton Star Enterprise as the district’s official newspaper

— Appointed Ahlers & Cooney, P.C. as the board’s legal counsel

— Named Northwest Bank, UMB Bank and ISJIT as official financial depositories

— Appointed East Union principals Joan Gordon and Jason Riley as Level I investigators; the Department of Human Services as Level II investigators

— Appointed Superintendent Tim Kuehl, Gordon and Riley as members of the district’s Teacher Quality Committee

— Appointed Cheers to serve as East Union’s representative on the County Conference Board

— Appointed Buffington and McKnight as Facility Committee members

— Approved a suite of coordinators: Kuehl as Title IX coordinator and equity coordinator; Tessum as affirmative action coordinator; Sara Thompson as homeless coordinator; Riley and Gordon as 504 corrdinator; Justin Bane as asbestos coordinator

— Authorized the use of the board president’s signature for Tessum and District Administrative Assistant Rebecca Thummel for sporting event contracts and/or emergency manual warrants

In other East Union news...

Before the organizational meeting introducing Cheers into the board, some decisions were made with the previous board of directors, including Tallmon.

The consent agenda was approved, which involves accepting routine contracts, resignations and more. The board also accepted a second reading of school polices in the 100/200 series, adopting them as well.

A qualification for the activities director job description was changed to reflect the current educational environment. A certification through the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners was added to the description.

These decisions were based on old business which had discussions prior to last Tuesday’s meeting. The rest of the decisions took place with the new board.

After a review from Gordon and Riley, East Union’s District Developed Service Delivery Plan was approved. Districts are required to review their DDSDP every five years. The DDSDP covers how a district delivers special education services.

East Union will submit a School Budget Review Committee application for Modified Supplemental Amount for the district’s open enrollment out students. The application totals $52,065.03 of additional funding.

Johnson Controls will perform annual inspections of the Infant Toddler Center’s fire and life safety facilities at a rate of $1,645.83 annually over the next five years.

The board adopted a new policy which covers parent family engagement status. Added to the annual review list were polices which cover updates to chronic absenteeism.

The board selected Connie Maxson as East Union’s vote to be elected to the Green Hills AEA Board of Directors.

The following contracts and resignations were approved:

Contracts: Elizabeth Pool, night custodian; Celsey Beck, assistant teacher — infant room.

Resignations: Heather Brown, assistant teacher — infant room; Allison Cheers, secondary teacher, student council advisor, prom sponsor.