Village of Exeter: 2015-08-02

Perennial PPD Sponsors Area Teen at Youth Energy Leadership Camp

(July 24, 2015) York, NE. – Perennial Public Power District recently sponsored one area teens at the Nebraska Rural Electric Association (NREA) Youth Energy Leadership Camp. The camp was held July 13-17 at the Nebraska 4-H Camp in the Nebraska National Forest at Halsey, NE. There were 61 campers from 25 member systems with 13 counselors and 8 junior counselors.

Perennial sponsored Evan True of Exeter; he is the son of Dennis and Kelly True. Broc Mueller of Exeter returned as a junior counselor; he is the son of John and Anita Mueller.

Regional experts from Custer PPD, NREA, Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District and Nebraska Public Power District provided interesting workshops, demonstrations and presentations addressing many of the issues affecting the rural electric program. A tour to the Gerald Gentleman Power Station and the Kingsley Hydro-Electric Power Plant provided a first-hand look at the process of generating electricity.

The Nebraska Rural Electric Association is composed of 34 rural electric systems including Perennial Public Power District. Each electric system offers the opportunity for high school-aged students to attend Youth Energy Camp annually in an effort to educate Nebraska youth about the public power industry.

By Leesa K. Bartu

Exeter-Milligan school board met on Wednesday July 15th but were not able to attain a quorum of members so the board rescheduled the meeting to Thursday July 16^th. Member Adam Erdkamp was absent.

Treasurer Jim Zeleny read the treasurer’s report and the board approved the minutes from the June 15^th meeting. After the bills from July were reviewed the consensus agenda was approved.

The curricular report was given on Wednesday evening by Mary Lou Vossler, the FCCLA advisor, along with three of her students who gave their presentation from the National Convention where they had recently competed.

Superintendent Paul Sheffield gave an update on the building project. He expects construction will begin next week with the new gymnasium entries first. “We had to move everything out of the storage room and also the kitchen stuff was removed from the storage room in the gym. The distance learning room is now the kitchen storage room,” explained Sheffield.

The board gave the policy updates a second reading .All the updates were changed by the school lawyer following new legislation changes. Sheffield gave a brief recap of the changes in policies.

One change that Sheffield noted was a legislative bill which changed the bid requirements for a school district project from 40,000 to $100,000 minimum. Also, LB923 provides for school personnel to receive suicide prevention training each year.

Other policies updated dealt with homeless students, student illnesses, sex equality and school wellness. The board approved all of the revisions and the additions to the policies unanimously.

The board moved on to new business which included a review of the activity policy. One change was made in the consequences for Drug, Alcohol and Tobacco violations. If a student violates the policy standards while attending or participating in a school sponsored activity additional sanctions will include an automatic thirty school day suspension from all school activities with no opportunity to reduce the suspension and if the student is a senior in high school they will not be allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony.

Board members Kendra Jansky and Jim Zeleny both voiced their support. Jansky noted, “I think these are good changes.”

Zeleny agreed, “This is a good policy. We give them a second change.”

After further discussion the board unanimously accepted the new policy.

The only change in the handbook for the students was the activity policy change. Sheffield reported that they would be informing the students of the policy change on the first day of school.

Sheffield presented the census report and noted that there are 15 students signed up for kindergarten.

Also under new business Sheffield requested that the board approve the purchase of a one man lift to help them change light bulbs in the gyms or put up banners. He explained that this lift transports easily in the back of a pickup. Right now the custodial personnel have to rent one from York or Lincoln. The purchase price is around $6500.

After checking on a source for funding the board encouraged Sheffield to purchase the lift.

The school open house will be held on Wednesday Aug 12 from 5 – 7 at both campuses. Sheffield warned that there will be construction going on. “It will be good for people to be aware of the construction,” noted President Sharon Kuska.

Sheffield also gave the storm damage updates. “All the roofs the insurance paid for are done. The only thing on siding we have someone coming to take a look. We still won’t close out the claim because we have three years to get it all done. I want to make sure after another year the other roofs are fine.”

Summer projects have continued with lights replaced in the Exeter site gm and outdoor lights in Milligan. Sheffield reported the fiber line was moved into the computer lab instead of being in the distance learning room and they expect the bleachers to be installed in August.

A new pad for the scorers table in Milligan was presented. It would be held on to the table with Velcro and the cost was $300.

Sheffield also noted that he will be moving his office to the conference room and Jackie Yound will be moving into his office. The board will begin holding their meetings in the elementary computer lab until the addition is complete.’

The board set the next meeting for August 12^th in Milligan at 8 p.m.