It's official.

The Staples Motley School Board approved the resolution calling for a building bond election Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009, at their regular meeting Monday night in Staples.

The board has been discussing the issue in regular meetings, committee meetings, community task force meetings and special work sessions for several months. The final wording was approved in the resolution.

The ballot question will ask voters to approve "general obligation school building bonds in an amount not to exceed $6,430,000 to provide funds for the acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities, including roof insulation, repair and replacement; flooring repair and replacement; replacement of widows; restroom renovations to accommodate persons with disabilities; acquisition and installation of a biomass burner at the high school facility; and necessary renovations to the high school facility as a result of the closure of the Freshwater Building."

The process included two telephone surveys and a study by a community facilities task force that met during the summer and fall of 2008. That task force forwarded two options to the board for consideration. The final ballot question includes most of one of the options.

I f the measure is approved, improvements will be done on three buildings owned by the school district - Staples Elementary School, the Motley School building and the high school building.

As noted in the ballot question, the building currently housing the Freshwater Education District (FED) will be closed. Renovations will be made to the high school building to create offices for FED personnel.

The resolution passed unanimously on a roll call vote.

In other business the board:

o HEARD a report from Tracy Kloeckl-Jimenez regarding the trip to Mexico planned by the Spanish Club for June 12-23. She said that she has been working with the travel agency and with the parents of the students, monitoring the H1N1 flu situation. She noted that the Center for Disease Control has downgraded the status of travel in Mexico from a warning to a Travel Health Precaution. After meeting with the parents, Kloeckl-Jimenez said they were comfortable with their students continuing with the trip and that reasonable precautions were being taken.

o APPROVED the dissolution of the cooperative agreements with other school districts for boys hockey and girls swimming and diving. The confi guration of participants in those agreements is changing and before the new ones can begin the old ones must be dissolved. Activities Director Lynn Peterson will bring the new agreements to the board when they are finalized.

o CONDUCTED a first reading of a proposed policy regarding transportation of elementary school students that would keep the school district in compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act. Questions arose about a possible confl ict with previous practice. The administration and the policy committee will review it and bring it back to the board.

o RECEIVED the first drafts for district sponsorship of applications being made for two charter schools within the district. One would be a career and technical high school and the second would be an elementary school focusing on technology, Spanish and the environment. The board will discuss the applications at a special work session set for 6:45 p.m., Monday, June 1, at the Motley building.

o ACCEPTED the retirement resignations of Bob Koenig, middle school teacher and Jeannie Peterson, Staples Elementary School paraprofessional, and the resignation of Laura Kiser, middle school social worker.

o HEARD in a report by Elementary Principal Gwynne Gildow that the district will receive about $190,000 in American Recovery and Investment Act funds for Title I that will be spread over the next two fiscal years. The district is studying the rules governing use of the funds.

o HEARD in a report by Superintendent Mark Schmitz of his proposed time line for hiring a new elementary principal, made necessary by Gildow's retirement.