Three new school board members Josh Waddell, Lance Bickle and Danielle Robben were sworn in at Monday night’s USD 489 school board meeting.

The board also elected new officers including Greg Schwartz as president.
Other than a discussion about the responsibilities and who should be the district public information officer, each item on the first half of the agenda was passed rapidly. Elizabeth Jaeger, who has many district responsibilities, will still handle the district PIO duties.

Among other highlights, the board voted to table the approval of Multi- peril Insurance for the 2013-14 school year from Insurance Planning until it is reviewed by board attorney Bill Jeter.

The board voted to discontinue paying the membership and dues in Schools for Fair Funding for 2013-14. After some discussion, the almost $18,000 participation in the program seemed much more than the board wanted to pay. New board member Lance Bickle made the motion and Daren Schumacher seconded the motion that was passed unanimously. USD 489 had been a member since 1989.

They approved KASB membership and Legal Assistance Fund membership for the 2013-14 school year.

After  90 minutes of executive session, the board voted to table the discussions on contracts policy, on policy for pre-screening potential bidders, on contracts policy, and the appointment of the Board Attorney.