March 29, 2024

District to hold public hearing on greenhouse Monday

Taxpayers will get their say during a public hearing at Monday’s Newton Community School District Board of Education meeting on whether or not the district should purchase a new greenhouse.

The new greenhouse would go in the upper parking lot south of Newton Senior High School and be used by NHS agriculture students. James Horn, the program’s advisor, commented at the last board meeting that the program has grown by 300 percent since 2008 and it needs more space .

At that same meeting, Superintendent Bob Callaghan roughly estimated the total cost for the new greenhouse could be as much as $100,000, however, the district hadn’t received any bids from vendors when he gave that figure.

Many board members seemed to favor the proposal at the last meeting, and board member Bill Perrenoud said he’d like to see it investigated further.

The public hearing will begin at 6:45 p.m. in the conference room at the Emerson Hough building.

In other business, NCSD Technology Supervisor Chris Beighler will publicly unveil the district’s new anonymous tip line.

According to the district, the tip line can be used by parents, students and staff to report anything that may pose a safety threat. The district opted to implement this new feature when it began developing its new website last year.

People can leave tips via email, phone call or text messages. Once a message has been submitted, it will be forwarded to a designated school official.

In other business:

The board will vote on one policy and discuss two other policies pertaining to using community resources within district buildings.

There will be consideration on setting a public hearing to purchase a new vehicle for the technology department.

Jim Gilbert, associate director of elementary services, will discuss results of a recent preK-sixth-grade parent survey on building configuration.

Contact Senior Staff Writer Ty Rushing at (641) 792-3121 ext. 6532 or at trushing@newtondailynews.com.