Students in the Yuma schools will have expanded meal choices beginning with the 2025-26 school year.
Yuma School District-1 and Otis School District R-3 have teamed up to utilize Chartwells as the food service vendor.
The Yuma-1 Board of Education approved the move during its regular monthly meeting this past Monday night at the district office. Board president John Deering, and board members Tyson Brown, Heath Roundtree and Lindsey Galles were in attendance. Terri Cooper was absent.
Going with an outside vendor has been a trend among schools, and Yuma-1 has been looking into it for the past year or so.
“I am really happy we were able to get this in right under the wire,” Superintendent Dianna Chrisman said. Monday was her last meeting before retiring.
Chartwells will hire a director to oversee the Yuma and Otis food service programs. Employees will transition to being Chartwells employees. The company will take over the training and ordering components.
Students will have main dish choices every day, and the goal is to have at least one meal made from scratch. The salad bard will remain as well.
The food service fund will remain in the Yuma-1 budget, with Chartwells being a contracted service.
Hail repairs
Chad Rayl with CMR Management updated the board on the remaining repair work still to be done from the damage caused by the May 20, 2024 storm.
He said the district had finally received the updated statement of loss earlier Monday from the insurance adjustor. He said Victory Construction now will mobilize in three weeks to get the YMS roof finally done. Rayl said Victory did fix some portions before the final approval.
Rayl said Victory is well aware if it does not hit the July 7 date to begin the work that there will be a reckoning. When asked by the board, he said the statement of loss has been the holdup, basically since last November. He said Victory and the insurance were both at fault for the long delay
Brown again expressed his dissatisfaction with Victory. He said if Victory is not here on or around the July 7 date, he would like to see the district explore its options.
Unrelated to the hail work, Rayl also updated the board on the gym floor work. He said the YMS and the auxiliary gym at YHS should be completed by next week. He said the district should get another 10 to 12 years out of the YMS floor.
He also went over corrective measures in regards to moisture issues that were causing problems with the gym floors.
Budget
Monday was the time to approve the 2025-26 Budget and appropriation, as the new fiscal year begins July 1. The budget will not be in its final form until later in the fiscal year, following enrollment certification.
Chrisman said state equalization ended up being better than initially feared, as the state continued to average enrollment over several years, which helps the district absorb the declining enrollment. She said averaging will be the biggest budget driver moving forward. If that is taken away, the district will take a much harder hit.
Retention and Christmas bonuses are in the budget, but the board will make a final decision on those after enrollment figures are finalized.
The Beginning Fund Balance has increased to $10.3 million. There is $1.07 million in Capital Reserves Capital Projects Fund.
Total appropriation is $29.197 million, including $24.081 million in the General Fund.
The board unanimously approved the appropriation resolution.
More meeting
The board approved July 21 as the next meeting date. The board and the new superintendent then will set the meeting schedule for the rest of 2025-26.
The second and final readings for policies dealing with professional staff salaries and professional staff fringe benefits were approved. Restrictions for the number of years a teacher can transfer from another job has been eliminated in an effort to help better attract educators.
Pioneer editor Tony Rayl spoke during public comment, thanking Chrisman for her 10 years as Yuma-1 superintendent.
The consent calendar included personnel recommendations: Nikki Gelvin, YHS part-time math and science teacher; Avery Marzolf, YHS math teacher; Jamie Nighswonger, YMS summer school instructor; Peggy Traphagan, YMS summer school instructor; Lysondra Yost, YMS Jump Start instructor; Mackenzie Baucke, YHS C-team volleyball coach, and Kory Mermis, Yuma Preschool director. Separations and resignations were: Jasmine Baucke, Yuma Preschool para; Cristi Powell, Morris Elementary interventions teacher; John Horn, maintenance assistant; Ana Arvizo, Yuma Preschool director, and; Maria Horn, MES special education para.
Donations were: $600 from Yuma Dairy for YHS staff appreciation/chair massages; $200 from Yuma Boosters for girls regional and state golf meal money; $684 from Yuma Boosters for state track meal money; $280 from Jerry Lebsack for track coach hotel room; $500 from Brian and Katie Shaw for sixth-grade outdoor education; $200 from Jessica Witte for mock trial; $100 from Mike Neill Insurance for mock trial, and; $500 from Quintech for mock trial.