No more free lunches for all

As with many other area school districts, the Barnum school board approved an increase in lunch prices, at 10 cents per meal at various levels for the lunch program during its July 26 meeting.

The coming school year marks the first time in two years any students will pay for lunch, after a universal free school lunch program was allowed to expire at the end of June.

Parents are encouraged to fill out forms to apply for free and reduced-price meals, something they also haven’t had to do over the past two years, when every child could have free lunch and breakfast. There will be a table at the Barnum open house Aug. 31 where forms can be picked up.

“We haven’t had an increase in the price of meals for two years,” board member Paul Coughlin said. “We ask that the parents please fill out the forms for free and reduced-cost meals. The more people that qualify for the meals, the more money that the school district gets, to pay for staff and supplies.”

Superintendent Bill Peel, the new superintendent for Barnum Public Schools, told members of the board he was looking forward to meeting with each member of the board individually and getting to know them better.

“I look forward to working with each one of you,” he told board members July 26. “I also am looking forward to meeting the members of the staff and the students.”

Peel is also the superintendent of the Willow River school district and will split his time between the two districts, working three days in one district, and two in the other, and vice versa the following week, unless he needs to be in one of the districts for a special reason.

During the superintendent’s report, Peel spoke about a new law regarding data privacy.

“Notices will be sent to parents within 30 days to inform parents of the technology used in the classroom and the type of data that the school district collects for each student,” he said.

Peel also said staff is being hired for the coming school year, including a K-2 music teacher, support staff and three bus drivers. If three bus drivers are not found, Peel added, changes will have to be made.

Those interested in filing as candidates for the school board can file before Aug. 16. Three seats are open for four-year terms. There will be no primary election. The election for school board will be held during the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Potential candidates were asked to contact the Barnum school district office for more information.

The board passed a motion to increase the pay for substitute teachers from $115 a day to $125 a day, as recommended by Peel. He said the increase brings Barnum in line with what school districts in the area are paying.

There was discussion about increasing the per-day rate even higher, but Peel said that could be looked at again in a year.

“This is a wonderful community,” he said. “Substitute teachers will want to come here.”

Board member Steph Ferrin abstained from the vote; she is a substitute for the district.

The district will not increase the student athletic and activity fees.

The next school board meeting was set for Tuesday, Aug. 23, at 6:30 p.m. in the high school auditorium.