Dorchester Times: Dec. 22 Dorchester School Board Minutes

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Dec. 22 Dorchester School Board Minutes

(The following minutes from the Dec. 22 Dorchester Board of Education meeting appear as submitted to the Dorchester Times by school administration staff.)

President Brad Havlat called the regular monthly meeting of the Board of Education of Saline County School District 76-0044, a.k.a. as Dorchester Public Schools, to order at 7:35 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 22, 2008. All members, except Mark Bors, were present along with Superintendent Brian Redinger, Principal Mitch Kubicek, Joyce Karl and Scott Pohl, Athletic Director. Motion by Hansen, second by Kahle to approve the minutes of the November regular meeting, with appropriate date change for the December meeting. Members voting yes to the motion were Hansen, Kahle, Boller, Pracheil and Havlat. Bors absent. Motion passed 5-0.

After verification of publication of the meeting notice in the Crete News, local postings of the meeting notice (Dorchester Schools, Farmers Coop, First State Bank and the Village Office) and the advanced receipt of the meeting agenda and other meeting materials by individual board members, the President stipulated that meeting minutes should reflect that this meeting was held in compliance with the Neb. Open Meetings Law. It was also noted the Open Meeting Act Poster is posted in the boardroom. There was no request for change of agenda.

The November treasurer’s report was reviewed. Motion by Boller, second by Pracheil to approve report. Voting yes were Boller, Pracheil, Kahle, Hansen and Havlat. Bors absent. Motion passed 5-0.

Motion by Hansen, second by Kahle to approve November end of month and December expenditures for the General Fund, Special Building Fund and Bond Fund. Voting yes were Hansen, Kahle, Boller, Pracheil and Havlat. Bors absent. Motion passed 5-0.

Mark Bors arrived at 8 p.m.

Committee Reports

Building/Grounds Committee: Supt. Redinger will call Crete Lumber to see when the inside gym doors can be installed. The estimate for ADA door openers for the front east doors was discussed, along with the installation of railing for the entrance. Handicapped accessible and van accessible parking stalls were discussed. Specs will be obtained with further discussion to be held in January. The heating regulation problem was also discussed and Supt. Redinger will continue to monitor room temps.

Principal’s Report: Principal Kubicek shared that he consulted with mental health therapists about a possible program for students who are not experiencing academic success. He stressed that this is just an investigative step only and will get back to the board at a later date. He reported that the Apex program being currently used in credit recovery class is a success with the possibility of being used for a rigorous summer program. Otter Creek and Accelerated Math will be implemented in the future and Mr. Kubicek has applied for a grant to help defray the costs of these programs. The data on our State Report Card was discussed. Mr. Kubicek has secured a grant that will make it possible for 17 teachers and our administration to take part in a book study. Student surveys were distributed and results will be shared with the Board at a later date. Dorchester Schools has been approved as an ACT testing site that will be able to host up to 36 students in April and June.

New Business: Building accessibility for our patrons was discussed and will be tabled until the January 2009 meeting. Motion by Kahle, second by Hansen to approve Horace Mann as the District 44’s 403(b) plan administrator. Voting yes were Kahle, Hansen, Boller, Pracheil, Bors and Havlat. Motion passed 6-0. The Board instructed AD Pohl to order the portable seating for the multi-purpose room.

The next meeting of the Dorchester Board of Education will be Monday, Jan. 12, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.

Motion by Kahle, second by Hansen to adjourn at 10:30 pm. All members voted aye.

Signed: Ron Kahle, Secretary of the Dorchester Board of Education.

4 comments:

AnonymousDecember 23, 2008 at 11:16 PM
I hope this becomes a regular feature on this blog. I also hope the village board follows suit. In a day and when the people see less and less accountability from the politicians in Washington, it's nice to see accountability at the local level.
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AnonymousDecember 24, 2008 at 8:57 AM
Where can a person find a list of the expenses and bills>>

are they included in the minutes or will we need to go to the Crete paper to find those?

thanks
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AnonymousDecember 24, 2008 at 4:48 PM
The crete paper stinks .............. 4 rolls of Charmin may cost a little more .................... but it certainly is more comfortable .......................
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AnonymousDecember 24, 2008 at 5:36 PM
It will be another 3 weeks until it appears in the newsprint.

I like seeing this online. Actually I don't recall ever seeing a line item budget in the school minutes.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."