CAMBRIA - The Cambria-Friesland School Board accepted the resignation of school principal Rick Hammes on Monday.
Hammes is leaving the district to serve as the middle school principal in the Berlin School District. His resignation is effective on June 30. Hammes has served the Cambria-Friesland School District for 14 years. He came to the district in June 1995 from the Pardeeville School District, where he had served as a guidance counselor.
The board approved a motion to accept his resignation, with regret, and waiving any penalties in his contract.
"Thank you, Mr. Hammes, for all your years here," said school board president Becky Gutzman.
The Cambria-Friesland Education Association submitted a request that they be included in the hiring process of a new administrator.
"They would like to come up with guidelines for what a principal should do and would be able to do," said representative Jan Fude.
The school board approved designating money from the fund balance to prevent short-term borrowing. The district approved a bid to repair the roof on the 1957 portion of the school. The bid was for $59,900 for the roof, plus an additional $20,500 for installation. Those costs do not include temporarily disconnecting and moving rooftop units and then replacing them after the new roof is installed.
The motion including repaying the money used if a school referendum for building maintenance projects is approved by taxpayers next year.
Superintendent Tony Hinden gave the board an update on the budget for the 2009-10 school year.
"The state legislature has not been kind to us," Hinden said.
Hinden said that in the governor's original budget, things were looking pretty good for the school district. A decrease of $74 in the allowed per pupil increase will cost the school district approximately $34,000. The school district is also losing $37,398 in tuition because six open enrollment students graduated in May, and is losing the equivalent of three and a half students for students who open enrolled out of the district. Hinden presented the board with an overview of the budget that shows a $28,635 deficit. The school board will hold a special meeting on June 29 at 6 p.m. to review the proposed budget, discuss staff restructuring and federal stimulus funding.
The board approved a proposal for year end purchases using funds unexpended in the 2008-09 school year budget. More than $99,000 remained, and Hinden said that was partly due to budgeting for fuel last summer when gas cost $4 a gallon. He also said that the cost for heating was less than expected. The district also saved $11,700 in salary, because it was not necessary for Hinden to work all the hours the district budgeted
"You can't count on it being there," Hinden said of the unexpended funds. "It should help us for next year. The challenge will be the 2010, 2011 and 2012 budgets."
The school district will use $20,000 of the unexpended funds to replace a mini van that has more than 150,000 miles on it. The school will spend $15,604 to cover the cost of copier machines for the next school year, and $15,000 on new science materials for kindergarten to fifth grade students. Other big ticket items include nearly $6,000 for boiler tubes for the heating system and $9,000 for paper.