M-P Board sets calendar, freezes superintendent’s salary

Classes for the 2010-11 academic year will start August 24, by which time the district should have made up all the snow days. The calendar was approved by the board at its meeting Monday. As of Tuesday, February 9, the district was looking at seven make-up days, if there are no more cancellations.
“But, with the weather, we don’t know if it will stay at seven,” said Superintendent Mark Schneider. Presently, the district is trying to conclude the 2009-10 academic year by June 4 at the latest.
“We have a few options,” said Schneider, referring to in-service days and possible extended hours.
Classes were cancelled Tuesday when the snow that started Monday continued well into Tuesday. Schneider, who with transportation director, Dick Durst, regularly checks the roads by 5 a.m., found roads not only slippery but in the case of one graveled road “I was not sure I would get out.”
Schneider is also the superintendent for the Keota School District and has found conditions for the two districts tend to be similar when it comes to the roads. The difference, though, depends on the county. Mid-Prairie is in three counties, Keota in two “and each county has different priorities in clearing roads.” Which is why at one point Keota ran buses on all roads and Mid-Prairie only on hard-surfaced.
In other business Monday, the board approved Schneider’s request to freeze his salary and benefits at the present level. Schneider cited economic conditions which have seen major state cuts in school funding for his move. It was a move he had noted last year when his position became a shared one with the Keota district.