February School Board Meeting

Chris Coray, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

The Rich County School Board held its monthly meeting on Wednesday, Feb 24, in Randolph. All board members and the school superintendent were present. Items covered during the meeting included:

1) The appointment of Kam Jarman and Jaren Wadsworth as golf coaches for the men’s and women’s teams, respectively. Up to 14 or 15 boys are expected to be on the boy’s team and 4 or 5 girls for girl’s team,

2) Previously adopted transportation policies were ratified,

3) It was reported that the student activities fund, which includes the athletic fund, has been declining at the rate of $5,000-$7,000 per year and was approaching an insignificant balance. The board approved the transfer of $25,000 from the general school district funds to student activities,

4) The building and maintenance budget was increased by $80,000 over last year to meet the costs of needed repairs,

5) There is an ongoing discussion to reclassify athletic grouping and regions next year. Because of changing school populations in the state there will likely be major realignment. While the process is not yet completed there would be significant changes for Rich High School and some historical athletic competitions would be changed or deleted. A new realignment would include Rich being joined with several small private schools on the Wasatch front as well as some, but not all, of its traditional rivals. The process is still underway and Rich will have additional input into the outcome,

6) It was reported that using assessed valuation as the measure, 53% of the assessed property valuation in the county comes from secondary residential structures. As primary residences receive a 45% property tax reduction on taxes, when that is also considered, the actual percentage of property tax funds received by the school district from non-residents is even higher. For example, if half of the remaining 47% property valuation comes from primary residential structures then with this assumption in fact non-residents are paying approximately 60% of the total property tax funds levied and received by the school district and have no votes or representation in county or school district governance.

The school board went into executive session, spent about 15 minutes in that session, then returned to the public meeting to discuss board and district policy on drug and alcohol use.