The Waterloo School Board conducted a special meeting last Wednesday, tending to post-election matters and discussing the future of Waterloo Junior High School. 

Having won the requisite votes to maintain their seats, Neil Giffhorn, James Yaekel and John Caupert were sworn in at the top of the meeting alongside Nathan Mifflin, who ran unopposed as the only candidate to file for the remaining two years of the term left open by the resignation of previous board member Kim Ahne.

Regarding board officer positions, Lori Dillenberger was once again selected as board president, with Giffhorn as vice president and Amanda Propst maintaining the role of secretary inherited from Ahne.

Among the action items addressed by the board was authorization to advertise for bids for a dishwasher to be installed at Waterloo High School. As explained by Waterloo Superintendent of Schools Brian Charron, the board had previously approved such action, though the approved price and specifications exceeded what is actually necessary in the WHS cafeteria. Thus, the board was required to reauthorize bidding in the range of $75,000-80,000, about $25,000 less than what was originally expected.

Charron also noted the importance of getting a new machine given how much use the existing dishwasher has seen through years of daily lunches and hosted events.

“It has gone down I think they said three times last year,” Charron said. “And when we’re sometimes short cafeteria staff and then the dishwasher goes down and everything has to be washed by hand in the few sinks there are, it’s troublesome, and it’s more stress on the employees.”

A memorandum of understanding with the Waterloo Classroom Teachers’ Association was also approved concerning one faculty member’s tenure status and potential leave of absence.

Another project matter addressed was an emergency approval of contracts with Helitech amounting to $331,728 to contend with settlement issues at Rogers Elementary. This matter was previously discussed by the board at a recent meeting. Charron offered a summary of the situation, noting the settling had stopped for a time during the winter but had resumed as the ground began to thaw.

Helitech would be removing air conditioners on one side of the building to allow access for the company to reinforce the footings at that end of Rogers.

Following the meeting, Charron expressed hope the project will finally address settling at the back of the building as it did in the front.

“We hope it’s the end,” Charron said. “We’re approaching 50 percent of the footings of the building that would be reinforced after this. There is an end in sight. Once this is done, there is zero movement. Where we’ve had this work done prior, it has ended the settling issue for the footings.”

The final item on the agenda concerned a review of facility needs for Waterloo Junior High School.

Prior to board discussion of this matter, Giffhorn made a motion requesting executive session, though – as he noted after the meeting – this request seemed to cause confusion among the board as the precise reason for the request was unclear.

Anticipating the board going into closed session, this reporter left the meeting, though the Republic-Times was informed later Giffhorn rescinded his request for executive session moments after this reporter left the room.

Per later discussion with Charron, the board began the very early phase of determining whether or not the district should pursue substantial renovations at WJHS.

A presentation during the meeting noted various improvements or maintenance matters required in the building, with HVAC being among the highest priorities given the age of the system. Other concerns include basic maintenance for plumbing, flooring and windows as well upgrades to school fiber, locker rooms and other facilities.

With WJHS being near 80 years old and other schools in the region having comparable life-spans, Charron summarized the board is presented with a decision to pursue a new building or engage in major renovations to the existing building that could mean an investment lasting several decades, and the public might soon be called upon to provide input.

“We have decided to take a moment and evaluate all of the other significant renovations that would be necessary over this 20-30 year time period and examine whether that investment is the right thing for us at this time or whether we would prefer to consider building elsewhere,” Charron said. “We’re in the very early stages of this conversation, and it’s something that we may want to engage the public in before we make any significant investments either way.”