Lake School Board faced with staff sharing questions

The Clear Lake School Board was scheduled to discuss its sharing agreements with the Mason City School District at its Tuesday, March 20, meeting in the wake of Mason City pulling out of its shared contract for a food service director.

At its meeting last week the Mason City Board voted 4-1 to hire its own full-time food service director for the 2018-19 school year.  Board member Brent Seaton abstained from the vote and Alan Steckman was absent from the meeting.

Mason City had been receiving the services of Lora Jensen on a 60 percent basis since a sharing arrangement was penned in 2012.  Clear Lake held Jenson’s contract and paid 40 percent of her $100,348 salary, as well as benefits. The Clear Lake Board had already approved a sharing contract for the 2018 school year which would have had Mason City paying approximately $80,600 for Jenson’s services.

Previously, board members said the sharing agreement had benefited both districts, mainly through purchasing in bulk.  However, Mason City Board members said they felt their district could

[wlm_nonmember]To read more of this article, please login or sign up for our E-Edition[/wlm_nonmember][wlm_ismember]

save salary money and receive more services with a full-time nutrition direction, as opposed to a 60 percent employee.

In advance of its Tuesday night meeting, Clear Lake Schools Superintendent Doug Gee said he expected the board to retain Jenson’s services for only the 2018-19 school year.

The Mason City Board did approve continued sharing of IT Director Jason Christenson with Clear Lake.

[/wlm_ismember]