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Board OKs fees, handbooks

Melinda Mawdsley

— With one slight amendment, the Hayden School Board approved a student and activity fee schedule for the upcoming school year at Wednesday’s meeting.

Superintendent Mike Luppes suggested the board waive the $10 student fee for kindergartners.

“With kindergartners paying tuition, my recommendation is that they don’t pay a student fee,” he said.



Most of Hayden’s enrolled kindergartners have opted to attend all-day kindergarten, so they are paying an additional tuition. The board voted unanimously to add Luppes’ recommendation to the student and activity fee schedule.

The remaining students in first through 12th grades will pay a $10 student fee, which covers expenses such as field trips and admission fees to activities.



Activities fees, which were implemented last year, remain unchanged for the 2006-07 school year.

High school students will pay $50 for their first and $25 for their second activity. The third activity and beyond are free. Middle school students will pay $30 and $15 for their first and second activity, respectively. The third activity and beyond are free.

A family will pay no more than $200 for a school year.

Board member Kurt Frentress asked how much money student and activity fees generate for the district.

Luppes said student fees raised approximately $4,000 and activities fees raised approximately $16,000. The $20,000 total was nearly double what Luppes had expected, he said.

“We had huge participation last year,” Luppes added.

“And it looks the same this year,” Hayden Secondary School Principal Troy Zabel added.

A meeting on how to collect the fees was held, and Zabel and Middle School Building Supervisor Gina Zabel said the coaches will be collecting all fees and turning them in to the schools’ secretaries.

“The middle school basketball coach collected fees last year, and it was so much easier,” Gina Zabel said.

The approval of student and activities fees was one item on a list of many items the board needed to approve or address before the start of the school year.

The board also reviewed student handbooks for each school, and approved the Hayden Valley Elementary School handbook and the middle school handbook with some changes.

Approval of the high school handbook was pushed back to the Sept. 20 meeting because Troy Zabel said he wanted to include staff input on discipline protocol to be included in the handbook.

At the elementary school level, building administrator Rhonda Sweetser said some wordage was added to prohibit spaghetti strap shirts and shirts that exposed the midriff. Students also will be required to present a birth certificate and a record of immunizations. In addition, students not riding the bus home will need to make arrangements before school ends, so buses are not waiting on students.

At the middle school level, Gina Zabel said the student handbook/planner combination has been successful. Students are required to carry their planners, and it costs $10 to replace them.

But this year, they changed some wording on eligibility requirements and absence policies. The middle school handbook also includes an update on fees assessed for missing materials and damaged handbooks.

Gina Zabel said a form would be sent home at the beginning of the year so parents and students can fill out a report on condition of textbooks. That form will be compared with the condition of textbooks at the year’s end. Fees will be assessed accordingly.


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