River Ridge Accepts Service Bids for 2012-2013 School Year

By MICHAEL MILLER | For The Prairie Advocate News

HANOVER – The River Ridge School Board dispensed with its light agenda in swift fashion on July 16th, 2012, but they did decide upon a wide variety of bids for service for the District.

Board members Don McLane, Matt Wild, Barb Schaible, Merri Sevey, Dr. Allen Crist, Raymie Diestelmeier and President David Howard were present at this meeting, as were Principals Beau Buchs (Elementary) and Mike Foltz (High School/Middle School), Superintendent Brad Albrecht, and Secretary Kay Bailey.

Diestelmeier’s Area Vocational Center report contained the news that Dale Wickler has been hired for 30 hours a week as the new custodian. The AVC Board also discussed health insurance.

The Board unanimously approved setting the date for the annual Budget Hearing for August 20th, 2012 at 6:45 pm.

Bids for commodities and services were the most lengthy agenda item, with many bids being considered and approved. Baraboo Sisco Food Services and Hawkeye Food Services Distribution, Inc. came in with the low bids for cafeteria commodities and were approved for that service. These two companies, along with Eco Lab, Inc. were also awarded the bid for paper and cleaning products for food service, as a result of submitting the low bid. Sara Lee Bakery Group from Dubuque, Iowa will be providing bakery goods for River Ridge for the coming school year.

Werhane, LTD, from Lena, Illinois will provide the district’s milk and dairy products, with full Board approval. The Elizabeth Garage of Elizabeth, Illinois was approved to provide oil and oil filters, repair services, an hourly shop rate and wrecker calls for the district. And Stephenson Service Company of Freeport, Illinois, will provide the district’s fuel and bio diesel needs for the coming school year.

School fees were the next topic of discussion, with Albrecht advocating a slight increase in order to help offset the rising technology fees. As such, the Board elected by unanimous vote to raise the district’s registration fees from the present $35.00 to $40.00 for K-12, with the fee for late registration being set at $45.00. Albrecht read aloud the set fees of many other area districts, with River Ridge coming in well under most of these.

The Board also voted to raise the price of lunches by 10 cents, resulting in the following prices for the upcoming year. Breakfast for K-12 will be 80 cents per meal, lunch for elementary students will be set at $1.60, Middle and High School students will pay $1.85 per meal, and the price for adults for a meal will be $2.35. Milk will be 30 cents per carton.

Albrecht’s brief comments including the information that the district audit will be available online. He also reported that he and McLane had visited FarmTek in Dyersville, Iowa to look at greenhouses there and to gather information about the potential of building one for River Ridge. Both Albrecht and McLane seemed to favor the idea, with McLane commenting on the opportunities such a move would open up for not only agriculture students but those from many other disciplines as well. Albrecht said he felt the financing would be there for such a project.

(Publisher’s Note: In case you were one of several readers that were confused a couple of weeks ago, freelance reporter Michael Miller inadvertently sent his report from the July 2011 meeting, which ran in the July 25, 2012 issue. When reviewing the article, I should have noticed the several references to the “2011-2012 school year,” but of course, did not. Mr. Miller and The Prairie Advocate regret the error.)