Athens tables transportation agreement with Marathon
By Casey Krautkramer
The Athens Board of Education on Monday tabled a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the school districts of Athens and Marathon to hire Marathon’s driver for students with disabilities to also transport Athens students with disabilities to and from school with the Athens handicap accessible van.
Board members requested that superintendent Andrea Sheridan find out the mileage rate the school district will be paying the driver and whether the driver will start getting paid the moment he or she leaves Marathon for Athens. Once it has all the information it needs, then the board will make its decision on the MOU at its December meeting.
The MOU states that Marathon’s driver will get paid $18 per hour and work approximately 10 hours each week for the Athens School District. It also states that the driver will designate on their timesheet the amount of hours he or she transports students with disabilities as either Marathon or Athens, and then the driving hours will be billed to the Athens School District on a monthly basis.
Board president Tim Krueger said the MOU between the Athens and Marathon school districts is a good start because the Athens School District has had difficulty finding people who will transport its students with disabilities to and from school.
“It’s a nice gesture by Marathon School District but we just need more clarification before we can agree to the MOU,” he said.
Other business
■ Board members Krueger and Angie Servi are up for re-election this spring. School board members serve three-year terms. Rebecca Bliven, executive assistant to the superintendent, said the deadline is 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, for people to declare their candidacy in the school district office for the Tuesday, April 1, 2025, spring election.
New candidates for school board are required to file a declaration of candidacy and a campaign finance registration statement in the Athens School District office before the deadline. New candidates for school board must also file nomination papers with a sufficient number of signatures in order to qualify for the ballot. Nomination papers cannot be circulated or filed before Sunday, Dec. 1.
■ The board accepted a $5,000 donation from the basketball association and Dale and Tracy Westfall for the purchase of The Gun, a basketball shooting machine for basketball teams to use in practice. The Gun shoots out basketballs to help players improve their shooting skills.
The board also accepted a $250 donation from Hope Lutheran Church in rural Edgar to pay for negative student lunch accounts.
