Loyal School Board hears public comments on video postings, approves admin. contracts

The Loyal School Board meeting last Wednesday included discussion on several key topics that will affect the future of the district. First, there was an opportunity for public comment. Two parents took the time to speak: Mayro Kubista and Grace Genteman.

Mayro Kubista talked about school district values in the strategic plan, meeting videos, independent sports programs, and the facilities feasibility study. She said that, being on the district’s strategic planning committee last school year, one of the core values decided upon was accountability.

The accountability section of the strategic plan reads, in part: “Goals are to maintain and enhance communication with district stakeholders and to foster transparency and accountability with district stakeholders. Actions: Increase accessibility to budget reports, school board and committee meeting minutes, and decision-making processes.”

Kubista felt that value was not reflected in the school board’s recent decision to have future joint board meetings removed from the district’s YouTube channel after 30 days.

“This [decision] does not foster increased transparency or accountability at all, and actually does the opposite. I follow the recorded board meetings closely and notice a month or two after meetings are recorded, the videos continue to be watched by many people. Especially during such a critical time when our school is considering consolidation, why would we not want the videos on for as long as possible to be viewed by as many citizens as possible?” she asked.

She said that according to the district’s IT staff person, storage space was not an issue for the videos.

Mayro Kubista’s second main issue was wanting sports that are not currently co-oped with Greenwood to remain independent for as long as they could. At the last joint board meeting, an athletic co-op timeline was presented for the remaining sports to be co-oped over the next three years, starting with elementary basketball and JV baseball and golf this school year, as well as summer recreation and esports.

Mayro Kubista felt that even without combining with Greenwood, there was still plenty of competition for various sports — as in, students had to work for their place as a starter. She said that volleyball, boys basketball, girls basketball, baseball, and track and field all had excellent seasons last year, doing well even without being combined with Greenwood.

“Please stop trying to prematurely co-op these sports, and let our families and kids play it out and cherish our Greyhound teams for as long as we can,” she said.

Lastly, she requested a “very detailed, unbiased” school consolidation facility and feasibility study. She said the taxpayers were owed as detailed of a plan as possible.

“This board should be guaranteeing a transparent, highly detailed consolidation plan that will come back to all taxpayers on a ballot vote. That is what accountability truly means,” she said.

Genteman, the second speaker, agreed with everything Mayro Kubista had said. She felt that since Loyal had been keeping videos of meetings online indefinitely while Greenwood had not at all, 30 days was not a compromise and the public should be able to go back to those older meeting videos.

“I feel we are losing Loyal’s identity through consolidation. Please fight for this school,” she added.

Admin contracts, coaches Also at the meeting, the board approved administrative contracts.

“You were all emailed the contracts and given time to review them,” said board president Derek Weyer.

“The only thing I would ask is, just again like we talked about, maybe doing this earlier. I think it’s important to have this figured out prior to Aug. 20,” said board member Crystal Rueth.

“I agree. Especially when the contract starts July 1, we should be given those well in advance,” said board member Nikki Rueth.

“I think it should be 45 days at least before July 1,” said fellow board member Kirk Haslow.

Board member Tom Odeen made a motion, seconded by Matt Kubista, to approve the administrative contracts. That motion passed 6-1, with Dave Clintsman Jr. voting nay.

The board also approved fall sports coaches, specifically middle school and assistant coaches, although the seasons had already started for many.

For football, the co-head coaches are Chris and Dean Lindner. Assistant coaches are Cody Halpin, Josh Niemi, Kyle Damask, and Travis Kind. Volunteers are Louie Stieglitz, Aaron Greisen, and Austen Humke. Middle school coaches are Derek Weyer, Josh Shafto, and Walker Suda.

For volleyball, the head coach is Jaedyn Driggs. The JV coach is Viki Pieper. The assistant coach is Lindsey Theis. Middle school coaches are Kristen Aumann and Keli Geiger.

For cross country, the head coach is Hannah Olson. The assistant coach is Holly Davidson and the middle school coach is Steve Geisthardt.

The board approved the cheer coaches as well — Erin Shafto and Tara Rueth. There were five high school students out for football cheerleading as of the meeting.

Other business Board member Matt Kubista gave the financial report. There was $1,353,076.96 in the general fund, $68,722.32 in Fund 46 (the Long-Term Capital Improvement Trust Fund), and $598,649.74 in the Other Public Employee Benefits (OPEB) checking account.

Next, the board discussed some new hires. District Administrator Chris Lindner clarified that physical education teacher Jaidyn Teschner would be working no more than 29 hours per week and thus the school district would not have to pay her benefits.

“For many years we operated with two-and-a-half PE teachers,” said Lindner.

“We had three full-time [physical education] teachers at one time. When I moved [to principal], we never fully replaced me,” Principal Angie Kollmansberger added. “So this will help with that and she can pick up some health classes too.”

The board approvedAmy Kauer as the part-time afterschool program assistant. Her hours are approximately 3:30 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. She works with Doddie Rahm, who was hired as the 3K/afterschool program director on July 25. Rahm started at the Loyal School District last year and worked as an interventionist professional. She has previous experience as a lead childcare teacher, with more than 16 years total experience working with children ages birth to 12. With Rahm moving into the daycare/afterschool program director position, the district hired Mindy Geiger to serve as an interventionist to replace her.

The board also approved admission fees for the 2025-26 school year, which will be as follows: · Adults - $4 · Children (18 and under), veterans, and senior citizens free · Annual adult pass - $25 · Household pass - $35 (this includes college students) Current and former school board members and staff members also get in for free.

Chris Lindner also updated the board on summer maintenance projects.

· The two roofs have been replaced on the middle school and high school gym, the kitchen freezer has been replaced, the stainless-steel sheathing has been installed in the kitchen and cafeteria hallway, and LED lights have been installed in the cafeteria, middle/high school office, and the principal’s office.

· Braun Construction completed the sidewalk projects by the east high school parking lot (two sections), in front of the high school (nine sections), and the walkway and sidewalk entrance to the concession stand and football field.

· Maintenance supervisor Brad Graffunder is contacting contractors to do the excavating and cleaning up the grounds around the concession stand. Jack Kadolph is the only one that had gotten back to him as of the meeting. The district’s goal is to have all of this completed by this Saturday, Sept. 6, which is the first home event of the fall with a youth football game.

Chris Lindner said there was a wash out/sink hole at the north end of the elementary parking lot, and the district was looking to essentially “put a Band-Aid on it” until the end of the school year.

“When the building and grounds committee gets a plan, we will bring it to the public,” said Weyer. “We plan to split it over two budget years.”

The school district’s budget year begins July 1.

Future meeting The board will meet next on Sept. 10 in a joint meeting with the Greenwood School Board at Loyal High School. The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. with a tour of the facilities, with the actual meeting to start at about 7:30 p.m. Topics of discussion include a request for proposal for facility studies; ad hoc committees for consolidation, including district branding and curriculum; the athletic co-op timeline; and the November 2026 referendum question.