From the Desk of the Superintendent...
September 21, 2016
OCTOBER 2016 DISTRICT DISPATCH
This past summer our board secretary/business manager, Andrea Raes, and I met with representatives from Piper Jaffray and Company in Des Moines to discuss the possibility of refinancing our general obligation bonds for the new middle school/elementary expansion project. It is hard to believe, but this year we will be halfway through paying off those bonds. Interest rates are now lower than they were when we sold those bonds and preliminary projections indicate that we can cut almost a year off the twenty-year payment period. At their regular meeting in August, the members of the board of education voted to execute a financial advisor agreement with Piper Jaffray and begin the process of refinancing the bonds. At their regular meeting in September, the board of directors approved the Ahlers and Cooney Law Firm in Des Moines as bond counsel and disclosure counsel for our school district with respect to the issuance of general obligation school refunding bonds. At that time, the members of the board also approved a resolution fixing the date of the sale of approximately $3,625,000.00 of general obligation school refunding bonds on Thursday, October 6, 2016; using Parity electronic bidding procedures; and distributing the official statement of information pertaining to the bonds to be offered. I will bring you up-to-date in my November article regarding the lowest bidder and the projected total savings the school district will realize. The transaction is scheduled to close on December 1, 2016.
During halftime of our home football game against Treynor on August 26, 2016, Zach Sangster and other team members from Jack Link’s presented a check to the Underwood Community School District in the amount of $30,000.00. The school district is extremely appreciative of this generous donation and extends its gratitude to the Jack Link’s company for its support of our school and community. At this time, tentative plans are being made to renovate the stadium pressbox. This donation will be earmarked for that project.
Career and Technical Education (CTE) in Iowa is being reviewed and updated throughout the State of Iowa during this school year. Mr. McDonough, Mr. Hughes, our CTE teachers, and I will be working with representatives from our Area Education Agency (AEA), Iowa Western Community College, and the Iowa Department of Education to “fine tune” our CTE programs during the 2016-17 school year. The Underwood Community School District offers career and technical programs in the following areas: business education, family and consumer science education, industrial education, and marketing education. In these career and technical education programs, as well as in all programs in the school district, it is the policy of the Underwood Community School District not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, religion, creed, age (for employment), marital status (for programs), sexual orientation, gender identity, and socioeconomic status (for programs) in its educational programs and its employment practices. There is a grievance procedure for processing complaints of discrimination. If you have questions or a grievance related to this policy, please contact the district’s Equity Coordinator, Mr. Edward Hawks, Superintendent, 601 Third Street, Underwood, Iowa 51576; ehawks@underwoodschools.org; (712) 566-2332.
