Superintendent Jeff Lind told the Rugby School Board at the August 2 meetng ,that the renovation project is on schedule for the first phase of the project. The windows in the west wing of the school have been replaced with much larger windows on both sides. Classrooms in that wing have been painted and new carpet and cabinets will soon be installed. The geothermal heating and cooling system has been installed. The ground that was disturbed to install the system will need to be re-seeded with grass.

Lind is excited that the new addition on the north end of the school near the gym is starting to take shape, as well. That part of the building will be the new entrance, and contain some offices, the new lunch room, and concessions area for sporting and other school events. The old office will still be where it has always been, but it will contain newly remodeled offices for superintendent, business manager, and others. What will now be called the office will be located in the addition and will house the secretaries, principal and counselor offices.

The junior high and high school may not have lockers when the students start school. Framing for the lockers and soffits have been installed above the locker space, however, the lockers may not be delivered in time. The administrators will be meeting the various challenges of renovation as they arise.

The beginning of school was pushed back this year to Thursday, September 1. Sports practices have been moved such as, the football teams will practice either on the baseball field for the varsity squad or an empty lot near the Haaland Estates for the junior high. These spaces have been approved and liability issues settled. Both cross country and football practices have already started.

Registration for the various schools has been set for Aug. 16 and 17 for Ely and Little Flower elementary schools. Rugby High School will have registration on Monday, Aug. 29, but it will be held at Ely Elementary.

Mr. Jason Gullickson, principal, Ely, reported a pre-registration estimate of students for Ely came to 277, compared to 268 for last year. Of course, those figures can and do change after registration. Ely Elementary is ready to go and teachers will be coming in soon to set up their classrooms for the 2011-12 school year.

In the high school, Mr. Dave Zwingel reports six new staff members. He is hoping to hire an ag teacher in the next few days. The high school has added a mentoring program for new teachers and he will hold daily meetings at first with the new staff.

Zwingel has been working on updating the Faculty Handbook for the junior high and high school. It had not been done since Lind had started at the school. Lind said that basically there are more clarifications than any real changes. A draft copy was presented to the school board for their review.

One issue that got a second reading at the August 2 board meeting was a change in the wording of the information on working hours in the faculty handbook. The new changes read as follows: “The minimum work day for teachers will be one half hour before classes begin each day until one half hour after the conclusion of classes for the day. The time before and after school will be reserved for student appointments, parent conferences, teacher meetings, lesson preparation, or other assigned duties. For purposes of conducting staff meetings, IEP meetings, professional development or assigned duties, teachers may be required to be in school beyond the minimum work day.” This reading more or less clarified more specifically what the work hours are.

The board reviewed the second reading and approved it as read.