The purchase of an electric school bus was approved Monday night by the Princeton R-5 Board of Education, pending final approval from three entities providing grants.
The board accepted a bid from the Lion Bus Company which is more than $351,300. The bid is described as the only one of three that met specifications for delivery within six months and included a level two charging station. The online brochure from Lion Electric is available at this link. More information is also available in this PDF file from Lion Electric.
Board members were updated on the relocation of the Princeton softball and baseball fields. It’s anticipated excavating and grading will begin early this summer.
Bid packets are to be issued this month seeking construction materials. More than $527,000 has been collected in pledges and donations. Local groups involved with the project are the Princeton Ball Association, the city of Princeton, and Princeton schools.
A health insurance proposal from broker Thomas McGee was approved which officials say involves no increase in premiums for the employees of the school.
This is the fourth year the Princeton district has been self-insured with a third-party administrator, Insurance Management Service. The base HSA for an employee remains at $516. The base PPO stays at $607. Princeton’s cap on insurance premiums is $600.
Regarding personnel for the 2022-23 school year, Samantha Cortez was hired for extra duty as the cheer coach. Beth Boxley will teach one unit of dual credit speech. Non-certified staff were approved. And the summer school staff and teaching assignments were approved. Handbooks were approved for summer school.
A discussion was held at the Princeton board meeting on the legislative-approved state budget that offers a possible grant to schools to increase the teacher’s salary to a $38,000 base. The Princeton Board of Education recently approved a $2,000 increase, which makes the starting salary of a teacher in 2022-23 $33,500. It was noted by the Princeton Superintendent the grant opportunity through the state is voluntary, requires a local match of funds, and the state money is not guaranteed after the next year.
The Princeton school is looking to host a summer surplus auction in late June by using the online services of the Government Deals website.
Action was tabled on bank depository services to provide more time to evaluate the two proposals received.
