Webster City School Superintendent Mike Sherwood will see a 1.66 percent raise in the coming year, following his annual evaluation Monday night during the Webster City school board meeting.

After a closed session to conduct the evaluation, the board returned to open session and unanimously approved the wage increase, bringing Sherwood’s annual salary to $184,642.

The board also discussed the shared superintendent contract with Northeast Hamilton and Stratford schools. Sherwood serves all three districts as superintendent. NEH and Stratford will each be billed 20 percent of Sherwood’s total contract, according to Board Secretary Cathy Hildebrand.

The board voted to move ahead with exploring possible services through Rabiner Treatment Center in Fort Dodge. Sherwood said he had attended a few meetings with other districts and representatives from Rabiner to se

“Rabiner services have changed a little bit. I believe the residential program has changed and that helped support the day programs,” he said. “In one sense, that opens some doors and opportunities that we’ve been seeking for years.”

A group of about 10 districts have formed a consortium to see what can be done to provide and expand services to students who need alternative programming, according to Sherwood.

“Many times Rabiner is the programming that is geared toward placement by Juvenile Court or DHS,” he said. “We’ve been looking for avenues to help serve girls with specific needs as well as younger students.”

Sherwood said to run the program for a year with up to 30 students, the cost would be about $500,000, or about $50,000 per district if all 10 remain in the consortium.

“Most of the funding would come from Special Education and At-Risk dollars to support the program,” he said. “We’re talking about a day program for girls and a day program for boys, and serving children down to the fourth grade level.”

He added that the program would operate as a “revolving door program,” with students staying on until their needs are met and then transitioning back to the regular school setting.

Sherwood said the final contract would be brought back for approval once the details are finalized.

Board secretary Cathy Hildebrand reported that the district will receive a rebate from their participation in the procurement program with the Iowa Association of School Business Officials.

“Every year we get a rebate, based on how much activity and how much we use it,” she said. “This year the rebate is $1,236.14. It keeps getting a little better each year.”

Hildebrand said the rebate will be deposited to the district’s general fund.

Hildebrand also said that a debt service payment is due for the school infrastructure sales, services and use tax revenue bonds series 2013 on July 3. Principal of $130, 000 with 22,162.50 plus fees of $250, totalling $152,412.50.

The board authorized the payment.