Jess Howard, who became the Webster City Community School District athletic director this summer, announced Monday that Fall Sports Night will be Tuesday, Aug. 23.

Fall Sports Night will include a community-wide pep rally at the WCHS football field, weather permitting. The alternative is for the event to be held in the WCHS sports gym.

Howard said the objective is not only to get the community involved in supporting student athletes, but to encourage and facilitate younger students to interact with older students.

“We will have all of our fall sports coaches talk about their expectations for the season,” she said. “We want to get the community excited about coming out and supporting our students.”

Howard made the announcement during the WCCSD board meeting.

She said the school will create magnets and posters featuring the schedules of all senior high school sports. The school will accept sponsorship of the magnets and posters, and then sell the magnets and the posters for $3 each or both for $5.

There is also going to be a garage sale of old equipment and uniforms. This event will also be the impetus for the Lynx Booster Club by hopefully enrolling up-and-coming parents, she said. Athletes will be available to sign posters. The school’s mascot will be available for pictures and to greet people upon arrival.

Howard said she expects to continue this kind of event for the winter, spring and summer sports events.

Also this fall, the WCCSD will welcome 19 new teachers. They will include two new educators at the preschool level, five at Northeast Hamilton, one at Pleasant View, two at Sunset Heights, three at the Webster City Middle School and six at Webster City High School.

At Monday evening’s meeting, the board held the first reading of Board Policy 308 Succession of Authority to the Superintendent. The document provides for leadership in the absence of the superintendent; the order of succession would be principal of Sunset Heights, then director of Teaching and Learning. If the board were to determine that the superintendent’s absence would be lengthy, it would appoint an acting superintendent.

Once passed, this 308 Succession would become part of the school’s policy manual.

In other action, the board approved the following:

Inter-fund transfer for Protective Equipment for the 2021-2022 school year in the amount of $8,098.64 from the general fund to activities fund. The Iowa Legislature made provisions for transfer of up to $10,000 several years ago, according to Superintendent Dr. Mandy Ross;

A change order for electrical changes for the Pleasant View and Sunset Heights HVAC Project in the amount of $511.66;

The Iowa Central Community College Clinical Agreement for a student nurse to be placed with Lea Ahrens at the middle school;

The University of Northern Iowa’s Purple Pathway for Paraeducators Program. To be admitted, according to UNI’s Purple Pathway website, students must: be an employed paraeducator in a K-6 building; have support from building/district administrator and mentor teacher(s); have an associate of arts degree, associate of science degree (or higher); be able to commit to the synchronous online meetings; and complete the UNI application for admission and send official transcripts to the UNI Office of Admissions. ​Upon admittance, students would work with their advisor on admission to the Teacher Education Program at UNI. The school currently has one paraeducator in the program.

The school board also approved the following:

A gift of cleaning wipes from the Iowa Specialty Hospital Lab Department;

Fundraising by WCHS cross country to sell cross country apparel;

Wall of Fame/volleyball to sell clothing to student athletes and fans;

FFA — Doodlebug cookout, fruit sales, Homecoming t-shirt sales, Meals from the Heartland, Boone River Sheep and Goat Show, and plant sales;

The Fall Sports fundraiser.

The board accepted the resignations of Ben Rasmussen, head eighth-grade boys basketball coach, and Kacey Pruismann, paraeducator.

The board approved hiring contracts for: Dave Wagner, bus driver; Christina Romp, paraeducator; Cailen Krusemark, paraeducator; Samantha Drummer, paraeducator; Dennis Dilly, bus driver; and Katie Chamness, elementary paraeducator. Kal Thury, band, went from .5 FTE to 1.0 FTE.