The Blair Oaks School Board moved along Tuesday night in the process of beginning its preschool program at its meeting.
Plans for the preschool program were outlined by Kimberley Walters. The program would be four days a week with Fridays off, with a roughly 10-to-1 child to adult ratio, and would cost around $150 a month for half days.
The board also voted to have no school on the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
The board heard reports from each of the school principals. The middle school recently participated in healthy choices day, in which students learned how to use social media wisely.
The school also recently received a visit from a juvenile officer who talked about making good choices and two members of Compass Health who spoke about vaping.
Chris Marshall said the high school had just had its ACT following two weeks of preparatory classes. He said he'd already heard feedback from one parent who said their child's scores had risen in all categories after participating in the prep class.
In the activities report, the board celebrated volleyball and softball state title victories.
Lynn Hildebrand, director of special services, mentioned an uptick in requests for special education in the district, with requests now near the total for a typical full year.
The board also reviewed the status of facilities. Last month, the board heard several reports about then-ongoing facility issues including hardware, HVAC work and locks, as well as painting parking lot numbers and replacing a shattered basketball backboard.
This month, keys and locks for doors were an ongoing problem, the HVAC system was being monitored and tweaked a few times a week, and some radios and intercoms were being added.
The list of things to do at times is "overwhelming," director of building and grounds Randy Prenger said.
However, he added, vocational students had offered to help with some projects, like the installation of flags in each classroom.
Tony Reinkemeyer, director of food services, gave an update as well. He said the new kitchen at the high school was a "pleasure" to work in. He also said food services is experiencing supply chain problems, though they are improving slightly.
Costs of certain items have gone up, and other items have been scarce. He said food services recently had to replace plastic foam bowls that cost 6 cents with plastic bowls that cost 26 cents, which is indicative of the sort of problems they face.
At the end of the meeting, a few parents asked the district to consider allowing parents into schools to eat with their children. Parents are allowed, but are asked to eat with their children in a separate conference room.