St. James School Board sets 2021 hears board report regarding large-scale STEM education program, and passes summer food program budget
St. James Plaindealer
On Monday night, the St. James School Board approved one item of new business, and Middle School/High School Principal Karla Beck shared news of a massive grant from JAMF through a St. James High School alum.
In her board report, Beck showed the board the work that JAMF, a software company that developed Jamf Pro, an application used to configure and automate IT administration tasks for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS devices.
JAMF s CEO, Dean Hager, is a native of Ormsby and a graduate of St. James High School.
Contributing Writer
This week the House passed House File 415 which requires each classroom in public schools and accredited private schools to recite the Pledge of Allegiance each day and to display the USA flag during the recitation. The bill includes protections for those with religious objections by a student or their parents. In these trying times, I believe it is critical that we promote the civics lesson that our Pledge of Allegiance provides.
This week we also passed House File 435, a bill that requires the Dept. of Transportation to maintain a voluntary emergency contact registry for use by the DOT and law enforcement. Citizens will be able to register when they obtain or renew a driver’s license. This registry will give the authorities the tool they need for faster contact with loved ones in such emergencies.
Board passes motions for internet service, access road
St. James Plaindealer
At Monday s St. James School Board meeting, the board approved agreements for a renewal of internet services, and with the city of St. James on creating an access road during summer road work construction.
The board passed a motion to accept a bid from SOCRATES for the internet provider for St. James Public Schools. The district currently uses SOCRATES for its internet. The new agreement with SOCRATES will officially begin on July 1, 2021, and run through June 30, 2026. They went with a couple of different bids, and there seems to be a promise of a lot stronger system coming into the school system with some of the additions that we added, said Superintendent Dr. Steven Heil. Starting on July 1st, we should see improvement at a lower cost.