North Sanpete Board talks about

healthy food and space for music

 

By Linda Petersen

Staff writer

Jan. 25, 2108

 

MT. PLEASANT—The school board of the North Sanpete School District talked over healthy food options and a new addition to North Sanpete Middle School—a 2,500-square-foot band room—at their recent meeting.

The board is considering a proposal by Katie Hopkins of North Sanpete Middle School to provide a healthy café for students to have opportunities to grow food and develop skills learned in the classroom.

While Hopkins does not want to lead up the effort, she was seeking board support for the concept.

At the Tuesday, Jan. 16, board meeting, Assistant Superintendent Randy Shelley said he thought there was a need for a healthy option in the county.

North Sanpete High School Principal Nan Ault said this would create an avenue for students in the vocational classes.

Superintendent Sam Ray made the suggestion to start smaller and instead have the foods classes make and sell food during lunch or after school without having to run a full program. Food Services would need to be consulted to make sure the program did not compete unfairly with school lunch, he said.

Ray also suggested possibly having a food truck/trailer for the summer. This would provide opportunities for those students on a smaller basis. The district could work with vocational director and teachers to teach students the necessary social skills for the program to work, he said.

He added that, with the completion of the high school greenhouse, items available from there could be sold in the future.

The board agreed to further discuss the idea in upcoming meetings.

Mike Farr, a local building expert with Farr West Construction and the parent of a band member, presented the results of a voluntary evaluation he did on the high school band room which is experiencing overcrowding.

Farr said a nice facility could be constructed for around $640,000.

To accommodate the band, the room would need to be at least 2,500 square feet with an open truss ceiling 16-22 feet in height, he said. Farr’s suggested plan would include a terraced floor with access to a mezzanine above the office and storage areas on the east and west ends of the room.

The room would be added to the northeast corner of the school by the gym entrance. The current angled entrance would be removed.

The building would take about half the grass area, and some trees would probably have to be removed, Farr said.

Ray said he would contact the Eccles Foundation to see if they would fund the addition. If the foundation was not willing to fund the full amount, the school district would have to consider other options, he said.

At the meeting, the board also passed a motion to transfer ownership of the property the community pool is located on to Mt. Pleasant City.

The board approved the 2016-2017 audit presented by James Gilbert, CPA, who told the board at the meeting that the district received the highest rating on its audit and that there were no problems identified this year.

The board also discussed bussing of middle school wrestling team members to and from competitions. The high school wrestling program currently also runs the middle school program, and the district has been bussing athletes from both programs to their competitions.

After a brief discussion, the board voted to continue bussing the middle school team.