The Triton School Board moved ahead on a budget for the coming year and approved a new Emergency Response Plan for the Corporation at their regular meeting.
Before the emergency plan was even brought up on the agenda, some parental questions about it were posed during the public comment section of the meeting which is one of the opening items on the agenda.
A parent in attendance simply wanted to know what the corporation saw as the role of parents in the plan.
Triton Superintendent Jeremy Riffle said that he understood the concern of parents since the state has passed legislation that does not allow students to have cell phones in class. Riffle said that he knew many parents provide those phones to enable their children to contact them in case of emergency.
Riffle outlined parts of the plan, stating that certain parts of the plan would remain secret for the obvious reason of not allowing someone who would be planning harm to student information that would help them to do so.
He said the main part of the plan surrounded the relocation of students in case of an emergency and just how and where students would be reunited with their parents afterward.
Riffle said that each teacher and administrator in the corporation had an app on their phones that would instantly notify every law enforcement agency and officer in a 15-mile radius if an incident were taking place.
The school has other communications technology that would also notify all parents by phone and/or email of a situation or incident in progress and also inform parents on where to reconnect with their child. Each building in the corporation has an “emergency team” one aspect of which is school employees that will be certain of that reconnection.
Riffle said the main thing that he asks parents in any situation is for patience, as matters are sorted out and an orderly plan put into action.
In other business, the board held a public hearing for input on the upcoming collective bargaining agreement with teachers. Riffle stated that no agreement can be reached until after the official student count day, which determines the state’s funding to each school.
In other financial matters, the board approved the preliminary number for budget items. The Bus Replacement Plan will include one new 56-passenger bus and one new 15-passenger bus. The money for those buses is in the 2025 budget. Capital projects for the coming year will be funded by the upcoming bond reissue and will not affect the tax rate. Most of the projects will be maintenance items such as a resurfacing of the tennis courts.
As for the budget, the target tax rate is $.84.
The next step in the process will be an overall budget hearing.
