Schools

Fort Zumwalt School Board Approves Zumwalt West Water Polo Team, Other Items

The Fort Zumwalt School Board worked quickly in October meeting.

The October meeting of the  went off without a hitch Monday night.

Presented with a short agenda of new business, the board went to work and got down quickly. By unanimous votes, all items of new business were approved.

The first item of new business to garner approval was a declaration of items as surplus. The District has two refrigerators at  that are no longer needed. Some computer equipment around the district was also tabled for the surplus section. The fridges and equipment were both declared surplus and will now be sold by the district.

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Next up for the board was a proposal to designate the  water polo team as a school-sponsored team. The team was formed years ago as a club team and head coach Gerard Gonthier raised the funds to support the team. The club ran into a problem when it couldn't compete in MSHSAA events with its club status.

To remedy this, a few years back, the club requested a chance to be a school-sponsored team.

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When the original request was made pre, the school board was unsure if it could grant permission to add another sport. With four high schools in the district, adding one sport would likely mean adding four sports. 

A compromise was reached. Gonthier would continue to find funding and the water polo team would receive no district funding.

The Board approved the team and on Monday, renewed the original agreement to keep the Jaguars water polo team an official school sport. 

Another item on the agenda was related to an upcoming St. Charles County TIF. A TIF area is being considered near Lindenwood in St. Charles and school board representation is required in the planning process. Last month the Zumwalt Board voted to allow the St. Charles school board—the only district impacted by the TIF—be allowed to handle to picking of representatives for the TIF committee. 

On Monday, Zumwalt agreed to change the procedure going forward. If the TIF impacts just one District, the impacted District is the one in charge. If a future TIF comes up in St. Charles, the Board won't have to re-vote on the issue, St. Charles will handle the committee choosing responsibilities. 

Other Notes

  • In a recent head count of all  students who are enrolled and have attended school within 10 days, the District counted 18,765 students. At the same point last year, 18,770 were counted. Zumwalt West High School has the most students with  2,081. West Middle leads middle schools with 1,479.  has the most elementary students with 911.
  • In non-new business news, the Gundaker Commercial Construction was awarded a contract for the Transition Center Expansion. The District received 12 bids and Gundaker was the lowest with a bid of $104,085. The project will begin in Dec. 2011.
  • The preliminary bus routes for 2012 were approved. The new  wasn't used, but will be in the future. 
  • Middle School Jazz Bands and High School Glee Clubs/Show Choirs were recognized as official clubs. 


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