Leah Androski
reporter@greenepublishing.com
Members of the Lee Town Council met for their monthly meeting on Tuesday, July 1, at 7 p.m. To kick off the meeting, Kathy Bass opened up public comments by mentioning drivers needed to slow down on Peach Tree Street because there are children playing. She asked if the Council could place signs urging people to drive slowly.
From there, members discussed a proposal for obtaining the Lee school building, that used to be Lee Elementary School (LES), on Hwy. 90. After discussing the building’s cost, members deduced to discuss this further at a later date.
Billy Howard, from the American Legion, thanked everyone who came out to the grand opening and stated that they had over 100 people who attended. Then, Howard discussed future events that the American Legion Post 422, in Lee, will hold. The Big Red Bus will visit the American Legion Post 422 on Friday, July 25. On Saturday, July 26, they will hold a Christmas in July Yard Sale. He also discussed starting a fundraiser dinner on Mondays.
Next, the Lee Council addressed the new microschool planners wanting to lease two rooms, behind the stage, have permission to use the stage and have use of the gym during school hours at the old Lee school. Samantha Gonterman, Diana Keller and Danielle Miller previously taught at LES and decided to start this microschool after surrounding schools were consolidated, and concerned parents approached them.
Victorian Lee School, the new named microschool’s, teachers discussed their plan for their school. They plan to host children from grades kindergarten through eighth grade and are looking at around 12 to 15 students already enrolled. The teachers will be using the Prenda Microschool Model, which uses customizable curriculum for every child at their own pace. This microschool will conduct iReady tests at the beginning and end of the school year
to determine their student’s growth educationally. All lessons from Prenda will be in the student’s grade level and are state approved.
The teachers also mentioned purchasing new gym equipment for the whole community to use in the old Lee school gym. Equipment like a new volleyball net, basketball goals, basketballs, volleyballs; etc. Concerns arose over what would happen if the lease fell through after a year, and what would happen to the new gym equipment. The teachers assured the council that all new equipment would stay in the gym if the lease fell through. Further discussion arose from council members after the teachers mentioned renovations they made to bathrooms and the rooms they would be using as classrooms.
“I would like to know how you’ve gotten this far without any kind of approvals before coming before us or talking to us,” stated council member Ken Szostek. Council members said they had no idea of this microschool forming.
“We had a key. We were told that we were able to go in there and start the renovations,” stated Samantha Gonterman, when asked by council member Szostek how they got into the Lee school building.
Further discussion about the lease raised questions after the teachers explained they would be under three different LLC’s. “I’m just trying to figure out who the town would be leasing the property to?” Rhett Bullard asked. Then, Mayor James Ruzicka suggested the teachers go under a single LLC, to make it easier. The teachers agreed to Mayor Ruzicka’s suggestion.
“It seems as if we’re starting a school next month, and this is the first anybody’s hearing about, starting a school,” stated the town of Lee’s lawyer, Rhett Bullard. Then, he asked when they were planning on starting school. August 11 was their start date, which the teachers assured the council they could push back a few weeks if the lease did not come together in time. Bullard then provided the teachers with things they needed to answer before their lease came through.
“If we’re a month out from educating children in this space, what is the space that we’re going to be using? How are we going to be utilizing it? What improvements are going to be made and what’s the timeline?” Bullard asked.
Then, the council raised concerns about the microschool causing students to filter out of Madison’s school system, which would hurt the county. However, members of the council were quickly assured by council member, Cindy Thomas, who previously had worked as an employee of the school board.
“As an employee of the school board for many years. We always have the parents that homeschool their children, in addition to the ones that we currently serve in the school system,” stated council member Cindy Thomas.
Then, moving on to setting a price for rent and how long the Victorian Lee School needed to pay rent. Lee council members had questions about the square footage and what rooms exactly would the teachers using.
“We ask a lot of questions about the educational side of it, but really, what our main concern is the legal and business side of it,” stated council man Lloyd Burke.
The council members made a motion to discuss the lease further, when they receive more information. Then, Amon Doyle spoke about the various generators that were around Lee. Many of them were in great shape, however some needed service. Doyle also made a motion for the Pointman of the Town of Lee to be present at all the monthly meetings, so he would know what equipment needed fixing.
There was no fire department report.
The next Lee Council meeting is set for Tuesday, August 5, at 7 p.m. The Lee Council meetings are held at Lee City Hall in Kinsey Hall, located at 286 NE CR 255, in Lee.