A gender difference in how Mineral Point High School homecoming royalty is chosen drew the attention of the school board Monday night.
All fall sport senior males are eligible for homecoming court if they’ve played a fall varsity sport for their junior and senior seasons, but two females from each class are chosen by their classmates. Three more senior girls are candidates for homecoming queen.
“Is the answer really this is how we’ve always done it?” board member Christie Johnston asked. “We boast about how we are inclusive and everybody belongs. I find that it’s an exclusionary process. I get comments about this every year when homecoming comes around.”
The athletic handbook says “male court members are to be senior boys who have participated in football, cross country, or soccer team (or combination of two) both their junior and senior year. All senior girls are eligible to become queen whether or not they have previously been on the court.”
The homecoming queen is chosen in a high school-wide vote.
Johnston requested that the student council weigh in and asked that a school board member be present during the discussion.
Board member Joni Heisner said it is good to review discrepancies in how male and female students are treated.
The issue surfaced during approval of the athletic handbook. Any change would not take effect for this year. Homecoming week is Sept. 28 to Oct. 2.
In other action, to be competitive with neighboring districts, the board voted to make a market adjustment in pay for support staff hourly and salaried administrative assistants.
A 50-cent per hour increase for hourly support staff employees and an additional $1,040 for most salaried assistants will take effect with the Aug. 24 pay period. Total additional cost would be about $5,000. It will help with staff retention and recognize the “fantastic job” the support staff is doing, said Andy Busch, finance committee chair.
The board also:
· Hired Randee Mennenga as middle school special education assistant and Faith Pilling and Oksana Akrish as elementary special education assistants.
· Accepted the resignation of middle school math teacher Kari Kabat, who regrets that her decision to take a job in the mental health field is so close to the start of the school year. A retired math teacher may be able to be a long-term substitute so a certified math teacher would be in place when classes begin. The position has been posted for a long-term replacement.
· Discussed potential savings by purchasing school supplies in bulk and adding a per student fee instead of parents shopping individually.