The Atlantic School Board Tuesday, approved the 2011-2012 Master Contract with the non-certified bargaining unit. Superintendent Mike Amstein said negotiations the package includes a 39-cent per hour raise.

He says the district will also provide an opportunity for those individuals to obtain life insurance if they qualify, and other, changes in the contract language, with regard to seniority.

Amstein says he was pleased with the way the negotiation process went and satisfied with the outcome. The board Tuesday, also set the issuance and return date for non-certified staff contracts as May 24th, and approved a pay rate for teacher substitutes and support staff subs.

Amstein recommended no increase in the rate for the coming school year, because of a change instituted last year, in how those persons are paid (from hourly, to half- or full-day).

In other business, the school board approved the authorization and issuance and sale of School Infrastructure Sales, Service and use Tax revenue bonds, series 2011, not to exceed $8-million dollars, for the middle school renovation project.

Amstein said the district won’t actually bond for that amount, it’s just the maximum they are allowed to bond for. He says the actual amounted they’re bonding for is just under 7.1-million dollars.

The project is expected to cost around $6.8-million dollars. The board Tuesday, also approved a budget amendment, the increase for which amount to just over three-quarters of a million dollars. Business Manager Mary Beth Fast says that’s because the budget for this year is on-track to be exceeded in the area of “Total other expenditures.”

She says it’s needed to cover their HVAC expenditures, and has to do with the timing of the payments for the Schuler and Washington School projects, as well as the design-phase payments.

The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education Tuesday approved contracts and/or Letters of Assignment for eight persons. They include:

Drew Duff, Schuler Elementary; Physical Ed/Health Instructor

Aaron Ehley, Atl. Middle School (AMS); Keyboarding/Tech/Financial literacy teacher

Beth Haupt, Pre-School Special Education Teacher

Marnie Leiferman, AMS Reading/English Instructor

Casey Pelzer, Summer Driver’s Ed instructor

Andrea Reilly, AMS Math/Science Teacher

Nicholas Ross, P-E/Social Studies Teacher/Asst. Varsity Football Coach

Tom McLaren, head freshman baseball coach, Summer 2011

In addition, Superintendent Mike Amstein recommended, and the Board approved, the hiring of Industrial Technology Instructor Roger Warne as the District Technology Coordinator. Warne will replace Dennis Andersen, who is retiring at the end of the school year. A few other positions remain open, while some shuffling of staff will fill others, including an Industrial Tech teaching position, and a Middle School Math position, for which there are a number of promising candidates, according to Amstein.

In addition, Ginger Bechtol will work over the Summer on a special project revamping the district’s website and making it more community and visitor friendly. The deadline for completion of the upgrade is August 1st.

Amstein said the district will need to add an additional kindergarten teacher’s position, because of an influx in enrollments during the 2011-2012 school year. He said they have 140 children entering the program, a number of which will be English Language Leaners (E-L-L), or those who speak little or no English. Amstein said the increase in kindergarteners is a “positive problem” for the district.

The new enrollment numbers he said, look to remain the same for the 2012-2013 school year as well.

Authorities in Montgomery County are asking for the public’s help in locating a vehicle believed to have been involved in a hit-and-run property damage accident Tuesday night. Sheriff’s officials say the incident happened on Highway 71 at around 10:20-p.m., a few miles south of Mortons Mill.

According to the Sheriff’s report, a tractor-trailer driven by 29-year old James M. Hecker, of Trimont, MN, was traveling north on Highway 71 just south of the 36 mile-marker, when a southbound diesel pickup truck pulling an unknown item, hit the left front of the semi’s trailer. The collision resulted in damage to the left top corner of the trailer and the transfer of red paint from the item being towed by the other vehicle.

The driver of the unknown vehicle continued south to 170th Street before turning west at a high rate of speed. None of the persons working in nearby farm fields observed anything unusual at the time of the incident, but a check of the collision scene resulted in the recovery of a broken antenna from the semi’s cab. Damage from the incident amounted to just over $3,000.

Anyone with information about the operator of the other vehicle involved in the collision, is asked to contact the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, at 712-623-5107.

Officials with West Central Cooperative say construction continues on their storage building project in Hamlin. Unexpected rains late last month slowed progress on the 200-by 400-foot flat storage building, but officials said Monday, that recent dry weather has allowed concrete work to resume on the foundation for the structure.

West Central grain division’s executive Vice President Roger Fray says crews began pouring the foundation last week, and are expected to finish-up this week. The next step is to form and pour concrete for the walls. A foundation for the tower has also been poured and is complete.

Fray says while that’s being done, excavation continues for the tunnel and dump pits. Once that’s complete, a second concrete crew will form and pour the tunnel and dump pits for the grain storage facility.

The Hamlin site is scheduled to open for business by the time the Fall harvest begins. A community open house is tentatively set to take place in early September.