Sheldon, Iowa — The Sheldon Community School District has a poor computer network design. That’s what representatives of Heartland Business Services to the Sheldon School Board at their meeting Monday evening. Heartland had been hired by the District to audit the District’s technology 
needs, and presented their findings at the regular monthly meeting Monday evening.
Heartland told the Board that the District’s system is overrun and not running well. They recommended replacing all outdated computer switches, and a move toward faster speeds. They further advised the Board that the District’s phone system needs to converge into the computer network. Heartland representatives said that, if they were to assign a letter grade to the District’s technology network they’d give it a “D”, due to aging hardware, including some that reached the manufacturer’s recommended end of life more than 5 years ago. They also suggested that the District should have a local technical person to take care of the day-to-day technology needs so that the District could avoid paying hourly and mileage charges for their tech company to send people from Milford for routine needs.
Heartland suggested that the District should standardize and create a technology plan, and invest in technology to protect their investment. They offered to provide the District with a 5-year plan to bring the technology network up to date.
In other action, the Board approved employment contracts for Kevin White as a Guidance/At-Risk Counselor at an annual salary of $44,200, Megan Tonderum as Kindergarten teacher at an annual salary of $40,000, Brittany Boerhave as a 4th Grade Teacher at a salary of $41,050, and Danielle Walder as a 4th Grade Teacher at a salary of $40,000. They also accepted six employee resignations, Katie Triplett and Lindsi Franzen from their Elementary Special Education Teacher positions, Mary Seehusen as School Nurse, Ben Peake from his High School Language Arts Teacher position, Becky Anderson as High School Custodian, and Kathy Kuyper from her food service position.
The Board also approved four Open Enrollment Applications. All four are for students open enrolling into the Sheldon Community School District from other area school districts.
