Board of Education - South Tama County Community School District

Quick Links | Board of Education

The Board meets on the first and third Monday of each month at 5:30 PM. All board meetings are open to the public and are held at the STC Partnership Center, 215 W. 9th Street, Tama, unless noted otherwise. Minutes of past meetings and agendas for upcoming meetings are regularly posted and links to pages for these items, and Board-related publications, are provided on the sidebar to the left of the page.

STC is governed by a five-member Board of Education. Directors are elected to serve staggered 4-year-terms. Maps showing director district boundaries are now available for download on the Director District Maps page.

Click to download the Operating Principles Brochure

Click to view District Financial Report Card

Click to view state Public Access to Outstanding Levies information

Below are downloadable links for the current Board of Education policy.

Board Members

Ron Houghton, Director District 1	term ends - Sept. 2021	rhoughton@s-tama.k12.ia.us
Mandy Lekin, Vice President, Director District 2	term ends - Sept. 2023	mlekin@s-tama.k12.ia.us
Penny Tyynismaa, President, Director District 3	term ends - Sept. 2023	ptyynismaa@s-tama.k12.ia.us
Alan Kline, Director District 4	term ends - Sept. 2021	akline@s-tama.k12.ia.us
Clint Werner, Director District 5	term ends - Sept. 2023	cwerner@s-tama.k12.ia.us
Dr. Jared Smith, Superintendent		jsmith@s-tama.k12.ia.us
Mary Boege, Board Secretary		mboege@s-tama.k12.ia.us

One of the main purposes of the Board of Education is to write policy. Iowa Code (274.7 & 279.8) places the authority to develop and adopt policy for a school district in the hands of the school board. The state educational standards, which set the requirements for an accredited education program, require the board to adopt & maintain a policy manual. As well, the board must review its policies every five years.

Strong policies are action statements clear enough to show intent and broad enough to allow flexibility in their implementation. Administrative regulations differ as they may be changed by the administration and achieve the results intended in board policy without a corresponding change in the board policy.

When the Board of Education either writes or revises a policy they follow a specific process of researching the issue, discussion, drafting the document, holding two readings, adopting the statement as policy, disseminating policy, implementing the policy, evaluating and revising the policy, and researching the related issues. This cycle ensures that policies accurately describe the intentions of the board and are current with legal requirements at the State and Federal level (IASB School Board Member Handbook, PP 33-35).

Click here to download the full Board of Education Policy.
Additionally, sections of the policy are available as individual categories and can be accessed below.