The Mabel School Board continued its discussion at their May 16 meeting about the controversial open enrollment agreements between Decorah and Mabel-Canton (M-C) Schools. At last month’s meeting, Tina Michels, Hesper resident and parent of two M-C open enrollment students, discovered that her children will not be able to attend M-C because of a legality between Iowa and Minnesota.
“Our other kids all went to M-C through the open enrollment policy,” Michels said. “We’ve been told that we’ll have to pay $7,000 tuition per child to go to Decorah or move if we want to stay at M-C.”
Superintendent Jennifer Backer said that she and Principal Michelle Weidemann had a conference call with the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) about the issue. MDE contacted the Iowa Department of Education and asked them to step up the efforts to resolve this as quickly as possible. The hope is that an agreement can be reached before this coming school year.
Discussion continued regarding purchasing a new van for athletics and general use. At last month’s meeting, it was approved to move forward on obtaining bids. The current van is primarily used for preschool transportation and was purchased almost 12 years ago, which is nearly “aged out,” meaning it can’t be used to transport students.
Board member Chris Miller began seeking out bids. He reached out to Minnesota State Troopers for guidance on regulations and discovered that a school can’t buy a new van with a capacity of more than 10 passengers to transport students. “A 10-passenger van is the biggest we can buy legally,” Miller said. “So, the question is, will this be enough or should we consider purchasing a short bus?”
Athletic Director Lonnie Morken suggested getting two 10-passenger vans if possible. After reviewing the costs that have been incurred on busing for athletic events, Morken thought it may make the most sense to go the van route. It would allow coaches to drive the vans and the school wouldn’t have to contract out for busing, except for football, which would always need a school bus because of the size of the team.
The board took action to obtain more financial information about busing costs to see if the option of purchasing two vans is a viable one.
Principal Weideman reported that combining the National Honor Society banquet and Scholarship Night worked extremely well. The National Honor Society members are Travis Vatland, Michael Selness, Miranda Cox, Harley McCabe and DeAnna Phillips. The advisors are Lana Hollar and Jessica Hahn-Miller.
Scholarships in the amount of $17,250 were given out to students and Weideman thanked all those donors who made that possible.
In other business, a draft of the 2017-18 high school and elementary handbooks were presented. Several questions were asked regarding updating the language and ensuring that “lock down” definitions and procedures are clearly stated. This was the first reading of the handbook and Backer asked that any suggested edits be emailed to her prior to next month’s meeting.
The refurbishing of the gymnasium floor is underway. There’s a slight chance it may not be ready in time for graduation. The floor is being redone at no cost by the company who did it last year, because of existing issues. Alternative plans for graduation are being discussed just in case.
Several board members suggested contacting the company to get more workers to finish it sooner. Superintendent Backer said they have inquired about speeding up the process and will continue to press the company to get done as soon as possible.
Athletic Director Lonnie Morken addressed the Board and brought a handout showing the breakdown of revenue and expenditures for each sport. The board asked several questions including his opinion about cheerleading and the request that had come from Heather Kleiboer, cheerleading advisor, at last month’s meeting.
Kleiboer had asked the board to consider cheerleading as an official athletic activity to offset uniforms and other costs. Currently Kleiboer and the squad raise money through a variety of fundraising initiatives. The cheerleading squad has tried hard to keep costs as low as possible using a less expensive company for purchasing replacement items.
Morken said Kleiboer does such a good job and cheerleading is valued by the school and the community. “I think cheerleading should go back to the way it was,” Morken said. “It doesn’t seem right to charge them an activity fee when we don’t do that for other things like theater or clubs.”
The board approved Morken’s suggestion, which is to not charge an activity fee moving forward, allow cheerleading to be a level two sport and participants receive a letter. The Board approved this motion.
Evaluations for coaching staff were also discussed and was tabled until next meeting to gather more information.
Good things happening
• The “Cupcake Concert Fundraiser” was a huge success again this year. Special thanks to Deb Graf, band, choir and elementary music teacher and the Booster Club.
• Cody Hershberger will be going to Boys State in June. He was sponsored by Mabel American Legion.
• Congrats to the softball team for winning the Rushford-Peterson Classic Tournament.
The next M-C School Board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on June 20 in the school library.
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