R-P Signs Preferred Admission Agreement with Luther College

At the October 19 regular Rushford-Peterson School Board meeting, Superintendent Ben Bernard shared that R-P had signed a preferred admission agreement with Luther College. Under this agreement, students who meet minimum requirements will be automatically admitted to Luther and receive a $500 scholarship. Bernard thanked MSHS Principal Brent Olson for his work on the agreement with Luther College.

In his report to the board, Bernard shared that enrollment had gone up by one student since the beginning of school and three more students would be joining the school next week.

Bernard also announced that the popular salad bar was back in the lunchroom. About 43 students take advantage of the salad bar each day.

Elementary Principal Angela Shepard shared the enthusiastic response the elementary students had to Homecoming. They participated in the first 45 minutes or so of the pepfest, were in the parade and enjoyed the dress-up days.

Elementary parent-teacher conferences are coming soon. Shepard expects they will continue to be well attended, as they have in the past.

MSHS Principal Brent Olson shared that seven students would be attending the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis this week. Many FFA students decided not to attend this year because they want to attend the 100th annual convention next year.

FFA recently received a grant from Fastenal for $1,000. The CTE department was awarded a grant for Tools for Schools; Mr. Olson will accept the award for Mr. Lind who will be at the FFA Convention.

Activities Director Jeff Cole reported that R-P did not win its appeal to change its class from Class AA with MSHSL. R-P had argued that the vast majority of the open-enrolled students do not participate in sports; only nine out of the 83 open enrolled students are currently participating in sports. R-P will remain in Class AA.

R-P now has credit card reading options for event admissions inside the school. With this, people can purchase tickets ahead of time online or in person with a credit card. Cole noted that cash is still accepted and is more popular and less expensive for the visitors.

Cole shared that applications had been received for both the track manager position and the ninth grade girls basketball coaching position; interviews will take place this week.

Nancy Snyder shared that HVED (Hiawatha Valley Education District) has begun a mentor/mentee program to support special education teachers in its member schools.

The staff at the HVED building are using Brih Design, which helps with student behavior issues. The staff has seen an increase in behavior issues with  younger students.

Regular Board Business

In regular business, the board completed a first reading of policy 506 – Student Discipline, policy 806 – Crisis Management Policy and policy 722 – Public Data and Data Subject Requests. Policies 506 and 806 are required to be reviewed annually. Bernard informed the board they will be looking at crisis management more in depth in the future. Policy 722 had actually been approved last month.

Personnel changes included the hiring of paraprofessional Quinn Rupprecht, and Ella Osterbauer, Maiya Meyer, Kora Kahoun and Beniah Rasmussen for Kids Club, as well as student custodian, Henry Tudahl. Resignations were accepted from ninth grade girls basketball coach, Matt Helgemoe and kitchen worker, Tina Brevig.

The board approved the list of fundraisers for the year. Bernard shared that he is not fond of students selling items; he prefers that fundraising is a service provided by the students, such as running a concession stand.

Field trips will be evaluated at a future meeting. Bernard wants to make sure the field trips serve an educational purpose. He’d like service fundraisers to be tied to the field trips.

Both Form A and B applications to the MSHSL (Minnesota State High School League) Foundation were approved. Form A is an application for a grant to offset student activity fees. Form B is for a grant to help provide seminars and training opportunities and support specific school functions.

The board accepted donations from 13 local businesses for athletic scholarships. These donations totaled $6,600.