Caledonia Area Public School’s board members met Tuesday, January 20 at Caledonia Elementary School in room #162. Board member Mike Peterson called the meeting to order at 4 p.m., led with the Pledge of Allegiance, then conducted Roll Call. Board members present included Peterson, Julie Augedahl, Chad Harms, Leigh King and Melissa Marschall. Derek Adamson was absent. District employees present included Superintendent Craig Ihrke, Elementary Principal John Wahlstrom, and Community Education Director Gretchen Juan. Middle/High School Principal Nathan Boler was absent.
After the Agenda was approved, the board graciously accepted two monetary donations, one from Merchants Bank for both the elementary and middle/high school buildings and one from Ring & Run for media centers and milk breaks for students in need.
Student school board representative Samantha Peters shared that school resumed Monday, January 5. Student PSEO classes began Monday, January 12. School was been in session Monday, January 19 due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The middle/high school will host a blood drive on Wednesday, January 21. Peters ended her report with basketball, wrestling and gymnastics to be going well.
The Consent Agenda was approved with no discussion. The resignation of middle/high school special education teacher Maria Inglefield was accepted.
Athletic Director Scott Sorenson had requested a third gymnastics coach to be added. There are currently 18 students participating in gymnastics; an additional coach supports safety and certain gymnastics skills. The additional coach hired would take over for the remainder of the current year. Superintendent Ihrke informed that the number of students participating is on the bubble where an additional coach needs to be staffed. Kerrigan Meiners has been volunteering, therefore Sorenson thought it would be a good idea to hire her. Ihrke commented the gymnastics turn out to have “pretty good numbers.” The board approved the addition of another coach as well as the hiring of Meiners for the position.
Principal Wahlstrom presented his administrative report. He acknowledged this week to be paraprofessional recognition week. “We appreciate these people all the time!” stated Wahlstrom. He noted the paraprofessional job to be tough where they are very busy in going from one thing to the next. He gave a special thanks shout out to Nutrition Services director, Rachel Stackhouse for preparing a special snack. Wahlstrom highlighted the elementary school’s intervention system. The intervention system is to support students in need of help with reading or mathematics, but is not special education. Students that receive intervention support get pulled daily during WIN time for either reading or math support. These students are then progress monitored. MTSS (multi-tiered systems of support) is being pushed across the state of Minnesota currently.
Community Education Director Juan informed that the daycare is fully staffed and that she has been preparing for testing.
Superintendent Ihrke shared there was a meeting with EDA (Economic Development Authority) where a consultant will come in. Ihrke said the daycare is good for the community. With the consultant coming in, cost saving measures can be looked into and discussed. Ihrke asked the board about filling former board member Spencer Yohe’s vacancy on the school board. He mentioned that when former board member Tim Gunn left, the district had sent out a questionnaire. Ihrke added that if someone makes a decision to join the school board there is a 30-day waiting period. Peterson chimed in stating that the district can do what they had done with former board member Gunn’s position.
New Business
A draft for the 2026-2027 school year calendar has been presented with two proposals to choose from. The calendar needed approval by February. In 2027, it is an odd year with Easter falling in March instead of April which led to discussion about whether or not there needs to be days off in April 2027. When Easter falls in April, there is Easter break. After discussion about how time off affects teachers, students, and standardized testing, the board voted in a 3-1 vote to go with proposal #1 (undisclosed dates at this time).
The board reviewed school policies 101, 101.1, 102, 103, 104, 201, 202, 203, 203.1 and 203.2 before coming to adjournment at 5:02 p.m.
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