At the April 13 Chatfield School Board meeting, Lanny Isensee, Katie Priebe, Tom Keefe, Jill Harstad, and Matt McMahon were present, as well as Principals Shane McBroom and Eric Nelson, Superintendent Ed Harris, Lorri Lowery, administrative assistant; and Trista O’Connor, business manager. Board member Josh Thompson was not present.
Eric Nelson, high school principal, congratulated the extra-curricular academic programs of Speech, Knowledge Bowl and Engineering. The speech team will be sending 11 competitors on to the MSHSL State Speech contest and the Knowledge Bowl team competed in the state tournament, finishing in the top third at 15th place. Two teams participated in the Regional Minnesota Engineering Machine Design Contest at Winona State and both teams will be moving on to the finals on April 22 at Mankato State.
Student registration for next year’s classes our finishing up this week. Nelson thanked the drivers and management of Bernard Transportation for their efforts every day in helping solve all the transportation issues with regular routes and extra-curricular busing. He cited the fact that despite tens of millions of students getting on to buses each day, school buses have the lowest rate of injury of any transportation in the country. The rates only come from the amazing drivers and logistics people that make student transportation function.
Both principals mentioned that Teacher Appreciation Week begins the week of May 2, and related that the work that they do especially during COVID was extraordinary. The students and staff are fortunate to have such caring and dedicated teachers who truly care about the learning and success of their students and go to ends that are well beyond expectation to ensure that they do their best work for the students.
Elementary principal, Shane McBroom reported that the first ever I Love Math Week was a huge success, and thanked Mrs. Katy Meyer for initiating it. It was a fun-filled week with dressup days, daily jokes, trivia questions, a bingo board and an assembly at the end of the week.
Kindergarten Round Up is being re-instated for upcoming kindergarteners. It will be held on April 20 at the elementary. Families are invited in to learn more about the building, meet the teachers and hear about the basics of being a kindergarten parent. Sixth graders will be leading tours/scavenger hunts for the kindergarten families.
Superintendent Harris reported the high school parking lot project is coming along. The committee will meet on April 14 to finalize the plan and the bid will be put out on April 15. The district was not able to fill an assistant maintenance engineer so Harris will try to reconfigure the position and possibly reduce contracted services. The district will be purchasing a John Deere compact tractor to assist with winter and summer facility needs. The current tractor will be traded in as part of the payment. The superintendent has been meeting with the CEA (Chatfield Education Association) negotiations team to develop a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) so that the Collective Bargaining Agreement aligns properly with the changes to the 7-12 schedule.
Under consent items, the board approved the March 9, 2022, meeting minutes, and accepted the resignation of Matt McMahon and Ryan Kivimagi, junior high girls basketball coaches. They also approved the job posting for junior high girls basketball coaches and new hires Campbell Berge and Caden Nolte as grounds helpers. Jessie Finley was approved as the Chatfield Trap Team coach and Tony Becker was approved for the prom DJ. Job postings for a .5 FTE ECSE (Early Childhood Special Education) teacher and 1.0 FTE high school business teacher were also approved.
Under action items, the Resolution Relating to the Nonrenewal of the Teaching Contract of a Probationary Teacher was read, and the following teachers were non-renewed: Jayna Harstad 0.5 FTE, Nancy Earnhardt 1.0 FTE and Sean Trewin 1.0 FTE. Also approved was the revised FY 2022 revised general budget. The proposal to add two additional elementary art classes to Amy Gernes’s current assignment and to grant an overload of 0.2 FTE to Kirsten Armstrong to serve as Elementary Curriculum Coordinator were approved.
The meeting was adjourned. The next meeting will be held on May 11 in the high school forum room at 7 p.m.
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