At the June 11, 2025, school board meeting, board members David Sowinski, Tom Keefe, Jill Harstad and Katie Priebe were present. Also present were Superintendent Ed Harris, high school principal, Eric Nelson and elementary principal, Shane McBroom. Board members Mark Johnsrud and Josh Thompson were not present.
Reports
Principal McBroom spoke about the Local Literacy Plan that was completed because of changes in the Read Act. This is submitted to the Minnesota Department of Education annually. The plan consists of reading goals, professional development and screening to ensure that the students are making growth in reading. He is proud of the work that the district is doing. Each staff member spent 50 hours of training dedicated to the Science of Reading. They did an excellent job of collaborating and navigating through the content to be used in the classroom. The goal is for 80% of students to read at grade level. Again this year the fifth graders joined the members of the Chatfield American Legion to help set out the flags at the markers of the veterans at the Chatfield cemetery. He thanked the teachers and the American Legion for providing this opportunity. This year’s graduating class donned their caps and gowns and along with a kindergarten student in hand, they marched through the halls of the elementary school.
Eric Nelson was pleased to announce that the 2025 graduating class was fully represented this year, with 100% of the class either graduating or continuing to receive post-graduation services. He thanked Adam Hurley, teacher in the ALP (Alternative Learning Program) for his efforts in helping some of the most at-risk learners meet graduation requirements. He also thanked Leif Erickson for the photography for commencements again this year. Leif is regularly found taking massive collections of photos to document our students’ athletic accomplishments. Typically he shares these or for anyone to use, free of charge. He is so generous in sharing his love for photography and for our school. Leif is also a public servant as a Fillmore County deputy.
Superintendent Harris reminded the board of the July 9 meeting for the purpose of his yearly evaluation. He will be sending materials out for the board to use. Harris thanked the Chatfield Booster Club for the $8,400 donation for equipment in the weight room. The FEMA grant was approved to repair a washout under the Hwy 52 driveway. The cost to fix is $50,000 and the grant will cover 75% of this. The Chatfield City Administrator, Michele Peterson had asked the school to review the CCTV(Chatfield Community Television) governance arrangements. In meetings this year with her and Andy O’Connor and Damon Lueck, they concluded that it would be more efficient for both parties if the school district took over operations of CCTV and the city would contract with the school district for services and programming since most of the programming is school related. The proposal will be presented to the school board at the July board meeting as an action item. At the elementary school, work will be done to work with the city to create a walking path from the corner of Hillside Drive and Wisdom Lane to the parking lot outlet. The cost of this project will be funded by capital funds or LTFM (Long Term Fund Maintenance) funds. Quotes for this project are not complete at this time. The entire elementary site other than the path also needs maintenance so it is best to do both projects at the same time.
Consent Items
The board approved the following items:
• Minutes of the May 5, 2025 meeting;
• Authorized the board treasurer to approve the end of year bills;
• Delegated the business manager to wire transfers, excess funds and bond payments;
• Designated the following: official newspaper, The Chatfield News Co.; official legal counsel, Ratwick, Rozak and Maloney; official depositories, Root River State Bank and the Minnesota Liquid Asset Fund;
• Approved the Entity Authorization form to designate Superintendent and business manager as district representatives;
• Set 2026 board meeting date/time/place to the second Wednesday each month at 7 p.m. in the high school Forum room.
• Re-employment of Karla Becker as speech-language special education;
• New hires: Katelyn Rindels, Sedona Thompson, Isabelle Severson, Maryclaire Miron, Anders Meier and Sadie Baker – child care assistants; Natalie Pilger, teacher assistant; Ashley Lund and Andrew Allen – T-Ball co-coordinators; Leigh Swanson and Juan Gomez – summer soccer coaches;
• Resignations: Belle Berg, assistant softball coach;
• Job postings: Ninth grade girls basketball coach and assistant varsity softball coach.
Action Items
Under action items, the board approved the FY 2026 preliminary budget/fund balance that is relatively solid. This is due to over $450,000 in cuts and a spend-down of $500,000 from cash flow reserves over the course of four fiscal years. They also approved the Local Literacy Plan which is done annually for Literacy Aid Revenue. They approved property, liability and workmen’s comp insurance through Gladfelter with a savings of $7,000 from last year. Lastly, they approved the quote from State Line Asphalt for the elementary parking lots for $89,650, of which $86,000 will be paid with left over site project funds.
The meeting was adjourned.
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