At the October 9, 2024, school board meeting, board members Jill Harstad, David Sowinski, Katie Priebe, Mark Johnsrud and Tom Keefe were present as well as Superintendent Ed Harris, Elementary Principal Shane McBroom, High School Principal Eric Nelson and Community Education director, LuAnn Kleven. Student Senate members present were Olivia McBroom and Katryn Johnson. Board member Josh Thompson was not present.
Reports
Student council members Olivia McBroom and Katryn Johnson came before the board and related that homecoming has been a great success with dress-up days, Powder Puff football, boys volleyball, bonfires, a pepfest, football game and a 9-12 dance.
Shane McBroom stated that the students have completed their Fastbridge assessments and that interventions are in full swing. This year the schools changed to Fastbridge instead of NWEA for assessments. He thanked the high school students and members of the Homecoming Court for helping the elementary students celebrate the event. The students had dress-up days, Royalty Readers and for the first time, a cookout and kickball tournament in the evening. The cookout and tournament were well attended and they served over 400 hot dogs! The elementary is looking forward to the new format for parent-teacher conferences. This year conferences will be on one day, October 21, with an early out for students and conferences from 1- 8 p.m. According to McBroom, online sign-up responses have been very positive.
The high school has also completed the Fastbridge assessments. Principal Nelson said that the data from this assessment will be critical for tracking student learning progress and aligning students with necessary interventions. The assessment creates a profile for each of the students and places them in one of four groups, ranging from no concern to significant concern. The high school will have conferences like the elementary and for the first time, parents will be able to schedule conferences.
Superintendent Harris reported that the informational meeting for the four-day school week that was held before the regular meeting was well attended and that a good discussion ensued. Questions about childcare was one of the main issues, as was expected. He felt that the attendees had a reasonable knowledge base. There will be additional informational meetings in November and December. He reiterated that at this time, the school district is only researching the idea of the four-day school week.
Consent Items
The following consent items were approved:
- Minutes of the September 11, 2024 meeting
- New hires: Melody Ward, child care assistant; Kayle Bernau, Valleyland teacher; Grace Jones-Hoover, Gaming Club advisor; Lisa Kohlmeyer, DELTA co-advisor and Nevaeh Crowson, child care assistant
- 2024-2025 seniority list (correction)
Discussion Items
The board must make a decision by the November board meeting whether or not they will go forward with an election for the proposed addition of another gym at the high school. Based on a survey there did not seem be a majority of support. Board member Sovinski thinks this is a want, not a need and he is against any election that is not on a general election day because he feels this is disingenuous. Jill Harstad disagreed and felt that the “want versus need” is split between generations. Other members noted the use of facilities is such that practices are later in the evening and that lack of space is causing issues for practices. Board Chair Katie Priebe added that the district hasn’t added much space since she was a student and actually lost space when the district left the old elementary building. Tom Keefe cited his reason for being on the school board was focused mostly on the academics but he also realizes that extra-curricular options for kids, keeps them in school. He feels the proposal needs to be put out there and see what happens. Superintendent Harris reiterated that the data shows kids who are successful academically are engaged in activities and that the old theory of separating activities and academics doesn’t fly in this day and age. The general consensus was that the board would make the decision at the next scheduled meeting.
The board then heard proposals from two companies, Ideal Energies and Solar Connections pertaining to solar installations for cost saving benefits. There are grants available for installing these on school buildings. A representative from MiEnergy was also present to explain some of the technicalities of the installations and cost savings. After both presentations and discussion, the board felt it needed more information, as additional information had surfaced that would require a reconfiguration of cost saving estimates. The board asked the two companies to present the changes at the November meeting and then a decision would be made at the December meeting as to if the district should proceed with the solar project.
Action Items
Under action items the board approved the change in wording on policy 501 School Weapon Policy and Discipline Matrix as proposed by Principal Eric Nelson.
The meeting was adjourned.
Leave a Reply