Photo by Wanda Hanson
At the September 5 Houston School Board meeting, Superintendent Mary Morem declared the custodial staff the Hurricane Heroes for September. With lots of extra summer projects, the entire custodial staff put in extra duty and time; all of the projects were completed in-house with no outside hires. Morem shared that she and all the custodians met weekly about the projects’ progress.
Gregg Jahnke, Kathy Jumbeck, Dan Kildahl, Steve Sires, Perry Smith and Steve Walters were each recognized individually as Hurricane Heroes and received an award. Kildahl retired after driving bus for 45 years, but will continue to work with Steve Walters to maintain the school grounds.
Public Comment
Amy Kulas appeared before the board to thank the school for continuing to recognize that growing children needed milk at their snack breaks as well as at lunch. She encouraged them to continue to offer milk at those breaks.
Sports Numbers
Superintendent Morem informed the board of the current sports numbers. There are a total of 49 students out for football, 45 out for volleyball, six out for cheerleading, three out for cross country and 14 out for soccer.
Currently, there are 24 students from grades five to twelfth involved in the upcoming musical. With some roles still open, Mimi Carlson encouraged interested students to speak with her about joining the musical. WIth performances slated for the end of October, it is definitely not too late to join!
One high school student is interested in playing hockey. The board approved and submitted an agreement to cooperate with La Crescent-Hokah Schools so the student can join their team. The pricing for this has not yet been negotiated or determined. The parents will be responsible for transporting the student to practices. Hockey ends up being one of the most costly sports due to the expensive ice time.
Candidates for School Board
Both Frederick Bessler and Lisa Schultz have registered to run for the two-year position on the board which was created by the resignation of Marissa Grams.
Mimi Carlson and Josh Norlien have both registered to run again for the three-year terms. A total of three positions are up for election for the three-year terms. Although the registration time period has expired, there will be blanks on the ballot for write-ins. It’s not too late to get a successful write-in campaign started!
Donations
A total of $1,929.98 in donations was gratefully accepted by the board. The Huhner Golf Tournament donated $300 to the high school football program; the Houston Athletic Booster Club donated $629.98 to the high school volleyball program and Mary George donated $1,000 to the DC trip.
Future Parent-Teacher Organization?
Board member Nickki Johnson suggested the school consider restarting a parent-teacher group for the school. Tom Stilin, who is serving on the board temporarily until December, informed the board the school had had such a group long ago, but participation had died down. Johnson felt the board should check with principal Angela McQuinn about getting a group together. Johnson stated, “It goes to our goals of communication and community involvement as well.”
HUDL
The HUDL streaming service is set up and ready to go. The button for live streaming can be found on the school’s homepage. The portable HUDL equipment is ready for use as well. It will be checked to make sure it works well for the musical.
One issue with HUDL for the performances is that if the school does not have permission to play copyrighted material, HUDL may turn off the sound. In the gym there is a permanently mounted basketball hoop that is sometimes in the way of the HUDL camera.
ECFE
ECFE has secured a magician from Winona for its kickoff meeting. The group intends to once again participate in Holidazzle.
Tours of the Schools
As part of the open houses at the elementary and high school, tours of the school were offered. Only one person at each school took advantage of the offers.
The board declared the CTE shop area amazing and noted that the art room was nice as well. The funding for the improvements in those classrooms came from grant writing and the Long-term Maintenance budget.
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