Houston to Restructure Administration

 

 

 

 

 

At the April 4 Houston School Board meeting, Board Chair Mimi Carlson and Superintendent Mary Morem explained recent superintendent contract negotiations. Morem had asked for a six-year contract. Carlson presented an offer of two three-year contracts. The first contract would extend the current contract for three years with a salary of $150,000 with the same duties as in the past. The second three-year contract would be for a new position of executive director of MNVA for Morem; a new superintendent would be hired for the duties at the brick and mortar schools. Each position would pay $150,000, with Morem reporting to the new superintendent. Morem assured the board that MNVA would remain a part of the Houston School. 

Alexa Michaels will serve as assistant principal for grades 7-12; Angela McQuinn will continue as K-6 assistant principal. Michael Mangan will serve as the Director of Educational Success and Innovation for the school. MNVA will see a similar restructuring. 

Morem explained that she felt this would be good for the school – she would be able to assist the board when they interview for a new superintendent and help the new superintendent with the transition. She feels that she will be able to mentor the assistant principals as they gain experience. 

The board consensus was that the school lawyer be contacted to write a contract for the new executive director position for MNVA. Action on the contracts was postponed until both contracts were ready. 

Morem stated, “Education platforms will continue to change. The teacher shortage puts Houston MNVA in high demand. Alternative learning programs could be presented online; MNVA could start its own online preschool program as well. For some kids our online program is the best program for them.”

Board Member Mark Swenson commented, “It’s pretty exciting – we need to integrate MNVA more.”

Hurricane Heroes

AAA Athletes Nataleigh Dankers and Troy Zibrowski were recognized as Hurricane Heroes. Dankers played girls basketball and is in choir. Her favorite class is the CNA course; Dankers plans on going into nursing. Zibrowski played soccer and is active on the robotics team and band. 

Facilities

Josh Norlien reported on plans for upcoming summer facilities work. The softball field will be revamped this summer. With a possible grant option, the bathrooms by the gym at the elementary will be remodeled. The failing elementary cafeteria floor will be repaired; some tables will be replaced. Some elementary sidewalks will be redone.

At the high school, the CTE and art room will be reconstructed to expand the CTE shop area and relocate the art room at a minimal cost. Baseball bleachers will be replaced. The baseball field needs to be redone; currently water sits in the outfields. Board member Arlin Peterson opined that the project should start with work on the outfield; he feels the field needs to be leveled and tiling should be put under the outfield. Peterson was instrumental in constructing the ballfield initially. 

It was suggested that descriptions of upcoming projects be posted on the school’s website to inform and allow community members a chance to bid on them. 

All of the upcoming summer projects will qualify for LTM (Long Term Maintenance) funding. 

HUDL Advertising

The board discussed the possibility of offering advertising to local businesses on the school’s HUDL streaming website. As much as $20,000 has been realized by other area schools by having advertising on the site. The board consensus was to direct Superintendent Morem to set some comparable prices and see what the interest is from local businesses. 

Other Business

In other business the board:

• Will find out more about the offered one and three year contracts offered by Dependable Solutions for IT services for the school internet and devices; Dependable has been used by Houston for eight or nine years; until this time there has been no official contract;
• Approved the “tight” academic calendar for next year; this version allows for a week earlier end to the school year; there will be no snow days built into the calendar, but rather the school will go directly into elearning days;
• Learned that Houston School will be a study school for ADSIS; teachers will be contacted to complete surveys.

The next regular Houston School Board meeting will be May 2 at 6 p.m. in the high school media center. The public is welcome to attend; there is a public input period at the beginning of the meeting.