The Kingsland School Board unanimously approved starting the 2018-19 school year roughly two weeks earlier than usual, to allow more time over the summer in 2019 to complete heating and ventilation system upgrades. As previously discussed, the school year will start around August 20, and graduation will likely be May 17. This decision was reached during the regular board meeting at 6:30 p.m. on February 21. Members present were Doug Plaehn, Ann Oeltjen, Leah Stier, Tiffany Mundfrom, Heather Betts, and Interim Superintendent James Hecimovich. Jackie Horsman was absent.
Regarding the change in the school year, Superintendent Hecimovich said, “It’s going to take some communication on my part, because anytime you start school two weeks early… families have vacations planned, we have State Fair, FFA, 4-H. We are going to hold the students blameless, we’ll work with the families… I anticipate this to be very smooth.” He said his communication efforts will start immediately.
The board heard from John Rostad, who explained he’s the field representative for the Minnesota School Employees Association. He said that he’d met with Superintendent Hecimovich regarding Kingsland considering contracting with an outside vendor to provide custodial services. Rostad said if Kingsland were to do this, it would need to be “all or none” rather than just with certain shifts of the custodial crew.
Janelle Mosher-Rowe (Classified Union Secretary/Treasurer) also spoke to the board about this issue. She stated that, “The only piece publicly that I was disappointed in is, the night custodians found out by reading the paper that they might not have a job.” She shared her belief that Kingsland staff should have met with the custodians to inform them that Kingsland was investigating this option. She also shared several concerns that employees have brought to her attention. She said if Kingsland were to contract with an agency such as Arnold’s, such agencies generally do not perform background checks on their staff, and the staff would likely not receive health or dental insurance, or PERA retirement. She said wages are usually near minimum wage, and that because it’s a non-union situation, the workers would be “at-will” employees with very little protection. She stated that all of these factors would likely cause high turnover and could cause some families to move away to look for a better job. Superintendent Hecimovich said that although Kingsland is only in the “investigating” phase on this issue, he agrees that from now on, Kingsland should communicate with those whose positions might be impacted in such considerations.
In the public thanks portion of the meeting, Superintendent Hecimovich stated, “We just want to thank Threads in Chatfield for a VERY generous donation to our students.” He explained that Lisa Vaupel, the owner of Threads, donated four new letterman jackets valued at $190 each, to be given to students who otherwise couldn’t afford a letter jacket. He added that she also donated a variety of patches to go with the jackets.
The board approved the proposed Costa Rica trip as it had been outlined by Spanish teacher Morgan Jacobson at the work session on February 5. As part of the consent agenda items, the board approved hiring Laurie Hendrickson (Jr High softball coach), and approved the resignations of Becky Bicknese (Builder’s Club), as well as the retirements of Laurie Frey (Special Ed) and Kay Haugerud (Social Worker).
The meeting adjourned about 6:42 p.m. The next scheduled work session will be on Monday, March 5, at 6 p.m. in the elementary conference room. The next scheduled regular board meeting is set for Monday, March 19, at 6:30 p.m. in the choir room. As always, the public is welcome.
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