The Kingsland School Board met on August 15 in regular session. Members present were Doug Plaehn, Deb Larson, Kristin Beck, Gwen Howard and Ann Oeltjen, along with Superintendent John McDonald. Troy Asher was absent.
The board unanimously approved the consent agenda items, including the agenda, prior minutes, August bills, adding Amber Uhlenhake as an authorized signer for Kingsland’s financial matters, first reading of several policies, second reading of several policies, and a number of staff resignations and hirings. Policy first readings were: Legal Status of the School Board, School Board Officers, Operation of the School Board, School Board Procedures, and Order of Regular School Board Meeting. Policy second readings were: Student Discipline, Student Sex Non-discrimination, Internet Acceptable Use, School District System Accountability, Uniform Grant Guidance Policy regarding Federal Revenue, and Health & Safety. Superintendent McDonald gave public thanks to the Osterud Winter Foundation, for donation of $800 for portable two-way radios, $800 for the accelerated reader program, and $800 to the music department.
Doug Plaehn summarized the August 8 meeting of the Finance/Facilities/Personnel committee, and said the committee suggests moving ahead with the operational referendum, to maximize usage of Tier Two funding. The impact of this referendum would be approximately $206,000. Deb Larson gave an update on the August 1st meeting of the Policy/PR/Curriculum committee.
Doug Plaehn read a resolution calling for the school district general election, to elect three board members to four-year terms. The resolution was unanimously approved. Plaehn then read a resolution for the special election, which includes the operating referendum of approximately $206,000 and the facility cost of approximately $13,715,000 for acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities, as investigated and decided upon by the board in recent months. Plaehn explained the operating referendum and facility cost will be put to the voters in two questions on the November 8 ballot.
Regarding the resolution, Gwen Howard asked, “When we had our special meeting, we were handed out information on the cost for the facilities, and the list of items that were going to occur…Is this all-inclusive, or if this passes, will that list change?”
Plaehn replied, “If this passes, then they’ll go into the designs so they can submit it out for bids. But when they get into that phase, they may realize (for example), ‘Doing this isn’t feasible, it would blow the budget out of the water’, so there may be things that need to be tweaked.” The board approved the resolution by a four to one vote, with Howard as the dissenting vote.
Superintendent McDonald gave a report on several items, including the ALICE system (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate). He also said Kingsland is working on posting a testing calendar as required by ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act), and he gave an update on MSBA and Preschool Funding statuses. McDonald also noted that ALC teacher interviews will be August 18 with Mr. Armogast.
The board accepted the Milk Bid from Hastings Creamery and the Fuel Bid from Baudoin Oil Company for the 2016-17 school year. The meeting adjourned about 7 p.m. The next Kingsland School Board meeting will be the special meeting on August 22, at 6:30 p.m. Curriculum/Policy/PR Committee will meet September 6 at 5 p.m., and Finance/Facility/Personnel will meet September 12 at 6 p.m. The next regular board meeting will be September 19 at 6:30.
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