On February 20, all Kingsland School Board members (Board chair Jackie Horsman, Maranda Emig, Natasha Howard, Tiffany Mundfrom, Noella Lund, and Kyle Rader) and Superintendent James Hecimovich were present for a regular meeting of the board. Superintendent Hecimovich presented the proposed 2020-2021 acedemic calendar, and the board unanimously approved it.
In explaining a few items on the calendar, Hecimovich stated, “This is the latest school can begin. We’ll be beginning on the eighth of September, due to the Labor Day law. So starting then, brings us down to a graduation date of 4 June, with our last student day being 3 June, which is a Thursday.” Overall, he said, “Not much different than we currently have, other than we have added a teacher inservice day in March (Monday, March 8).” He explained that the inservice day was added due to the new curriculum mapping program that Kingsland will begin using.
Hecimovich added that with this academic calendar, Kingsland is well in excess of state minimum requirements for the number of instructional hours, and Kingsland will continue to utilize up to five “flexibile learning days” per school year, as needed, to deal with some of the expected weather cancellations. Flexible learning days count as full school days in calculating the total number of instructional hours for the year. Christmas break will begin December 24, and students will resume classes on January 4. Hecimovich also pointed out that, “We did keep the five-day Easter break,” which will be April 1 through 5. Board members said that everyone seems to appreciate that break in the early spring.
Public thanks was given to a number of recent donors, including Land O’ Lakes ($2,000 donation to the elementary library), ECFE PAC ($1,000), Think Bank ($250), and Ody’s Meats (food donation for the father-daughter dance). Hecimovich explained that the donations from ECFE PAC and Think Bank are going toward the courtyard project, and added, “And they’re waiting on the Spring Valley Community Foundation for about $4,700.” Once that is received, the courtyard project fund will be at roughly $32,000.
Student Nolan Fetterly updated the board on recent and upcoming FFA news/events. He said the recent FFA rodeo saw strong participation numbers. He also told of the various events that would be happening during National FFA Week, including snowtubing and a pancake breakfast.
The board approved a number of hirings and the spring coaching list, including Hailey Nolta (paraprofessional), Anyarat Melartin (Lead SACC Assisitant), Brooke Burt (preschool paraprofessional), Dakotah Rostad (head baseball coach), Erik Bicknese (JV baseball), John Fenske (head softball), Laurie Hendrickson (JV softball), Al Williams (JH softball), Brent Kohn (head golf), Paul Eckheart (JH golf). The board approved hiring Eric Mundfrom as JH baseball coach (Tiffany Mundfrom abstained). The board also approved the resignation of Aaron Thauwald as JH softball coach.
In Activity Director Reid Olson’s written report, he stated, in part, “I have another meeting with the remaining football coaching staff today and intend to announce we will post the head coach vacancy late this week or early next week. We have had a lot of quality dialogue from our meetings and believe this staff can establish a solid foundation for the program.”
Hecimovich’s written report to the board included, “Most of our high school teachers are now using cell phone pockets in their classrooms. The pockets usually hang on the back of the classroom door. Students in those classrooms are required to deposit their phones in the pockets for the class period. This is intended to cut down on distractions in the classroom… More than likely, the use of the pockets will be high school wide for SY 2020-2021.”
Business Manager Amber Uhlenhake submitted a written report showing Kingsland’s status year-to-date on revenues and expenditures. The revised budget (“REV20”) was approved as submitted. The board’s next meeting will be a “work session” on Monday, March 2 at 6 p.m. in the elementary conference room. The next regular meeting will be Monday, March 16 at 6:30 p.m. in the choir room. As always, the public is welcome at all open meetings.
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