In a relatively short meeting on March 13, the Lanesboro School Board approved the master teacher contract which was recently negotiated. Board member Steve Snyder said of the 11-month long process, “It was a pleasure working with them (the teacher negotiators)! We each tried to understand each other’s positions.” Board chair Christine Troendle commented, “I’m happy to see we’re there!”
The board had just met Saturday, March 9, for a board retreat. At the retreat, they discussed open enrollment laws and open meeting laws. They spent the majority of their time looking at the progress they’d made and applying the school’s strategic plan to next year.
Superintendent Matt Schultz called the READ Act the biggest component of the plan moving forward. Schultz shared that the legislation is in place for tier two (7-12 grade teachers and high school reading teachers). There is a possibility that there may be some scaling back on this portion of the READ Act; there have been challenges in getting sufficient training lined up for the teachers across the state.
Schultz reported that enrollment at the school remains steady at 450 students in K-12. At this time there is one more space available for classrooms; the school might potentially need to add another classroom soon. The kindergarten is expected to have two sections next year again.
Christine Troendle informed the board that HVED is continuing to try to get the new building officially purchased. Soon they will need to “get the financial piece figured out” and prepare for bond sales.
The school board approved the resignations of Krissy Overland as head golf coach and of Kirsten Bakke as elementary special education teacher at the end of the school year. They also approved the retirement of Rhonda Wangen as cook on May 31.
With spring quickly approaching, the board approved the hiring of head coaches. Tim Opat, the current fourth grade teacher will be the new head golf coach; Lori Anderson will be the head girls track and field coach; Alex Aiken will be the head boys track and field coach.
Schultz digitally shared with the board four policies for a first reading. Troendle encouraged the board to “peruse them at their leisure” and be ready to vote on them for approval at the next meeting. Schultz commented that he still would like the board to look at 12 policies not annually reviewed as well as five policies that are annually reviewed. he expects to complete the review in July.
With no public comments or any donations to accept, the board concluded their business and adjourned just sixteen minutes after the meeting began.
The next Lanesboro School Board meeting will be held April 10 at 7 p.m. in the school’s forum room. The public is welcome to attend; a public input period is held at the beginning of each meeting.
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