“I need drivers. Everybody needs drivers,” Lanesboro School’s transportation director Chad Wangen said at the school board’s September 21 meeting. He ran an ad for six weeks and still received no applications for school bus drivers. Despite the shortage of drivers, he’s been able to extend one of the bus routes to go out to Wykoff to pick up five children for school. “It’s workable so far,” Wangen commented. The school board thanked Wangen for his dedication to making the bus routes run smoothly. “Keep up the good job,” board chairman Dave Ruen told him.
Board member Steve Snyder presented the Long-Range Planning Committee report to the board. They did a walk through the school to discuss things that they would like to see changed. They also looked for ways to amp up the education opportunities at the district and reviewed the ideas that they had come up with at their meeting a year ago.
Superintendent Matt Schultz informed the board that construction on the Park Road project will be starting soon. He had some concerns about student safety during the project, but was assured that a crosswalk will be set up and designated for use to keep everyone safe.
Superintendent Schultz recently attended the Food Procurement Seminar held by the Southeast Service Cooperative. Many small schools struggle to have food delivered to them due to their size so they have joined together in a co-op. Schultz is looking into the cooperative as a possibility for the Lanesboro school.
The Lanesboro elementary grades have been recognized for closing the achievement gap in several subjects, and the high school has been recognized for closing the gap in reading.
The current enrollment numbers are 186 students in kindergarten through sixth grade and 164 in grades seven through 12.
A resignation was approved for custodian Tammy McCabe as well as food service worker Linda Danielson. McCabe is taking over Danielson’s position, which the board also approved.
The school board approved policies 516 regarding student medication, 520 regarding student surveys, and 521 regarding student disability nondiscrimination.
The board approved the first readings of policies 515 regarding the protection and privacy of pupil records and 526 regarding the hazing prohibition policy.
Graduation was set for June 3, 2018, at 1:30 p.m. An early dismissal on December 22 at 11:32 a.m. was discussed. Board member Steve Snyder asked that a later dismissal be considered to allow the kids to eat lunch at school before heading home. Superintendent Schultz suggested that sending bag lunches home with kids to eat on the buses might be an option. He will talk to Food Service and the bus service before next month’s school board meeting.
The board approved the maximum levy certification for 2017, payable in 2018. “We can always go down. We can’t go up,” Superintendent Schultz reminded the board.
A request from Fillmore Central dance coach Kari Berg was reviewed. Berg, a Lanesboro resident, would like Lanesboro to join an agreement with Fillmore Central to offer the lettered sport at both schools cooperatively. The cost for the school would be approximately $240 per participating student, but did not include transportation costs for the students to Harmony.
Eight students between 7-12 grades have indicated interest in joining the dance team if it were offered at Lanesboro with another five showing possible interest.
The board was interested in the proposal and felt that it would add value to the school, but agreed that transportation could be an issue. “There are a lot of factors to consider,” Ruen noted. Transportation Director Wangen concurred, saying that it could difficult to for him to find a driver for another activity as he’s already close to being short-staffed on bus drivers. Board member Christine Troendle asked if it would be possible to be add dance team to the extracurricular activities without offering transportation. The rest of the board and Superintendent Schultz agreed that would make the program viable. The cooperative agreement with Fillmore Central for the dance team was approved.
The next Lanesboro school board meeting will be held on October 17 at 6 p.m.