At their regular August 13 school board meeting, the board once again approved a contract with School Management Services to fill the school’s needs following the resignation of former Business Manager Garrett Stadsvold. Tanya Monson-Ek will take on the business manager duties and Steph Clark will deal with the payroll. Both are well experienced in their jobs; the work will be done remotely. Lanesboro chose to return to School Management because no suitable applications had been submitted for the position and the position needed to be filled soon. A one year contract was signed with the service.
Desiree Ferrie, the school’s former main desk secretary will be the local conduit to payroll and accounts payable. Lanesboro will post a job opening for a new main desk secretary.
In addition to the resignation of Garrett Stadsvold, the board accepted the resignation of secretary Audra Rebmann. New hires for the district included Lea Jensson as special education teacher and Amber Rein and Kaylee Johnson as daycare providers. Lea Jensson graduated this past spring with her teaching degree; she had been employed as a paraprofessional as she studied for her degree.
Teacher Ethan Simonson will be taking over as peer observation coordinator at Lanesboro. Rochelle Gathje had previously been in that position, but recently moved to the dean of students position. Superintendent Schultz told the board that peer observation by teachers has allowed both teachers involved in observations a chance to learn from one another.
Schultz informed the board that the Science of Reading course has been completed by all the appropriate teachers. As part of fall workshops, a 1½ hour training on FastBridge will be held this fall for all teachers K-12. This assessment system tests students in reading and math skills as well as screening for dyslexia. By using FastBridge, teachers are able to diagnose educational and curriculum needs of the students.
Through ADSIS (Alternative Delivery of Specialized Instructional Services) funding, Lanesboro has been able to hire a paraprofessional for additional reading support for the year.
New rates were set for preschool for the 2025-2026 school year. A $10 monthly increase was made across the board and a new option for students was added. The 3- to 4-year-old class will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays at $110 monthly rate; there will be a 4- to 5-year-old class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at a monthly rate of $135; another 4- to 5-year-old class will be offered Monday through Friday afternoons at a monthly rate of $225. These rates are still on the lower half of going rates in the area according to Superintendent Matt Schultz.
The school handbooks were approved with little discussion. The elementary handbook had only one change; a cell phone policy prohibits the use of cell phones during instructional hours at the school. The secondary handbook saw a few more changes. Lanesboro has access to a model student handbook through its membership in MSBA. The state legislature has mandated some changes by law to the handbooks which needed to be included. Schultz informed the board that there were no “substantive changes” to Lanesboro’s actual handbook.
The mandatory Truth in Taxation meeting was set for December 10, 2025, at 7 p.m. This is the same night as the regular monthly board meeting.
Smith Schafer was once again engaged for auditing services. Schultz commented that the Rochester company had been working with Lanesboro since he was hired. Most of the work is done remotely now with a person coming into the school for a few days.
New milk, juice, snack and adult breakfast and lunch rates were set by the board. Extra milk will cost 60 cents each; yearly snack rates for milk will be $80; snack rate for juice will be $90 a year; snacks will cost $95 a year. Adult breakfast will cost $2.60 while adult lunch will be $5.00. These rates are up slightly; Federal law has a formula which sets the required minimum rates each year.
The school board accepted a donation of $3,500 for the American Red Cross Scholarship in the final action of the meeting.