At the November 19 Lanesboro School Board meeting, which was held with social distancing measures, Superintendent Matt Schultz informed the board that the solar panels on the gym at the school should be installed by the end of the year and will supply a significant portion of the school’s energy, saving an estimated $60,000-$75,000 a year in energy costs. Board member and city liaison Steve Snyder reported that the Planning and Zoning Commission as well as Lanesboro Mayor Jason Resseman were very excited to hear about the district’s planned installation of solar panels.
The district was approved for the maximum amount of CARES funds from the county for a total of $114,461. The money will be used for COVID related expenses such as PPE. “That’s really going to help,” Superintendent Schultz said.
The construction project bills from October 2020 were approved and included change order #5 in the amount of $49,500. Superintendent Schultz noted that it will be the last large change order for the facilities project and was mostly for mechanical costs such as a sprinkler system. A second change order in the amount of $1,700 was also approved. The final walk-through for the new addition to the building, called Segment C, will take place on December 18. “That end is looking good,” Schultz commented. The interior of the new daycare is nearly complete, and windows and siding were just installed. The roof for Segment B, which includes the center of the building with the school offices and main entryway, has been finished, and ceiling tiles were being installed on the day of the school board meeting. Schultz is happy with the how the project is going overall. “How it looks today is dramatically different than how it looked even two weeks ago,” he said. As sports have been put on pause due to COVID-19, he scheduled the bleacher installation to take place during the week of December 14.
Kevin Hendrickson was hired as a night custodian at the school and will also be cleaning the daycare, which will help take some pressure off the daycare staff as they’ve been doing it all themselves in addition to their regular duties.
Board member Christine Troendle reported that Hiawatha Valley Education District, or HVED, has moved to distance learning at both of its facilities for special education students from the districts it serves. “When you’re working specifically with special ed students, it’s very hard to do that,” Troendle commented. An agreement to continue to purchase special education services such as autism classrooms, occupational and physical therapy, etc. from HVED was approved by the board.
Grades 6-12 moved to full distance learning on November 19 as there have been several cases of COVID-19 reported in the high school building and 6th grade. The students and teachers have been using a distance learning model in school for the last few months to prepare for something like this so the transition should be fairly smooth. “Now we’ve been able to take that and go full-speed,” Superintendent Schultz said. He plans to send letters out to all the parents on the Sunday after Thanksgiving with an update and decision on how to proceed. K-5 will be kept in the hybrid model as long as it is possible to do so. The state has emphasized the importance of in-person learning for younger students. “That’s our goal, to try to keep them in as long as we can,” Schultz said.
The monthly donations were approved and included $1,395 in scholarship donations, $2,000 from the Booster Club, and $200 for the lunch/milk fund.
A resolution to support the district’s application to the MSHSL for a grant to offset student activity fees was approved.
The next Lanesboro school board meeting will be held on December 17 at 7 p.m.