High school senior Claire Pieper presented her job interview project to the Lanesboro School Board at their June 15 meeting. She competed in the state FCCLA competition in March and will be moving on to the FCCLA National Leadership Conference in Nashville later this summer. Only two students from each state get to attend Nationals, so being selected is an honor.
Pieper is a very involved student and participates in nearly every extracurricular activity available to her at school.
“For my competition, I created a job interview portfolio,” Pieper said. She selected Junior Editor at the Fillmore County Journal as her “job.” Following guidelines set by the FCCLA, she created a job portfolio which included job specifications, a job interview, two letters of recommendation, a resume and cover letter, and more. The competition also will include a two minute interview by the FCCLA judges.
The board congratulated Pieper on moving onto Nationals and wished her good luck.
Superintendent Matt Schultz reported that 26 students walked across the graduation stage this year, three of whom were foreign exchange students. He also noted that the preschool graduation went very well and thanked the teachers for doing a great job.
Superintendent Schultz was saddened to report the loss of Roger Danielson, who worked in maintenance at the school for many years. “He was a very likeable guy,” Schultz said. The board offered their condolences to the family.
In his legislative report, Schultz noted that a law was recently passed requiring school to test their water for lead every five years. Lanesboro Public School has already done so and passed.
Minnesota state legislature passed the omnibus tax bill which includes a 40% tax credit for agriculture property taxes which will go towards school debt bond levies. “It’s a nice thing for our rural community,” Schultz noted.
The school year ended with 335 students enrolled, and Schultz predicts an enrollment number of approximately 350 students for the 2017-18 school year.
The school is in need of substitute bus drivers. Anyone interested is asked to contact Chad Wangen or the school office at (507) 467-2229.
The second reading and adoption of Policy 403 which pertains to the discipline, suspension, and dismissal of school district employees was approved by the board.
Board member Steve Snyder informed the board that a small portion of the Bass Pond parking lot actually belongs to the school. “We think it’s part of what used to be the football field,” he explained. “The recommendation from the properties committee is that we give title to the city (of Lanesboro).” The area is estimated to be around a tenth of an acre and the city already maintains it. A motion was passed approved the transfer of the title to the City of Lanesboro providing it pays all costs associated therewith.
The board reviewed the results of the superintendent evaluations. “I want to commend everybody for a very thorough job on returning their evaluations promptly,” Board chairman Dave Ruen noted. “One of the comments was that we got exactly the superintendent we thought we were hiring. That’s about as good praise as anyone can receive.” The evaluations agreed that Superintendent Schultz has met all of the expectations that were given in the interview process. The board approved the assessment of the superintendent evaluations.
A resignation was received and accepted from art teacher Matt Wagner. “He had a lot of wonderful things to say about Lanesboro,” Superintendent Schultz noted. “He was impressed with the direction of the school and enjoyed his time here. He did a wonderful job and we’ll miss him.”
The school will be posting for applications for the positions of art teacher, .5 social studies teacher, and physical education teacher.
Policy 534 was approved and is a new policy mandated by federal law. The policy pertains to unpaid meal charges and is in place to prevent schools from stamping students’ hands to indicate that they do not have any money for school meals. Superintendent Schultz noted that the Lanesboro school has never used techniques like that so the policy won’t change the district’s current procedures.
The board reviewed and approved the adoption of the 2016-17 adjusted budget. Due to the addition of a playground, work that was done on the floor of the bus shed, and other various projects that weren’t included in the initial budget, the school ended up going over budget. The 2017-18 proposed budget was also approved.
The purchase of Chromebooks for the seventh and eighth grades at a cost of $14,720 was approved, which will bring the district to a 1:1 Chromebook ratio for grades 7-12.
The request for milk bids was approved.
The employee handbooks for certified and non-certified staff were approved. The handbooks are very similar to the ones used by the teaching staff.
The board voted to move the October board meeting to Tuesday, October 17 at 6 p.m. due to sports scheduling. The next board meeting will be held on July 20th at 7 p.m.