A parent voicing concerns about the apparent illegal open enrollment and consolidation agreements between Decorah and Mabel-Canton (M-C) Schools was the first item on the agenda at the M-C School Board meeting April 18.
Tina Michels, Hesper resident and parent of two M-C open enrollment students, recently discovered that her children will not be able to attend M-C because of a legality between Iowa and Minnesota.
The Iowa Department of Education notified Michels that the agreements between Decorah and Mabel for consolidating the students from the soon to be closed North Winneshiek Community School and the open enrollment options that Iowa residents have, are not valid.
“Our other kids all went to M-C through the open enrollment policy,” Michels said. “This is the first we’ve heard about this. We’ve been told that we’ll have to pay $7,000 tuition per child to go to Decorah or move if we want to stay at M-C. We love the smaller size of Mabel-Canton and don’t want to send our children to the larger Decorah school district.”
Superintendent Jennifer Backer said she just learned of the legality of the agreements when Michels shared the letter she received. “It had never been an issue before,” Backer said. “We hope to resolve this, but it will take the cooperation of Decorah’s district as well.”
Backer plans to call Decorah’s superintendent and send a formal letter asking that it be put on their school board agenda for a vote. Both school boards would have to vote in favor of making an exception.
In other business, the status of the current budget was approved after a discussion about the district’s transportation contract with Schmitz Bus Service. The district has not received invoices from the company and thus have not paid them for services. The district has asked for invoices and Schmitz has not complied.
Board Member Chris Miller said the district should pay them anyway. Board Chair,Cristal Adkins disagreed and said, “We’re holding up our end of the contract and have the money to pay them. It doesn’t seem right that we should be chasing them down to get us a bill. We need to have verification for auditing purposes. We’ve even had our lawyers send them letters.”
Superintendent Backer is going to check with other districts to see if they have the same issue. The transportation contract with Schmitz is up at the end of this school year and a new RFP will be issued. It was recommended that the RFP include a statement that invoices must be submitted on a regular basis for both route services and extracurricular busing activities.
Principal Michelle Weidermann said April 29 prom plans are coming along and the Grand March will be at 6:15 p.m. The sophomore class will host a 5K run fundraising and carnival on May 20 to raise money for prom next year.
A draft of the 2017-18 school calendar was presented and approved. Finalizing the calendar will continue at the next meeting, along with more discussion on “Flexible Learning Days” instead of emergency make-up days and “Intro to School” week prior to the start of the school year.
Superintendent Backer asked the board to consider purchasing a new van for general transportation and/or special education needs. The cost would be approximately $40,000. The current van is primarily used for preschool transportation and was purchased 12 years ago, which is nearly “aged out.”
The board approved to move forward and bids will be obtained from the state and local dealerships. Bids will also include any reimbursement from the state for special education usage. There is money in the budget for this expenditure.
Sports medicine training agreement with Winneshiek Medical Center was approved. The contract to provide medical services for athletics is about a 3% increase over previous years.
Backer announced that M-C received a 100% wellness rating. Congratulations to the school and a copy of the wellness plan was included in board packets with more information to follow.
New lines on the gymnasium floor will be painted May 8-19. There will be no charge because of the previous agreement with the painting company. Also, the roof on the school is being repaired after leaking. The repairs are going well and will be finished soon.
Heather Kleiboer, cheerleading advisor, asked the board to consider cheerleading as an official athletic activity to offset uniforms and other costs. Participants would then pay the $50 athletic fee. Cheerleading is approved as a sport under MN State High School League.
Currently Kleiboer and the squad raise money through a variety of fundraising initiatives. The squad has tried hard to keep costs as low as possible using uniform rotation and a less expensive company for purchasing replacement items.
This topic brought up the need to gather more information on all sports. The board requested that Lonnie Morken, athletic director, come to the next meeting with an outline of expenditures, fees, projections for future expenses, etc. The request from Kleiboer was tabled until next meeting.
Senior Class President Courtney Graves asked if the board would approve “Senior Day Off,” which would be the last two and half days off from school. The board asked if this would replace “Senior Skip Day” and Graves said yes. The board approved the request and asked her about the senior trip. She said it was amazing and her favorite thing was Shirley Plantation in Virginia.
Deb Graf, band, choir and elementary music teacher, along with Melissa Miller from the booster club, asked the board for permission to hold the “Cupcake Concert Fundraiser” again this year. “It’s a free concert, but we sell tickets for $5 for people to sit on the main floor to enjoy cupcakes and refreshments,” Miller said. “We sold more than 200 tickets last year and have space this year for up to 240 people.”
The board approved the request and thanked the booster club and area merchants for their donations. All proceeds will go towards music improvements including new instruments. The concert will be held on May 4 at M-C school and tickets can be purchased from students or at the school.
The next M-C School Board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on May 16 in the school library.
Leave a Reply