Photo by Wanda Hanson
At their August 1 meeting, the Houston School Board emphasized that now is the time to sign up to run for the board this fall. There are a total of four positions up for election this fall – one two-year term to complete the term of a board member who has resigned, and three four-year positions. The current board members also need to register in order to run for reelection. Interested residents merely need to visit the school office to sign up and pay a $2 registration fee. This opportunity ends August 13.
People choosing to run for the board will need to decide whether they are running for the two-year term or a four-year term. They cannot run for both since a name can only be on the ballot once.
Superintendent Mary Morem will check with MSBA before the election on what procedure should be followed in the event that no one chooses to run for the two-year term but several run for the four-year term, or vice versa. The question is whether the candidates could be asked if they would accept the other term length position.
New Sign Approved
Student John Traun visited the meeting to show the board the design of a new sign to be installed at the school. The new sign will be placed in the teardrop area in front of the school and replace the old sign. It will be a taller sign. Traun was very thorough as he worked on his design, asking for the same font and exact color usually used by the school.
Superintendent Goals
Morem presented the superintendent goals to the board. The goals were written as SMART goals; each goal has a rubric to be used to more easily assess the extent to which the goals are being met.
The goals include: establishing a partnership with at least one more school to provide mentorship; hosting at least three in-person public events to share Houston’s work and growth; offer an officiating course available to a all state residents, hire a team to develop and implement Houston’s own educational pathway; expand program offerings to better meet the diverse needs of students district wide; increase the number of students who are career and college ready by 10%; provide work experiences for all students and offer at least one new community breakfast or game day each semester.
Athletic Co-ops
The athletic co-ops will remain the same as last school year. A co-op with LARP for dance had been being considered, but with Rushford-Peterson finding a dance coach, the discussions have ended for this school year. Houston will continue to have their own dance team.
Transportation for fall sports to Caledonia and Rushford-Peterson will be provided again. The board had earlier decided to make a decision on providing transportation at the beginning of each sport season.
New Van
Superintendent Morem reported that the new special education van had just arrived, The $26,291 10-passenger van will be used for transporting special education students and will be reimbursed.
Facility/Transportation Director Steve Walters brought the new van to the front of the school so the board could examine the new purchase.
Public Walk-through
A public walk through of the elementary and middle school/high school is planned for August 28 at 5-6 p.m. During this time, the public is encouraged to visit and see the updates done over the summer. The board did a preliminary walk-through following their meeting to inspect all the completed work.
Some of the summer work Morem reported was that the CTE area at the high school is getting set up, tables have been set up in the art room, the playground at the elementary is completed with dirt being added soon to the edges and the elementary bathrooms are nearly complete with tile being laid this week.
Other Business
In other business the board:
•Set the Truth in Taxation meeting for December 5 at 6:30 p.m.;
•Approved all handbooks for Houston Schools;
•Approved site crisis plans for the schools;
•Approved the $3,150 Southeast Service Co-op employee assistance program; this is yearly fee for a program which provides availability of social and emotional counselors for staff;
•Heard that the high school activities meeting was set for August 5; this meeting is for all activities throughout the school years. Coaches will be present to answer questions.
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