Photo by Wanda Hanson
At the January 8 Houston School Board meeting, four high school students were recognized as Hurricane Heroes. Seniors Grayden Beckman and Avery Evenson are the AAA nominees; in order to qualify for the honor, the students needed to have a 3.0 or higher grade point average and be involved in both athletics and fine arts. AAA which stands for Academics, Arts and Athletics is an award given by MSHSL (Minnesota State High School League.
The ExCEL award nominees honored were juniors Claire Reay and C.J. Wruck. This MSHSL award is given for excellence in community, education and leadership.
Public Comment
Matt Feldmeier addressed the board during the public comment period. Feldmeier, who lives west of Houston, explained that his children as well as his sister’s children and neighbors are transported to school in a van.
While he had nothing but compliments for van driver Jessica Dankers, he felt the school should have a 4WD van to negotiate the rural roads. Feldmeier pointed out that all the residents living on the roads traveled by the van drive 4WD vehicles. He felt that the school should get a 4WD for safety of the students and driver.
Superintendent Mary Morem shared that the school’s four van fleet had both two and four wheel drive vans. A van is due to be replaced next year; a 4WD could be one of the requirements for the new vehicle.
Organizational Meeting
The details of the organizational meeting were quickly handled. Officers remain the same as last year: Josh Norlien, chair; Mimi Carlson, vice chair; mark Swenson, clerk; Arlin Peterson, treasurer.
The official depository remains Rushford State bank; the official newspaper chosen was Fillmore County Journal. District Legal Counsel remains the same; Gwen Rostad and Mary Morem were once again given wire transfer authorization.
Michael Mangan was appointed human rights alternative. Compensation for the board members was kept the same as last year.
Board committees are consistent with 2025’s with a few changes. Nickki Johnson replaced Josh Norlien on the facilities committee, Steve Walters moved to the safety committee, and Lisa Schultz joined the school calendar committee.
The resolution authorizing check signers for the district was passed. Chair Josh Norlien, Clerk Mark Swenson and Treasurer Arlin Peterson were authorized to sign checks.
2026-2027 Calendar
The calendar for 2026-2027 was reviewed. Nickki Johnson asked that the back-to-school night (if there was to be one) be added to the calendar before it is released.
Mimi Carlson commented that she didn’t want to affect 4-H students attending the state fair. The calendar for next year has a start date before Labor Day. Carlson also shared that she doesn’t want 4-H students who are athletes to be “punished” by their coaches for going to the state fair.
Seventh graders will be starting a day before the rest of the school in order to ease the transition to high school. The rest of the school will all begin the following day. The elementary school will have only one interview day and evening. There will be no school the Friday before Labor Day to give everyone a long weekend. School will be out before Memorial Day using this calendar.
The calendar was approved pending the inclusion of the date of the back to school night
before publication. Starting school before Labor Day has only been approved by the state for next year and the following year.
Audit Report
The audit report was presented virtually to the board by Luke Greden of CliftonLarson Allen, LLP. Greden gave the audit an unmodified (clean) report. The General Fund-Restricted/Reserved balance was spent down from $671,028 in 2024 to $606, 291 in 2025. The General Fund Long Term Facilities Maintenance Fund went from $815,820 to $159,238 due to some building projects. The Food Service Fund balance ended with a deficit of $9,813.
The Community Service Fund improved somewhat with a -$57,855 in 2025 compared to approximately -$70,000 the year before. Some of this improvement came from Morem becoming director of community service. The deficits are due to expenses from Hurricane Watch (childcare) and part of the preschool program.
Current ADMs (average daily memberships) are at 1,893; this includes MNVA students and is down from pandemic days. Administrative costs have risen due to increased expenses from the online school.
ADMs for the brick and mortar school were up by 10 from the previous year. Houston spends $8,322 on regular instruction at the local school; this is $1,288 more per student than the state average. Morem commented that the board has been very fiscally responsible and commended the board for spending the money on the students.
Other Business
In other business, the board:
- Approved the second reading of policies with no commnet;
- Passed a resolution directing the superintendent to make recommendations for adjustments to curriculum, programs and staff; this is an annual, routine resolution.
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