Board has changing of guard

The January school board meeting began with new chairperson, Abby Thostensen, leading the meeting. Dawn Van Keulen passed the torch to Abby after the Jan. 3, 2022, reorganization meeting. Van Keulen was voted to be the vice chair. Terri Myhre was voted clerk and Jeff Buysse was voted treasurer at that meeting.
The school board also set the board compensation at $75/meeting, $150/full day meetings, $75/half day meetings, $600 for the chair, and $350 for the clerk. This remains the same as compensation in 2020.
The school board meetings will continue to be held the third Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in the conference room. The official newspaper remains The Minneota Mascot.
The positive comments by the school board remarked on the good start to winter activities and thanks for the prompt snow removal by Tolk Gravel and the custodians so far this winter.
Minutes from the past meetings were approved as well as the bills as distributed to the board members. The enrollment report is strong with 521 as of Jan. 18. The budget was planned with a base of 516.
The elementary report was positive and encouraging. February will bring "I Love to Read Month." Parents of elementary students know that this means reading will be stressed all month. The Title teachers, Renae Hanson and Sherri Schultze will organize activities for "I Love to Read Month."
The PLC meetings will focus on the curriculum as agreed by the teachers and Mrs. Mahan-Deitte. There will be in-depth looks at Language Arts, PE, and Science. The spelling bee was scheduled for Jan. 19, 2022. The week of January 24-28 will be Paraprofessional Recognition Week. Many thanks to these paras who give tirelessly and help immensely. The Jan. 17 MELT in-service went well at Lac qui Parle Valley High School.
The high school report was emailed to the board members since Principal Jeremy Frie was unable to attend this meeting.
Superintendent Dan Deitte attended the meeting via Zoom. He expressed thanks to Kristy Schumacher, Amanda Crowley, and Jen Mahan-Deitte for presenting at the MELT conference.
The OSHA regulations regarding COVID have been lessened after a Supreme Court decision, but the school did enforce the rules the week of Jan. 10-14. If a staff member chose not to be vaccinated, they were required to mask while in school. This is no longer occurring. The exception is when in the nurse’s office – masks are required in their office. A negotiation meeting was scheduled for Jan. 20, with salary proposals to be discussed since the language portion of negotiations has been completed. Once again, thanks to everyone for stepping up and covering classes as needed this year.
The consent agenda was passed. Jessica Laleman resigned, and Kaley Buysse is now the Reading Corp and Math Corp advisor. A staff termination was approved, and the senior class is selling puffins to raise money for their graduation and class trip.
A new paraprofessional, Jacqueline Skorczewski, was hired part-time.
A quote was approved from SHI for technology devices for fiscal year 2023. As is customary in January, the Board approved a resolution directing the administration to make recommendations for reductions in programs and positions for the 2022-2023 school year. This seems to be a negative act but needs to be done to follow necessary timelines in the event there needs to be a program cut.
COVID-19 mitigation strategies were discussed at length. After the discussion it was decided that there wouldn’t be many changes. One is that when a student returns after their 5 days after showing symptoms or a positive test, they must wear a disposable mask – cloth masks are not considered a good enough barrier. Masks must be covering the nose and mouth. There are specific guidelines for athletes regarding practice, masking, and returning to competitions.
Most of the other COVID practices will remain the same such as sanitizing work areas, use of hand sanitizer, and encouraging frequent handwashing.
For more information, contact Barb Knutson at the school.