001All to order at 602. Roll call, please. >> Ben here. Connie >> here. >> Phil, yes. Karen >> here. >> Doug, >> yes. >> Sarah is absent. Mr. Collins >> here. Miss Holland >> here. >> And Mr. Gel >> present. present. All right. Our stand. >> Thank you guys for being here. All right. Uh, do I have a motion for the approval of the agenda? >> So, second by Doug. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All carries. All in favor? I told Na I was going to let her because she knows most of the names because a lot of them are elementary. But before I get to that, I just wanted to let Jay know that our organizational meeting. Um the board did because by law we have to go with Mano Free
002Press because of the distribution that they said everything else. Let's send it to the Jane. >> So I just wanted to let you know that the board appreciates what you do for us. So thank you. >> Thank you very much. So thank you. >> So poss recognition NE. >> All right. So for our spotlight on character honores um the theme for last month was looking for students who have a positive attitude and those honores are Joe Burns, Lewis Grky, Blair Kugerts, Dorothy Bonen, Hayden Quast, Leslie Curry, Ava Sour, Norah Bodess, Mason Kmer, Hudson Levas, Grace Batty, Tayen Aspelind, Noah Burn, Weston Drummer, Stella Westfall, Oliver Bailey, Henry Ireland, Lulu Enderly, Noah Rother, Sophia Dumai, and Charles Wixs. Um, we'd also like to congratulate Jackie Wilson for being recognized as the South Central Service Co-op Employee
003Recognition Award. Um, one thing I noticed as I was reading over this for tonight is we kind of forgot to tell Jackie. So, we're going to tell her >> surprise. Congratulations. for what floor, right? Um we'd also like to recognize first grader Milo Hartman. He was um another KIC weather kid. And we were supposed to have the spelling be on Friday, but that had to be postponed until tomorrow due to weather. And so um tomorrow morning Juny and Lily Guestler, uh Stella Westfall, Oliver Bailey, Isaac, Graceland Peterson, Santa Fugum, Landon Craft, Leo Quas, Benson Urban, uh Judah Aoku, >> um Dominique Shendel, Paige Krauss, Bailey Lock Miller, and Danica Scholes will be participating in that. >> That's still 8:30. >> That is still at 8:30. Yes. And then um we have a couple sports related
004honors as well. Congratulations to Brooklyn M for scoring her thousandth career point in basketball. And congratulations to Brooklyn Hindy for breaking the single game scoring record for girls basketball with 41 points. >> Awesome. >> All right. Thanks for that donation. >> All right. We have a bunch as well. Um, we received 9700 as an anonymous donation for the Visy Memorial Fund. We received $8,400, excuse me, $8,7436 from the athletic factors. And that was for volleyball warm-ups, balls, and tournament supplies, a golf launch monitor, hitting projector, turf, balls, and TE's, a basketball locker cart, and cross country state tournament t-shirts. We received $550 from the Doris County Farm Bureau and that was for the FFA farm safety camp. We received $2,000 from the St. Clair American Legion for our portable sound system. We received $500 from
005the St. Clair Fire Department for the biology club and another $1,750 from the St. Clair Fire Department for the portable sound system. So, thank you for all of those. And then we also have a bunch of media center donations. Um, we received two library books with a $22 value from Thomas Chilupnik. We received 25 library books with $115 value from Amanda Krauss. And we received 2,44 books that were donated to the December's Island of Misfit toys or books, excuse me. And that was during the concert in December. and 122 of those were kept in the library at a $780 value. So, thank you for all of those. >> Awesome. Thank you for that. >> All right, there's no unfinished business. We'll move on to new new business. Do I have a motion to consider consent
006agenda items as a motion by Connie? Do a second. >> Second by Mick. All in favor say I. >> I opposed. Motion carries. All in favor. Next we have the resignations uh one of which is a verbal resignation from Carrie Cidle uh was received and included in the documentation is the formal resignation of custodian Taylor Strand. In addition, we had the resignation of teacher Janelle O overly. Uh Janelle will be retired at the end of the 2526 school year. Do I have a motion to accept these resations? >> Doug made a motion. Second. >> Any discussion on those? >> No, we just uh thank them for the service they provided and don't want to bring more attention to one, but Janelle's been here quite a few years a lot. >> 31 years, I think. >>
007A lot of children and families, so >> that does get a little extra kudo when you've been here that long. >> Yeah. >> All right, with that motion, a second. All in favor say I. >> I. Motion carries. All in favor? Next, we have the appointments of two new custodial staff, Eric Siki Signinger and Jose Martinez. We are also recommending the appointment of part-time food service staff Donna Olson. Any discussion on this? >> No, again thankful as you know as a board we've started to fill position. So, we're very thankful that these people are stepping up. Many of you know Donna from the area from from Lenny and we're we're happy that she's helping us out in a pinch as well. Much appreciated. >> Awesome. All right. Do I have a motion to approve these
008three appointments? >> So motion by Connie. Second. >> Second by hearing. All in favor say I. >> All carries. All in favor? Next we have a medical leave request which is including your supporting documentation. Uh the absence requested by teacher Martha Witty for remain of the 2526 school year. The motion to accept Mar. Motion by Nick. Do a second. >> Second by Connie. All in favor say I. >> All opposed. Motion carries. All in favor. Uh, next we have a long-term substitute teacher to uh fill in for while she's out. Uh, recommending Michaela McCone has the appointment long-term substitute for the fifth grade classroom for the remainder of 2526 school year. Discussion on this. >> No, she we've been very fortunate there for the students as well to have consistency. Um, she stepped in what
009she thought was going to be a shorter situation and we're very thankful that she's going to be with us till the remainder of the year. She's been doing a really good job. Sounds great with that. I have a motion to approve long-term future. >> Motion by Connie with a second. >> Second by all in favor say I. >> All opposed. Motion carries. All in favor? Next, we have the yearly uh reduction resolution which uh directs the district to make needed reductions in programs and positions for reasons de necessary. any discussion on that too? >> No, I just want to say that um as you know as board members we've been talking about financial where the state of Minnesota is at etc for the presentations with our staff. Uh usually this is a a motion probably
010more so intended at the high school level. If you can't fill a position, somebody might go from full-time to 75 or 0.8 OC number. Even in even in good financial times, you're you're always adjusting. But um we will be bringing back recommendations to the board to do some right sizing of our staffing from where our enrollments at. Um that'll probably be coming in March and April. So this year I do know for sure um I along with administrator will be bringing forward some recommendations. I also know that as a board we've had discussion on our undesated fund balance. Um right now our policy states 30 to 60 days. I know as board members you've been talking about we want to have more discussion on that um because of where you think the state is at
011financially and then with our enrollment starting to to dip a little bit like everybody else's where should we have a a fund balance at. So, um, over the next two months, we will be having more discussion on that. And I know that you as a board like to see what do other school districts have, what's their policy, what do they have for a fund balance right now, what's their moment. Um, it's always tough to compare apples to apples because we don't know how many staff they have on the lower end, etc. But, uh, we will be having that discussion over the next couple of months on that as well. >> Thanks, V. With that, do I have a member would like to introduce this resolution? Power introduce the resolution. Nick has introduced the resolution. I
012have to second it. >> I'll second it. >> Second by Connie. So with that, >> yes. Karen, >> yes. >> Myself, yes. Ben, >> yes. >> Connie, >> yes. >> Doug, >> yes. All voted in favor. Right. Everyone voting in favor. Said resolutions cleared and passed and adopted. Uh, next we have the prom entertainment contract included in support entertainment contract. Any discussion on this? >> All right, with that, do I have a motion to approve contract? >> Motion to carry. Second. >> Second by Doug. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. Motion carries. All in favor? Next, we've got a time slot for the members that went to the SBA leadership conference to share any updates or uh things that they may have seen there. I was the only one that was
013able to actually make it up there and I made it up there for um one day and of course unfortunately everything that's going on in Minneapolis was definitely part of the discussion as breakout sessions on uh school districts on how you handle those situations, how you make families feel safe, how to feel make your staff uh feel included, etc. Um so that was definitely part of the leadership conference. Uh again, for me, it's a great time to bump into superintendents our school district size and meet their board members and find out what are some of the things that they're looking at doing. Um because for me to meet with a superintendent from either or Matonic, it's just those type of breakout sessions. So, it's valuable just to hear what similarities and what they're looking to
014do differently. So, that was beneficial for me. Awesome. Thanks for sharing. All right. Next we have the policies first reading of policies 410 family as well as 721 which grant guidance policy regarding federal revenue services sources. Uh turn it over to >> um Kelly already mentioned that we had a lot of wonderful donations for that island of misfit books. Two more stats that um Kate Thompson threw out there is um there were 2,281 books that were rehomed and and take it home with families on the lawsuit. So that's pretty awesome. And we actually had a few different people say, "Oh, I look forward to this every year because I get books for every single one of my grandkids from this event." And so, um people really look forward to it. Um, and then you know
015by the time those go home and Kate picks the ones that would be appropriate for our library, we still had 123 books to take to the thrift store so that people in other communities can join them and join them as well. So um, a huge thank you to Kate Thompson for organizing that. She puts a lot of work into it. Awesome. Um, our first graders also did a service project during the month of December. Um, every year they they choose a nonprofit that they donate to. This year they chose Partners for Housing in Mano. And so they um they raised money. And the thing that I love about this is that they can't just go ask their family for money to bring in. They have to work for it by doing chores. So all of
016the kids had to go home and they were sweeping floors and unloading dishwashers and making beds and, you know, shoveling sidewalks and everything that they needed to do so that they could really earn the money to then um donate. And then they bought pillows and blankets and hair brushes and all kinds of things to meet people's basic needs um and take care of those that are less fortunate than them. So, um, congratulations to the first graders for all of their hard work. Um, another thing that we started coming, um, after coming back from the holidays is, uh, elementary is doing no tech Tuesdays. And, um, this was really a grassroots movement coming directly from the teachers. And one of the things that we're really finding is just there's so much research out there, but we're
017actually seeing it in our own classrooms, too, where attention spans are short. And there's just like a lot of mental health and things like this that are that are really tied to the amount of screen time that kids get now. And when we originally started bringing tech into the classrooms, I was still in the classroom at that point. And for most kids at home, having a device was a luxury. And now a lot of kids have an iPad and they have a phone and they have, you know, all these other um devices. And so that screen is just in their face all the time. And um it's not real great. And so um we are making a conscious effort um to reduce screen time while we're here at school. So on Tuesdays, the teachers might
018still use their projectors to present lesson pieces, but we put our Chromebooks away and we're going old school and we're getting out flashcards and paper pencil tasks. And >> would you like to expand on that >> more than just one day? >> Actually, I think we will. Yeah, we kind of started off with just Tuesdays. Mhm. >> Um, we've kind of thrown out the idea of like during April when we're doing MCAs and we have to put them on the computers for testing doing a no tech month. >> Um, it it's a lot for teachers because some teachers use it more than others. And so just getting people back into that swing of retrain, >> this is what it looks like and retraining the adults too. But there is talk about not having onetoone devices
019for grades K4 even starting next year having like maybe a grade level set so that if you need it for a class or something like that you can have a whole class set but otherwise just having a few devices so that kids can still take their AR tests and things like that but not doing the one-on-one. um fifth and sixth grade, we probably still would because we do need to prepare them for junior high and and the expectations and make sure that they have some of those skills um built up. But yeah, I think we're going to see less of it. And the kids absolutely love it. They I've heard very good things from the students about how um especially like their free time instead of going on to their computer, they're learning how to
020play cribage and chess and all these different things and actually talking to each other and interacting and it's wonderful. So yes, I I do think that that's something that >> Thanks for doing that. I like it. >> Yeah. Great. >> Um and other than that, preschool registration is open. We have registrations rolling in right now. Um, kids versus cancer week is this week. We're still rolling with it, even though coaches versus cancel out cancer had to be postponed. Um, our goal is $5,500. And we have all sorts of fun things planned. Um, for Friday afternoon, our the top class, the top earning class will get an ice cream party. Um, the teachers from the top three earning classes have to have a dance off in front of the student pie. Um, we're really hoping the
021guys >> is there a way that we can help you. >> Sending money just money bomb those back in the morning. Um, and then if they make their their goal, um, sticking with the ice cream theme, um, I get to return them to a human Sunday on Friday. Yeah, >> you are always such a >> um and then yeah, Troy and I are planning for next year already. So, we're things are in the works and getting ready for another school year. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Um no, we will registrations all the way through. Well, we're still taking for this year right now. So, no deadline. >> Thanks, Droy. High school. >> Yeah. Um the high school is not doing the the no tech days. Unfortunately, I after the homecoming
022fiasco of students at my house, I wasn't ready for pitchforks and lanterns to be outside my door if I suggested no tech days on my side. So, you know, it's a historical reference. Sorry. But, uh, yeah. Um, otherwise, yeah, semester one came and gone and kind of a fury. Um, and now we're off to strong start second semester even with some weather things, some kids being hopeful. Um, Collins was a hero here this past week by calling school off on Friday. I mean, they're ready to carry him out on their shoulders, I think. So, um, and with that, you know, as Nine alluded to, planning for next year. Um we will start those registration meetings with um grades 6 through 12 the week of February 2nd through 6th. Um our new counselor Joe Staer has
023been working his tail end off to get a new registration guide for um completely revamped um very much user friendly um for parents. It helps students identify one of four pathways basically that upon entering high school that gearing classes towards and classes are identified as to what pathway they follow. Um this isn't new um in the state of Minnesota but it will be new for uh St. CLA to have that outwardly. And then um with that, we're kind of doing a revamp of our careers classes that we have in 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade um to align more with trying to expose students to different classes that maybe they hadn't thought about taking. Um so registration will be a little interesting. I know that um teachers during this time on the high school side
024always get a little bit antsy because if we're student centered, kids are going to tell us what classes they want, which ones they don't want. And when Mr. Collins alluded to, it could mean FTE shifting. Um I'm confident it won't be that big of drastic changes, but it'll also mean that students might have to take a class that maybe they never thought about taking because that's what's available to them. Um and when the state has continued to add more requirements to us, we will have a new course um next year called reading and writing foundations or foundations of reading and writing um that every freshman take. Um that's in response to the read act and identifying these students, but also in response to identifying through our teachers that a lot of our juniors and seniors
025are academically strong, but writing is an area that they need more work in. So um and again that's going to be a requirement for all ninth graders and then likely 10th graders if they did not meet on their MCA or um on their CAT exam that we give them three times a year as part of the read. So when the state required interventions for all that's kind of our high school response to what we're doing beyond everyday classroom interventions but again Mr. Stoppers put a ton of time into that registration guide and I want to give him a lot of credit for that because it's an undertaking that needed to happen and I attempted to make happen last year and he's taking it this year and going full team ahead. So that's all I got
026for you. >> New registration guys with track sounds like a huge step up improvement where we were. So, thank you for that. >> Um, >> people who sit on the, uh, teacher negotiations committee, they know that I was asked by the by the teachers, could there be a calendar committee started again? Um, hasn't been since I came here. It's been the 10K committee planning the calendar with input from the principles and I said, "Sure, we'll we'll plan it." I met with uh the president Kerry and they're going to get together a committee and start working on a choice agree to did he agree or did and I say you're the rookie you're doing >> I think we did >> um so we'll be putting something together as always uh a calendar committee or 10 columns
027that comes before the board but you haven't a recommendation you can um go on your own too so that'll be coming hopefully in February just want to let you know on negotiations Tonight I would like to following the meeting meet with the board just for 10 minutes to uh give a little bit more discussion on the teaching negotiations updates. We're meeting next week on February 4th with them. We could go into close session and then reopen because we have a short crowd here tonight. I just rather the board meeting be over. We just go and meet if that's okay with those two. Um so the as I said the teacher negotiations we got a couple meetings. We started late. It's been going fine. We're going to meet again on February 4th, MSEA. We've probably had
028four or five meetings and we're in mediation on February 18th. Um, so that's where those two updates are at. MVED. The only reason I wanted to put on that for sure is to remind Karen and Doug to connect at the end of the meeting about the next board meeting in February. Um, because Doug's gonna he volunteered at the last board meeting. >> Yeah. Well, that's why we're gonna have this conversation. I have on my list. >> So that's why I put it on here to make sure that we have this discussion right after the meeting tonight. And then the emergency school mapping project, I'd say probably about nine months ago. Um county every 5 years have to go through a a FEMA organizational study. And of course, in order to get FEMA grants, which we
029got, you should attend some of those meetings so that they can do the proper proper work. And one of the things that the state wants to do, and it's a it's a really great idea. that's very work intensive on the state and the county's part is to do an emergency school mapping projects of all the schools within the county. And so we'll have uh Eric Weller here from Birth County. We'll have some other law enforcement here on Wednesday. And then there's one or two people from the state of Minnesota that come in and they map out the whole school, which is a great idea. uh they map out where cameras are, they map out where um alarms are, and they just want to have that in their database in case anything serious came up, they
030could pull it right up on their on their iPad. So, we'll be doing that on Wednesday. So, that's my report. >> Awesome. All right. boards. >> You want to fill in there? >> Sure. >> One thing that is starting February 3rd, that's our meeting at 6:30. So, uh the fire department 170 calls last year and our last meeting they had seven calls for the year starting out. So, um, we went over everything. You know, every year you got whatever kind of like that. I don't think we're going to get a new car in the fire. I don't mean if you haven't been in there lately, you go in like the rest lights. It's painted and it's really bright. So, and then we're going to wait until we get snow and stuff. stuff like that. So,
031>> yeah. One thing we did is so uh there's a $350 for bearing fee. We raised it to because you want to put a fence in or you want to put in maybe yard stuff raise that because When you look at it, what it cost us to come for the meetings and stuff, we'll go backwards. We're losing money for you know that >> they were given Uh the wrong word we need to get to come in check house. >> Yes. Anyway, we had to do one of those because the guy that was doing it spent six months on the floor. So we just decided to find someone else. >> Okay, cool. retired. >> Yeah. >> So that meeting will be February 3rd at 6:30. >> Okay. >> Here's the thing is it's there's a good
032chance probably get more talked about that. >> We haven't here's the thing is and at the one meeting they had a rescue call on Sunday. So you're going down 83 past and you're out in the country out there probably uh about a mile and a half south and you're going to go east probably two miles. You're almost in the water district got called up because of the dispatching they call it. You know what I mean? >> That's kind of nobody showing up for it. Well, I guess they should use the county line for dispatch. >> Well, here's the thing is it's not going to be just all right. You have to it's going to take a lot of time to build this because you have to go back in to get everybody >> redistric. >>
033Will that will that increase fees then as well? I presume I of course they can't try to find they can't film and they're trying to do whatever they can to get people to come out like it's a responsibility like when you start doing all your training you know you got so many hours you got to put in stuff like We'll see what happens. Appreciate that. >> All right. With that, >> I I just I just have one question here about the u the foundation in the gym. Is there any update on that? >> No, there's been no more movement. So, we're going to look at point. >> Okay. Been a while since I've been on Sunday. Thanks. Any other open formations? All right, with that the next regular board meeting will be held here on
034February 23rd at 6 p.m. Motion to the meeting. >> So motion by Connie. Do a second. >> Second. Second by Mick. All in favor say I. All >> opposed at 6:34.