June 10, 2021 at 1:12 p.m.
Northland cancels plans to seek operating referendum in November
Meyers said the district has faced a lot of turmoil recently, and she didn't believe a referendum would get community support. "We need to show the public that we can work together in order to get their support," she said. Meyers told the board she believed the referendum would be a waste of the $20,000 budgeted for that purpose.
Rusty Lilyquist questioned "Wasn't that the main purpose of closing the Longville campus, to get the support to run a referendum this fall?"
Terry Gross, who at the May 20, 2010 meeting, said "There will never be a passing referendum as long as the Longville School is open," said Thursday, "I don't believe we could pass a referendum anyway, so why would we throw that money away?"
From the audience, Mardi Harder asked "Did we save money by closing this facility?" Gross replied, "I didn't do the numbers crunch, but I'm sure we did."
The board followed Meyer's recommendation and will not pursue a November referendum.
Meyers finished her superintendent report with an apology to the teachers, school board and members of the district for her role in the problems and outcome of the reversal of three unrequested leaves of absence.
Enrollment
Principal Joe Akre reported the turnout at the July 8th open house held mainly for families from the recently closed Emily Charter School, was better than he anticipated. Akre said he estimates Northland could gain nine students or more.
Principal Akre gave the board the latest count of students who have enrolled out of ISD #118. To date, Northland has lost five kindergarten students, four in first grade, two second graders, seven third grade students, one each in grades four, five and six, seventh grade has lost three students, and grades eight and nine each lose one, for a total of 26 students.
Harder asked what the revenue loss was on those 26 students. Superintendent Meyers estimated the loss to be $260,000.
In a phone interview Friday, Akre said the district has lost a total of five juniors and seniors students to Post Secondary Enrollment Option (PSEO). For the upcoming school year, Northland High School has signed an agreement with Central Lakes College (CLC) in Brainerd, to participant in the College In Schools (CIS) program. Qualifying juniors and seniors who could take the PSEO option, in which 100 percent of the state funding goes with the student, now have the opportunity to earn college credits at Northland High School. With CIS, approximately 10 percent of state funding would go to CLC, and Northland would keep the remaining funds. Akre said currently the district has 30 seniors who qualify for CIS. Northland staff who have met the criteria to teach CIS classes at Northland will be attending training at CLC in August. Additional student testing for entrance into the program will be held at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year.
Based on current enrollment and the class size policy the board recently approved, Akre said Thursday, this coming school year, the elementary school will consist of two classes in grades kindergarten second and third. Grades one, four and five will have one teacher assisted by a full time paraprofessional. With only 18 students in sixth grade, the class will be staffed by one teacher without the assistance of a full time paraprofessional.
Proposed school board representation plan update
At the June meeting, Dave Kitchenhoff suggested changing board representation within the district. The board gave the go ahead for the school attorney, Kristi Hastings to draft proposals for creating voting districts for ISD #118. Hastings provided three scenarios to be reviewed by the board. Each of the three maps presented, divided the district into three sections. In each plan, the outlined areas encompassed nearly equal voting populations, roughly 1,300 in each sector.
In June, it was proposed there would be representation by a board member from five communities in the district, and two "at large" members. At that time, it was said voters in the district would be able to vote for candidates in all sections. However, that is not the way it will work. Much like the county, which is served by commissioners in five districts, residents in each section would only be able to vote for the school board candidates in their section plus at large candidates. Chairman Bill Hansen said he was in favor of the plan when first presented, but with voters not being able to vote for all candidates from the entire school district, he indicated the plan may not be a good idea after all.
The proposals will be further reviewed by a sub-committee comprised of board members Gross, Kitchenhoff and Lilyquist. They will bring the final proposal to the August meeting. If the question of splitting the district into voting sections is to be placed on the November ballot, it will need to be approved prior to Aug. 20.
Early Retirement
offering
Recently, the board approved offering early retirement to eligible district staff. Five teachers have expressed interest in opting for early retirement, including one science, two special education, one music and one elementary teacher. Superintendent Meyers recommended rescinding the early retirement motion, due to the difficulty in filling science, music and special education teaching positions. Meyers said with it being too close to the start of the new school year, she didn't feel it was in the best interest of the students to proceed with early retirement options. Hansen asked if they rescinded the motion now, is it something the board could pursue for the end of the 2010-2011 school year. The motion to rescind early retirement was made by Kitchenhoff, seconded by Dan Switzer, ending in a 6-1 vote. Lilyquist cast the lone no vote.
Meyers asked for guidance from the board on how they want administration to deal with selling excess materials and equipment. Meyers said when combining everything from the two campuses, there is too much to store than the district has space for. Meyers wanted to know if the board wanted items sold at a rummage-type sale, auction or other method. Gross suggested having the items sold online through K-Bid. Gross said K-Bid will come in to the school, take pictures of the items and post the items online for sale. The items that are sold are subject to a 10 percent commission rate that is paid by the buyer. The board voted to get an estimate from K-Bid on the cost for them to handle online sale of excess equipment.
Family Center
Michelle Tessin with the Northland Area Family Service Center withdrew the family center's request to lease space within Longville Elementary. The family center council is seeking another location in the district. Tessin then requested permission to keep the Longville Skating Rink at its current location. The board voted to approve a five-year agreement with the family center, with the center paying for cost of operation and insurance.
Other board actions and approvals
The future plans for Longville Elementary have not yet been decided. Not all of the government entities which have expressed interest in acquiring the property, have been able to hold public meetings for resident input. The buildings and grounds committee recommended winterizing the Longville campus, in preparation of shutting it down.
The board accepted resignations from Head Volleyball Coach, Jill McKinney; High School Social Worker, Amber Vanderheyden; and Management Paraprofessional, LuCinda Kline.
Athletic/Activities Direction, Shem Daugherty told the board the annual fall sports meeting will be held at the high school on Monday, Aug. 2, 6 p.m. The board approved:
•A quote for new carpet in the high school computer room, at a cost of $4,183.
•A bid from Anderson Glass to replace the north doors for $12,800.
•Bids for milk, propane, #2 fuel oil, #1 and #2 diesel, and snow plowing both Remer and Longville properties.
The next regular school board meeting will be at 7 p.m., on Thursday, Aug. 19, at Northland High School in Remer.[[In-content Ad]]
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