Northland School Board: Vaping dominates discussion of board members

   Amber Osterhoudt was recognized at the regular Northland School Board meeting Thursday, October 27th for organizing school forest day and all the other staff that made the day successful. Donations were also accepted from the following: $500 from TH Signs for athletic programs; $250 from Boy River Hobo Club for Homecoming; $500 from Outing Chamber of Commerce for Homecoming; $250 from Emily Outing 50 Lakes Area Lions for Homecoming; $100 from Gold Standard Transportation for Homecoming; flowers from Alissa Tschida for Homecoming; $200 from Land ‘O Lakes Marine for Homecoming; $100 in pop and water from Cenex for Homecoming and water from TC’s Foods for Homecoming. Board Chair Marc Ruyak also  thanked the parents for their hard work to make Homecoming week a success and enjoyable for the students.

   Ruyak requested the board discuss and possibly take action regarding vaping on school property after he witnessed several students gathered in a bathroom shove their hands in their pockets when he walked in and the area smelling like smoke. During this event he learned that staff could do nothing unless they physically saw or caught a student vaping. It was then mentioned only Administration is allowed to search a student and even then they can only ask students to empty pockets, shoes and backpacks. Administration cannot physically search a student, therefore, vapes are not always found on students. 

   Ruyak then asked what the punishment was for vaping in the school. Athletic Director/Elementary Principal Janessa Green stated the punishment used to be a three day suspension, but it was felt the students didn’t learn anything from this punishment. Therefore, the punishment is now one day of in-school suspension where the student has to watch a video regarding vaping and take a quiz. 

   The possibility of calling law enforcement was inquired and staff said they only call law enforcement when the vape has THC due to the fact it is an illegal drug. The board asked the staff to possibly call law enforcement every time due to all vaping being illegal for under age students and the possibility of them having to pay the ticket would deter them. Other possible actions to be considered were acquiring a wand to use to detect vapes during a search or hiring a School Resource Officer (SRO), which is a police officer assigned to a school. It was mentioned that during discussion previously, the school did not have money in the budget to hire a SRO, and in order to hire one sacrifices would have to be made in teaching staff. It was asked if there were possible grants the school could apply for to hire an SRO, superintendent Mary Yakibchuk stated she would research that. Therefore, no decisions were made on how to proceed during the board meeting, but it was a starting point for possibilities, with staff bringing back possible solutions to the board at a future meeting.

   The board also heard various departmental reports from staff. Green shared the records and an update on the fall sport seasons; mentioned that the staff won the annual student vs. staff volleyball tournament during homecoming week for the second year in a row; and recommended to the board the Student-Athlete handbook be updated to add behavior guidelines, which would hold athletes to a higher standard for both academics and behavior. The board all agreed and asked for the additions to be added and brought to next months meeting for a first reading.

   Green also shared information on the new STEAM program at the school by saying a lot of fun activities have been happening for the elementary students. Behavior statistics for the beginning of the school year were also shared with the board by saying 93% of elementary students have zero to one referral, 6% have two to five referrals and 2% have over six referrals. The top behavior referral was for behavior with disruption being the second behavior referral.

   In other business, the school board:

   • Accepted a bid in the amount of $501,700 from Thielen Heating for the Indoor Air Quality project. This was previously approved last spring, but all bids came in over budget, therefore, the project was put on hold to be re-bid.

   • Accepted the resignation of Katelyn Edstrom as High School Student Leadership Advisor and Senior Class Advisor, effective Sept. 20.

   • Approved Stacey McKinney as Senior Class Advisor.

   • Approved a change in Elementary Student Leadership Advisor to Erin Diedrich and Terri Shepard as co-chairs.

   • Accepted the resignation of Jesse Denver, Mechanic/Transportation Supervisor, effective Sept. 30 and Johnathan Gowell, Junior High Basketball Coach, effective Oct. 21.

   • Accepted the retirement of Kristen Balvin, Executive Secretary to the Superintendent, effective Dec. 15 and Laura Figgins, teacher, at the end of the 22-23 school year.

   • Approved the hire of Chancelor Eliason, paraprofessional with a start date of Nov. 1 and Zachary Larson, Mechanic/Transportation Supervisor with a start date of Nov. 14.

   The board has scheduled the following meetings: Work session, Thurs., Nov. 3 at 5:30 p.m.; staff development committee, Fri., Nov. 4 at 7:00 a.m.; Community Ed advisory council, Wed., Nov. 9 at 5:30 p.m.; Meet and Confer, Wed., Nov. 16 at 3:30 p.m.; the regular meeting, Thurs., Nov. 17 at 5:30 p.m.; policy committee, Mon., Nov. 21 at 3:00 p.m. and safety (AWAIR) committee, Tues., Nov. 29 at 7:00 a.m., all meetings are held at Northland High School.