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   Northland School Board members met Wednesday, Sept. 18 for their regular meeting. With school only having been in session for two and a half weeks there wasn’t a great deal to report from administrators.

   Elementary Principal Janessa Green stated the beginning of the year has been a whirlwind and everyone is excited to be back in the building. It was mentioned currently the support room isn’t officially open therefore, if a behavior arises that needs attention the support room para will go to the classroom and watch the class so the teacher can work with the student one on one. Green also mentioned the new middle school format is working really well and the students are excited to be rotating classrooms and working with different teachers. 

   High School Principal/Superintendent Mary Yakibchuk shared an update on the purchase of new buses. The school has been scheduled to receive a new bus for quite some time, however the buses are back-ordered. Currently the school is slated to now receive their new bus by February 2025, however, Yakibchuk mentioned a company has informed them they should have some buses in stock by the end of the year. Therefore, Yakibchuk informed the board she has tentatively reserved one so they can get back on schedule with rotating buses out every other year. 

   Yakibchuk also informed the board that she was able to cover the leave of absence by a current bus driver that was requested for the end of the year. However, some of those covering that route are activity bus drivers so the school may need to utilize Nortran to cover the transportation to and from games.

   During the personnel portion of the meeting the board discussed new positions, resignations, reinstating positions and new hires. Due to some of the early childhood students needing more attention the board approved creating a paraprofessional position, which will be funded through the revised professional services contract between Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and Northland Community School Early Childhood program for 2024-2025 school year that was approved. There was also discussion regarding approving a request for a leave of absence for Angie Hare, paraprofessional. After brief discussion,  this request was denied on a roll call vote which resulted in the resignation of Hare and the board approving the resignation effective Nov. 1. The board also accepted the resignation of Izabella Bishop as prom advisor, a parental leave request from Brittany McClelland from Jan. 20, 2025 through Apr. 22, 2025 and the intent to retire from special education teacher Kathy Birt, effective June 4, 2025.

   The board approved numerous hires during the meeting those including: Amy Williams as paraprofessional, effective Oct. 7; Madison Shepard as building sub for 2024-2025 school year; Jasmine Gackstetter for paraprofessional, effective Sept. 16; Joe Wagner as 9-month custodian, effective Sept. 23 and Joseph Herbert as 12-month custodian, effective Oct. 7. 

   Yakibchuk requested the board consider reinstating a 0.5 FTE kitchen helper position which was eliminated during last month’s board meeting. She mentioned the kitchen staff thought they would try to save money and see if they could eliminate that extra helper, but have found out during the first couple of weeks they do need the assistance. Therefore, the board unanimously approved reinstating that position and posting for it.

   In other Board action:

   • Set the proposed levy limitation and certification at the maximum and set the Truth in Taxation meeting for Dec. 18 at 6:30 p.m.

   • Approved the Teacher Development and Evaluation Plan.

   • Approved the 2024-2025 Cass County Children’s Initiative Interagency Agreement.

   The board has scheduled the following meetings: the regular meeting Wed., Oct. 16 at 5:30 p.m.; work session, Wed., Nov. 6 at 5:30 p.m. and the Truth in Taxation meeting Wed., Dec. 18 at 6:30 p.m., all meetings are held at Northland High School.

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