Murray County Central School Board met in regular session on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025 with all members present. The agenda was approved with no additions. They also approved the minutes from the last meeting, the payment of claims, trial balance summary and cash flow projections. The Superintendent’s personnel recommendations included numerous co-curricular assignments along with a few new para positions that include Aranda Forsberg, Kayla Mihin and Jackie Veldhuisen. Krista Gillette, Brittney Gorter, Isaac Harms, Kirsten Harms and Britta Malchow also had lane changes approved. The board approved the resignation of paraprofessional Casey Gass. Kristin Nau also resigned from her Cross Country coaching position and Jason Wischnak resigned as Knowledge Bowl Advisor. Finally, they approved the Non-Public Transportation rate.
New Business began with the approval of the marching band trip to the Sioux Falls SD competition in October and the approval of the FFA to attend 5 Judging and Leadership events throughout the year. The board approved the estimated maximum amount for Proposed 25 Pay 26 Property Tax Levy. This will be adjusted in December when the actual amount is known. The Truth in Taxation meeting has been scheduled for the regular meeting on Monday Dec. 8, 2025 at 6:00 PM in the Murray County Central High School Library, 2420 28th St. Slayton, MN. The board went on to approve the snow removal bid from Terry Engelkes, which was the lowest of the two bids. He has done it in the past and they have been happy with his work. The last new business was to approve the Resolution Relating to Appointing Election Judges and Absentee Ballot Board Members. There was no one present for Public Forum.
Elementary Principal Patrick Freeman gave his report. Back to school conferences were well attended with much positive feedback. Nancy Boerboom and the paras tested K-6 students in oral fluency. The teachers completed LETRS Unit 8 Live Training during workshops and will finish the post test this month. Paraprofessionals completed parts 1 and 2 of the Read Act Training. The other sessions will be completed on the Oct. 6 In-Service Day. Over 25 businesses have donated money for the shirts for a fundraiser, which will begin Sept. 29th with the Fun Run held on October 10th. Principal Freeman will be attending the Special Ed Law Conference and MESPA Leadership Retreat in September. Fifth and sixth grade students will attend the Environmental Fair on Sept. 24th.
Secondary Principal Jake Scandrett began his report by thanking the staff for their hard work in preparing the building for the return of students. The 7th grade orientation was once again a big success. High School opening day enrollment was 330, up 8 from the end of last year. Workshop week went well for the teachers. It included some great speakers and topics like AI training, a new Charlotte Danielson rubric and culturally relevant teaching. He thanked the businesses that provided food for the staff as well as the staff who manned the booth at the fair. Ninth and tenth grade students in the Careers classes will be attending the Career Expo at MN West in Worthington on Sept. 23.
Principals Scandrett and Freeman attended the Data Mine workshop. This is used to prepare academic goals for the year. They shared the results with the board. Overall, we are still well above the state average, 3rd in math in SW Minnesota and 2nd in reading. As always, there are areas that we can still improve. New goals will be made. Elementary will continue to work on math scores. High school will concentrate on math proficiency as well. One thing connected to test results that was noted is that our free and reduced lunch numbers have gone down slightly. Certain funding is often tied to free and reduced lunches. Now that lunch is free for everyone, there are less people filling out the forms. They would encourage you to fill out the forms anyway. Forms are available in the school offices.
Superintendent Joe Meyer began by thanking everyone for a good beginning to the school year. The auditors will be starting the FY 25 audit remotely on Sept. 8. This should be ready by the November board meeting. Finance Officer Katie Will and Meyer will be attending the annual Tax Levy workshop on Sept. 23 at SWWC in Marshall. On Mon. Sept. 15, Meyer will be joining city, county and hospital leaders to form a planning team/community partnership on upcoming community initiatives, share goals for sustainable development and local engagement and hear from leaders to gather input and align efforts. He next moved on to a negotiations report. He has met with the teachers three times and they would like to end talks until after the election. Cooks/Custodians are waiting until the teachers are settled and he is waiting to hear back from the paraprofessionals. Lastly, he gave an election update. Ballots have arrived. The first of two community meetings regarding the referendum will be Wed. Sept. 17th at 6:00pm. Financial advisors from Ahlers will be present to answer questions. Meyer has received some good feedback about the tax calculator on our website working well to see they exact impact it will have on individuals. The second meeting will by October 22, 2025.
Absentee in person voting can begin on Fri. Sept. 19th in the district office during normal business hours. Mailings of notice of the election to every taxpayer in the district needs to go out between Sept. 20 and Oct. 20. The election judges were approved at this meeting.
Activities Director James Wajer reported that 3rd and 4th grade flag football, and 5th and 6th grade tackle football have begun. Punt, Pass and Kick will happen soon. There are 184 students (7-12) involved in fall sports. Cheer-11(7-12), Volleyball-38 (9-12), 25 (7-8), Football- 54 (9-12), 34 (7-8), Cross Country-26 (7-12), 16 boys, 10 girls. The Junior Varsity Referees/ Umpires from last year, Mike and Chris LeTendre, Clayton Hartle, Chris Baumberger and himself, James Wajer donated their earnings back to the school to purchase a digital down marker. The marching band has started morning practices. They have 3 contests in the next 4 weeks. The school musical this year will be Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. The performances will be Nov.7th-9th.
The board gratefully accepted the following donations: Anonymous - $325 – David Kittredge Memorial; Currie Town & Country Foundation - $2,000 – Baseball; Sally Berg - $1,000 – Children’s Fund; St. Ann’s Faith Formation $609 – Backpack Program; Carlson’s Northside $100 – Fun Run Sponsor; Hospice of Murray County - $300 - Fun Run Sponsor; Katie Jacobson - $300 - Fun Run Sponsor; Jeff and Jill Doose - $500 – Scholarship; Murray County Foundation - $8,500 – Scholarship; Staff Donation - $10 – Scholarship.
The next regular board meeting is Oct. 13, 2025. The meeting was adjourned.
