By Crystal Reith The Murray County Central School Board meeting began with Superintendent Joe Meyer presenting personnel recommendations for two full lane change requests by Kirsten Harms and Kate DeLong, a leave of absence request by Payton Bleyenberg, a resignation submitted by Brian Gehrls and two early retirements submitted by Tina Bengtson and Tracey Kuhlman.
Elementary Principal Patrick Freeman reported that there are 372 students currently enrolled in the elementary. MCC Elementary was selected to participate in National Assessment of Educational Progress testing for fourth grade reading and math. Approximately half of the fourth-grade students will be randomly selected to complete the reading assessment, while the other half will complete the math assessment. Results are reported at the national and state level rather than at the individual, classroom or school level. Testing will take place on Thursday, Feb. 12.
Elementary will celebrate with a winter PBIS for students who have met expectations. Students in kindergarten through fourth grade will attend a bowling trip while students in grades fifth and sixth will go skating at the Red Baron Arena in Marshall. As part of the ongoing focus on staff culture and morale, a PBIS staff event featuring DJ trivia and DJ bingo.
February is I Love to Read month at MCC Elementary. A monthly reading calendar was shared with staff outlining daily reading challenges and themed activities to encourage literacy engagement across all grade levels. Students are participating in a variety of reading activities both at school and at home. A book fair will take place at the end of the month, providing students with an opportunity to explore new books and continue building excitement around reading.
The annual fifth and sixth grade activity night will be Friday, Feb. 27 from 6 to 9 p.m. The theme is Match-Up Madness and students are encouraged to dress the same as a friend.
Staffing for the 2026-2027 school year is being explored. Freeman attended the annual MESPA Conference in Bloomington.
High School Principal Jacob Scandrett reported that there are 319 students enrolled in the high school. Scandrett attended a principal’s conference last week. Students completed the Capti Read Basix assessments and staff are waiting for data interpretation and interventions recommendations. A thank you was given to Mrs. Larson and Mr. Hartle for their leadership in coordinating Snow Week activities. Snow Week ended with a winter formal.
Parent teacher conferences will be held on March 2 from 3:30 to 7 p.m. in the practice gym. March 2 is also a no school day for students, but it will be an in-service day for teachers. MCA test security training is underway for testing proctors. MCA testing is scheduled to begin mid-March.
Class registration meetings were held and registration for classes will start the week of February 23. There are still staff openings for an English, Math and SpEd teacher.
Student recruitment for the 2026-2027 school year CEO program is underway. Through a partnership with the Southwest Minnesota State University business program, specifically entrepreneurial studies, students can earn up to six paid college credits for participating in the program.
Twelve students participated in the local spelling bee. The first-place winner was Zachary Haken and Khloe Galvez placed second. Zach will represent MCC at regionals on February 17 in Marshall.
Superintendent Joe Meyer attended the MSBA Annual Convention in January. The 2026 legislative session starts on Tuesday, Feb. 17 and runs through May 18. Greg Scheitel, the school mental health/ social worker continues to work through the Emily’s Hope curriculum in all grades. Another negotiation meeting was held with the cooks and custodians group that resulted in a tentative agreement. The EA presented a final counter-offer to the district and the final offer was presented to the EA on February 5. A note was shared from a Red Rock Central grandparent praising the sportsmanship of the boys’ basketball team.
Athletic Director James Wajer reported that winter sports and activities are winding down. The elementary dance and cheer dance performances will be held on Friday, Feb. 13. The One Act play placed third in subsections. Triple A award winners are Teague Meyer and Rachael Huso. The spring sports eligibility meeting will be held on Monday, March 2 at 7 p.m. in the gym.
Facilities committee reported on their findings as they explored both buildings. Items discussed included a roof replacement above kindergarten rooms and the roof above the HS social studies wing, broken and unlevel sidewalk outside of the gym entrance at Central, smaller areas of sidewalk around the perimeter of the building and a complete boiler water and chemical replacement at Central, paving the new parking lot, portable AC units for the remaining rooms and new doors by the kindergarten rooms to courtyard. Bids will be sought for each of those building projects.
The proposed 2026-2027 school calendar was approved. The first day of school will be September 8 for students in grades seven through 12 and September 10 for students in grades kindergarten through sixth. The last day of school will be May 25, 2027.
The board approved a request by the first-grade teachers for an out of state field trip to the Sioux Falls Zoo.
The board gratefully accepted the following donations: Sheila Kuball - $100 for football student activity, Jason & Stacy Wendorff - $500 for football student activity, MCC Sports Boosters - $2,500 for football student activity, Murray Farms LLP - $750 for FFA, SW MN Arts Council - $4,000 for drama grant, anonymous $500 for speech student activity, fall festival folks - $200 for children’s fund, Apex Clean Energy - $2,000 for kindergarten graduation grant, Kiwanis Club - $125 winter clothing program, Kiwanis Club - $100 for the backpack program, $1,142 MSHSL Foundation for athletics, Minnwest Bank - $100 for Little Rebels, Lake Wilson Lodge #262 - $1,000 for scholarship, Luke Beers family $5,000 for scholarship, Murray County Pork Producers - $250 for scholarship, Tom Ackerman - $1,500 for the Anita Ackerman Scholarship, Angie Peterson $1,000 for scholarship, Charities Aid Foundation - $50 for elementary student activity, Box Tops for Education - $88.30 for elementary student activity, Shelly Jones - $500 for girls basketball activity, Currie Town & Country - $2,000 for Culture Club, and Jason & Jennifer Kirchner - $180 for FFA.
The next monthly meeting of the MCC School Board is scheduled for Monday, March 9 at 6 p.m. at the high school library.
