The Murray County Central School Board voted in favor of moving its next meeting back a week to Monday, May 15 in order to accommodate the special election canvassing process, which needs to take place between May 12-19.
The board also approved a resolution establishing an absentee ballot location and a resolution appointing election judges for the special election on Tuesday, May 9.
In new business, the board approved six action items, including approval of Blue Cross Blue Shield as the district’s health insurance provider for 2023-24. Prior to the vote, MCC Superintendent Joe Meyer shared details about the bidding and selection process, noting that bids among the five companies were all over the board. While currently with HealthPartners, Blue Cross Blue Shield had the lowest rate — an increase of 13.8% — so it made sense to make switch. Meyer explained that employees will take on the first 4% increase, as already negotiated on, and that the remaining 9.8% will be split equally between the district and each employee.
Plans include deductibles of $2,600, $5,200 and $6,350, along with a $12,700 deductible for a family plan, with a wider network of providers that staff can go to, Meyer said. For dental, the district is staying with HealthPartners, whose rates only went up slightly — just over $2 for a single and about $6.40 for a family.
The board then approved the third-grade field trip to Air Madness in Sioux Falls, followed by approval of the lone bakery bid (Pan O Gold), lone legal bid (Murray County Editorial Group), lone spraying bid (Boerboom Seed) and lone lawn-mowing bid (Darren Veldhuisen). The district didn’t receive any dairy bids from vendors.
Board members started off the April meeting by approving the agenda, minutes and claims, as part of the consent agenda. Business director Lisa Rademacher said she anticipates the credit card being used frequently this spring as there are a lot of activities scheduled. Rademacher highlighted the quarterly report, sharing that the budget seemed to be on track, with revenues at 73% of the budget and expenditures at 71% of the budget. Right now, the district is only short $3,553.
Rademacher also noted that with the cash flow, the rate went up again a little bit. “We did take $50,000 from the scholarship fund and invest it in a CD, getting 4.1% interest for 15 months,” she said. “That could be another scholarship or two, so that’ll be good.” The student activity report followed. Rademacher said very little budgeting is done with that but wondered if it could be a good learning tool for students to look back over prior years and decide how they want to budget their money.
Meyer’s personnel recommendations include the addition of five certified staff and two classified staff, along with three resignations, all of which the board approved. Stacey Baedke will serve as licensed school counselor, Autumn Mogler will be a first-grade teacher and Rachel Sheldahl will be the secondary choir instructor, having moved Christie Gergen back to elementary music. The district gains another veteran elementary teacher with Bridget Kluis, who agreed to come back from a leave of absence. Christina Walker will be put on overload in order to handle the online learning/credit recovery, which is currently being held by Lindy Larson. Meyer said Larson is being moved back to a full-time special education teacher.
Continued from Page 1 The board then moved on to informational items reported by the administration. Elementary Principal Patrick Freeman said enrollment was at 379, still a plus-8 for the year. MCA testing begins April 12. Plans are being worked on for getting summer enrichment activities scheduled. Different session ideas include STEM, OG groups, cribbage, kindergarten camp and so on. May 5 is kindergarten round-up. Current enrollment in kindergarten is 46 and there are five in junior kindergarten.
Freeman followed up last month’s presentation of LETRS training with a comprehensive proposal for the board to consider as he’s hoping to implement that for the 2023-24 school year. Freeman reiterated that LETRS is science-based reading and is relatively new in the last few years. While there are more details to be worked out, Freeman has coordinated with Meyer to establish tentative training times for staff, most of which would be completed during PLC time. The K-3 teachers would need an extra two hours per month, so they would receive a $25 per hour stipend at the end of the year if they complete the training and pass the quizzes with 80% or higher. Freeman acknowledged that there is a hefty cost associated with the implementation of LETRS but strongly believes that it really does deliver and that funding will likely come from a variety of grants.
Principal Jake Scandrett reported that MCAs had started at the high school last week and were going pretty well. Testing will continue through May 10. MCC juniors were given the ACT test on April 4. Severe Weather Awareness Week is scheduled for April 17-21, with the annual tornado drill slated for April 20. FFA Week is also the week of April 17-21. Many fun activities are scheduled, including truck judging, ag olympics, drive your tractor to school day and dress-up days. Prom is slated for April 29. The theme is “A Rustic Moment.” The evening starts with a banquet at Key Largo, from 5:30-7:30 p.m., and grand march at 8 p.m. Afterward, a dance goes until 11:30 p.m. Scandrett said junior class parents are planning the after prom activities, which include a hypnotist, an inflatable wrecking ball, an obstacle course, laser tag, the Amazing Race and more.
The senior class trip is on May 12. Many fun activities, such as go carts, paintball, Mall of America and a Twins game, are planned. End of the year planning/graduation letters were sent out to seniors. Five students will be taking advantage of earning free college credits this summer. The introduction to medical careers course through partner Murray County Medical Center is again being offered. “We have the highest number we’ve ever had for this course, at 19,” Scandrett said. “That’s phenomenal.”
Meyer reported in his legislative update that both the House and Senate advanced their respective omnibus bills, showing an increase in E-12 education funding by $2.514 billion, of which $300 million is allocated for early education. While the budget targets are very similar in dollar amounts, Meyer said there are significant differences between the two bills. The most notable is the per pupil formula amounts and tying the formula to inflation (the House plan). Several policy provisions with unfunded mandates have gone away, though some still remain. One of them, extending unemployment insurance to hourly school employees, could strap an annual cost of $250,000 to the district’s budget.
With two additional full snow days and one additional late start, Meyer said the last day with students will be Friday, June 2 (a half day) and the last day for staff will be Monday, June 5. The district utilized five e-learning days. In all, there were six snow days, four late starts and one early out. In a gym floor update, board members learned that preliminary drawings — recommendations from coaches, athletic director James Wajer and administration — are being worked on and that there is still time to make changes after reviewing them.
Regarding the levy referendum, Meyer reported that two PowerPoint presentations had been created to help circulate information and that required vote notices and “fast fact” sheets had been mailed out to all eligible voters/property owners. Information has also been published on the district’s website, on social media and in local newspapers in addition to being shared on the radio.
Two board members — Lauren Biegler and Sue Streff — volunteered to present diplomas at graduation. Just prior to making a motion to go into closed session to discuss the superintendent evaluation, the board approved a resolution accepting donations: Bruce Haken $200 Gym Floor, David & Debbie (Zinnel) Biren $500 Gym Floor, Three Ministries $1,950 Backpack Program, Rosemary LeTendre $100 Music Department, Softball Boosters $1,822.05 Softball Nets, Anonymous $1,621.13 7/8 Basketball Shirts, Joyce & Kevin Schreier $3,542 Scholarships, Viola C Larson Foundation $10,872.92 Scholarships, Music Boosters $250 Scholarship, Jeff & Jill Doose $500 Scholarship, Hadley Farmer’s Elevator $1,000 Scholarships, Sitt & Grin Photography/Monica Ackerman $375 Elementary Student Activity.
