DISCUSSES GYM FLOOR, START OF SCHOOL YEAR AND MCA TEST SCORES
Murray County Central School Board met on Monday, September 12th. The Board approved the agenda as presented. They reviewed and approved the following consent agenda items: Minutes from the regular board meeting on August 8th and the financials for the month. Personnel changes which included (contract adjustments for Caitlyn Harmsen, Joanna Vogel and Samantha Wynia who have all taken on more duties), Paraprofessional new hire Ashlee Sykora, Elementary Enrichment Coordinator Casey Gass, and Resignation of Deidre Ragan. Also, transportation contracts with 4 families in the district who open enroll their children to Edgerton. There was no one present for open forum.
Informational Item for this month’s meeting included the district updates from the Elementary Principal, Secondary Principal and Superintendent.
Patrick Freemen, elementary principal was happy to report a great first week of school as everyone gets used to new routines. There was amazing attendance to the start of year conferences with only a few grades not having 100% attendance. The fundraiser event will kick off on the 3rd of October with the Fun Run event scheduled for October 14th. Thank you to the over 20 businesses who have donated to make sure every student gets a shirt. Bus safety will be September 14th & 15th. The students will have a half day on the 21st for a teacher training event.
Jacob Scandrett also updated the Board. The year started with 338 students this is up 9 from last year. Workshop week for staff was a success. New goals were discussed as were multiple trainings provided. Thank you too everyone who volunteered their time to sit at the MCC booth at the fair this year. Homecoming week kicks off on Saturday September 24th at 6pm with the Powder Puff game.
Scandrett and Freeman presented the Board with this past year’s data mine numbers for the MCA testing scores. There were a few areas of concern, but overall MCC Students, Staff and Parents continue to show how strong MCC is. MCC was not identified as needing any extra services which is a very positive thing. Science scores did struggle for 8th and 10th grade but this is partially due to new curriculum and standards changes that do not align correctly. Scandrett explained that the Science that 8th graders are tested on they do not get taught until 9th grade. This was supposed to be updated on the testing side but with many factors coming into play (i.e. covid being a main one) they are behind schedule. He has talked with the teachers in the Science department, and they have a game plan in place for the next years until the standards have been updated. Even with a difficult testing year for MCC, the students still lead the area in Math, are in the top 3 for reading and middle of the pack for Science. All areas are above the state average. Both the Elementary and High School will focus their goals on improving reading scores for the 20222023 year.
Superintendent Joe Meyer next addressed the Board. The annual back to school picnic was held on the last day of workshops, 95 burgers and 40 hotdogs were grilled. The auditors will be on-site September 13/14 for the FY22 audit. He provided the Board with an update on the gym floor. What is currently in place is a very old flooring system that has lasted much longer than experts in the field would have expected. The school won’t be able to refinish it another time and replacement is in the future. With that being said, the floor is still usable and can be used. Meyer explained with photos and video the current type of floor MCC has. He also was able to show how the floor would have to be replaced which will be a large undertaking. When its time to replace, they anticipate it taking all summer to complete. He currently has one bid from H2I Group who is able to do the entire project start to finish. They are waiting on another quote to come in from JWOOD Floors. Other companies that Meyer contacted weren’t interested in the project. The question the Board needs to answer is when do they undertake replacing the floor and how do they pay for it? Different fundraising ideas were discussed but no decisions were made at this time. The cost will be over $300,000 for the project.
There were 7 individuals who have filed for the two open positions on the school board. They include Tony Clarke, Heather Hoekman, Brent Miller, Jennifer Nelson, Michael Reemtsma, Maddy Robinson and Jeffrey Williams. There is a possibility of an open forum happening but no details on that at this time. It would be done by a community group and happen a couple weeks prior to the election in November.
The next item to discuss was an update on the Technology Support position. At this time, there were no qualified candidates. One option is to contract with a technology service company. After researching this option, K12itc, Inc. – Albert is their model for offering technology services to K-12 school districts. It is who Meyer would recommend for the district. He presented the Board with an agreement from them to discuss. It would provide all the services the district needs including the cyber security piece. It would however not include any “on-site” service other than the initial onboarding timeframe. The district will need to designate an on-site liaison for this. They will be available from 6am to 6pm by phone or chat, manage all of districts servers, switches, wireless access point and networks. They ask for a 5 year agreement which is $118,434.84 per year with a one-time set up fee of $23,530.20. The Board approved moving forward with K12itc, Inc. for their technology services.
The board next discussed and approved the FY22 and FY23 busing contracts with Ludolph Transportation. Meyer reported that negotiations were held on August 25th with Tony Clarke and Maddy Robinson representing the Board. There continues to be a driver shortage and they will run 8 routes again this year. Some of these routes will be slightly longer to accommodate the needs of the district.
The proposed 2022 pay 2023 tax levy was set at the max amount of 3.42%. The Truth in Taxation Meeting was also set for Monday, December 12, 2022 at 6:00 prior to the school board meeting.
FFA trip requests were approved for the year. The Board also approved the Band trip to Sioux Falls for the Festival of Bands event they attend each year. Thank you to all of those who donated this past month: Shetek Dental Care 500.00 Medical Careers, Anonymous 100.00 Student Lunch, Murray County Foundation 7500.00 Scholarship, Randy & Tammy Dooley 100.00 Scholarship, Kiwanis Club of Slayton 1000.00 Scholarship, Jon & Ruth Hoyme 25.00 Memorial Gift, MCC Staff 375.00 Scholarship.
The next school board meeting will be Monday, October 10th at 6pm.
