The Murray County Central School Board met on Monday, July 12th. All Board members were present and the agenda was approved. The meeting minutes from the June 14th meeting were reviewed and approved. The financials were also reviewed. Personnel changes included the hiring of Brittany Berndt for the open 5th grade position and Caitlyn Harmsen for the High School Math position, as well as, the rehire of Mark Carlson and the extra assignment to Larisa Smith for the Summer session. They also accepted the resignation of Kristy Baker from Elementary. The Board also approved the annual designation of “official depositories”, to Minnwest Bank Slayton and Lake Wilson, State Bank of Chandler and First National Bank Slayton. They next discussed the Minnesota High School League Membership for 2021-2022. The renewal was approved, and the Board is aware of the increase in cost due to COVID. The last item of consent agenda items was to approve the submittal of the 2021-2022 Literacy Plan. Elementary Principal Todd Burlingame explained the process to the Board. He, along with Nancy Boerboom, have worked to get the plan together and set the expectations for this next year.
Burlingame provided an update to the Board on what has been happening at the elementary level this summer. The Due North Summer School session started July 6th with 37 students taking part. The extended school year program has 7 students qualified. There are 7 students signed up for the Jr. Kindergarten program this next year. Registration for this upcoming school year will happen on August 10th and 11th.
Jake Scandrett also gave the Board an update on what has been happening at the high school level. He was happy to report they have an instructor for the Medical Careers class. Monica VanOtterloo will be taking over the class this next year. There are still several openings for coaching opportunities that they continue to advertise for. There are 12 students partaking in the summer school session to regain credits that may have been lost during COVID. The CEO Program continues to move forward and MCC will be partnering with Marshall for this program. It will not begin until the Fall ‘22 year.
Superintendent Joe Meyer was next on the agenda. He provided the Board with his update. The State Legislative session has wrapped up and there will be some increases in funding in certain areas. The summer building/cleaning continues on track. Trevor Rosenbrook bought the old dust collector machine from the school. The annual audit will take place the middle of August.
Old Business for the evening included the second reading of Policy’s 516, 614-615, 617- 621, 623-624, and 701. The final reading and acceptance of Policy’s 427, 501-510 occurred. Board Chair Dan Woldt next inquired of the Board what they would like to do next regarding the Mascot topic. It was decided to form a small work group and decide what next steps should be.
Moving on to New Business; the first item of action was to call for snow removal bids. The current person who has done snow removal for the school district in the past will no longer be doing it. Meyer wanted to start as soon as possible to fill this so as to be best prepared. The Board next discussed the sub pay for teachers, paras and kitchen staff. They approved $125 per day for teachers, Step 1 for para’s and $12 per hour for kitchen staff. They next reviewed the 2021-2022 High School Activities Handbook.
Activity participation fees did increase to $60 per event this year with a family limit of $300. They also discussed ticket prices. Students will now be $40 for a season pass and Adults will be $75. Board member Robin Gilbertson asked if the district has ever done a Family Pass before. This was discussed and it was agreed to offer a Family Pass this coming year for $225.
Other updates to the handbook include the verbiage for student driving for events as well as the uniform purchasing rotation. Both Scandrett and Burlingame updated the Board on the date and small wording changes to their portions of the handbook as well.
The Board next approved the resolution accepting the donations for the past month. These include Coborn’s 30.30 ECFE, Lake Wilson Lions 300.00 Scholarship, Jerry Braun 210.00* Athletics, Todd Scotting 148.15 Unpaid lunch balances, Max Meyer 35.05 Unpaid lunch balances, Mary Morin 21.30 Unpaid lunch balances and Anonymous 102.75 Unpaid lunch balances.
The last item to discuss before going into closed session was the Annual Long Term Facility Maintenance Plan Resolution. This is updated each year and they are funds the district is allowed to go in the negative for and are able to use them on keeping the older building updated. The dollar amount they receive each years is dependent on the year of the building which Meyer stated is coming close to 100 years. At this time it shows the district coming to a positive balance after 2022. Which is sooner than they had originally planned.
With no other business, the meeting was adjourned. The next School Board meeting will be August 9th at 6pm.
