School Board Minutes
Red Rock Central District No. 2884
Monday, January 24, 2000
The regular monthly meeting of the Board of Education, District No. 2884, was held
in the elementary school library in Jeffers on Monday, January 24, 2000. Members
present were: Clarke, Johnson, Mattison, Porter, and Therkilsen. Gransee and Imker
were tardy. Superintendent John Brennan, Principal Benz, Guy Dammann, Joe Dietl, Deb
Furth, Peggy Hubley, Nancy Kissner, Bryce Pack, Leonard Runck, Jeff Shaner, Judy
Westerman and Lucille Hagert were also in attendance.
Temporary Chairperson Superintendent Brennan called the meeting to order at 7:12
p.m.
Clarke nominated Johnson for Chairman, Imker seconded the nomination. Upon motion
of Gransee, nominations ceased and a unanimous ballot was cast for Johnson as Chairman.
Motion carried.
Imker nominated Gransee for Vice Chairman, Therkilsen seconded the nomination. Upon
motion of Clarke, nominations ceased and a unanimous ballot was cast for Gransee
as Vice-Chairman. Motion carried.
Therkilsen nominated Clarke for Clerk, Porter seconded the nomination. Upon motion
of Gransee nominations ceased and a unanimous ballot was cast for Clarke as Clerk.
Clarke nominated Mattison for Treasurer, Therkilsen seconded the nomination. Upon
motion of Gransee nominations ceased and a unanimous ballot was cast for Mattison
as Treasurer.
Upon motion of Gransee, seconded by Porter and unanimously carried, to approve the
following committee assignments as discussed: MSHSL - Clarke with Imker as alternate;
Legislative - Therkilsen; CRTC - Therkilsen and Gransee with Mattison as alternate;
Negotiations and Personnel - Certified Staff: Johnson, Therkilsen and Gransee with
Mattison as alternate; Non-certified Staff: Gransee, Clarke and Johnson with Mattison
as alternate; Community Education and Pool - Clarke and Porter with Mattison as alternate; SAC - Imker and Porter with Gransee as alternate; DMRVTM Education District -
Johnson; RRCNET/Technology - Clarke and Porter with Therkilsen as alternate; Agriculture
- Porter and Gransee; Staff Development Central Committee - Imker with Porter as
alternate; Finance Committee - Mattison, Johnson and Imker; Redwood County Collaborative/
Mental Health Collaborative - Gransee with Johnson as alternate.
Upon motion of Clarke, seconded by Mattison and unanimously carried, to set the Board
compensation the same as last year: Chairman $400, Clerk $200, Treasurer $200, Board/Committee
meetings $50, all day meetings $100, with mileage reimbursed at $0.26 per mile.
Upon motion of Mattison, seconded by Therkilsen and unanimously carried to approve
the agenda as amended.
Upon motion of Gransee, seconded by Porter and unanimously carried, to approve the
minutes of the December 20, 1999 meeting as corrected.
Upon motion of Clarke, seconded by Therkilsen and unanimously carried, to approve
the treasurer's report.
FLA students Molly Arndt, Katie Furth and Daniel Moldan gave an interesting presentation
on their organization and elaborated on some of the many community service activities
in which they have been involved under the guidance of their advisor Mrs. Furth.
They have conducted various fund raisers to help defray expenses while competing
in leadership activities at region, state and national levels.
Page 2 - January 24, 2000
Principal Benz reported the following: The Mock Trial scrimmage held in Jackson on
January 21 went well. Team members will be competing in Redwood Falls on February
1 and in Windom on February 10. One-Act Play Sub-Sections will be held on January
29 at Redwood Valley; a performance for the student body will be given at a later date.
A 7th grader and a 9th grader open enrolled on January 24. The Basic Standards
Test of Written Compositiion will be given on January 26 to the 10th grade and to
any 11th graders who have not passed the test. Report cards will be sent home with students
on February 2. The Basic Standards Reading and Math tests for Grade 8 will be given
February 1 and 3 respectively. Snow Week Coronation will take place January 31.
Sixteen extra-curricular speech students will compete in Sub-Sections in Marshall on
January 27. The Decathlon Team will compete at Regions in St. Cloud on February
1. The January 11 Graduation Standards meeting with Donna Oakey was successful.
A Graduation Standards representative will meet with the Math Department on January 31. Bev
Larson is scheduled for surgery on January 25 and will be out for two weeks. Students
enrolled in PreCalculus class will receive college credits from SSU. Cost is $150
per student plus $50 each for books which will be funded through a Title 2 grant.
An inservice day is scheduled for February 14. Pre-registration is done for the
2000-01 school year. Twenty have signed up for PreCalculus; 15 for Physics; 41 or
more for CRTC; there may be 3 classes of German and Spanish I, II and III.
Principal Johnson's written report is as follows: Personnel from OSHA visited the
Jeffers site and inquired about the construction project as they had received a
call saying asbestos was floating in the building. After a review of the asbestos
management book and visual inspection, they left with enough information, in Mr. Johnson's
opinion, to say that the call was not factual as there was no asbestos floating
in the building and things were being done correctly. Construction is completed
in the 1st through 3rd grade classrooms. Kindergarten, LD, cafeteria and grades 4 and 5 are
yet to be completed as they are waiting for materials. The reading series for next
year has been narrowed to Scholastic or Houghton Mifflin. Title I funding for the
2000-01 school year should be approximately 96% of this year's funds, or $122,116 plus carry-over.
Leonard Runck gave an update on the telephone exchange rate issue for extended area
service among the cites of Jeffers, Lamberton, Sanborn and Storden. A petition
was filed with the Public Utilities Commission in 1997 requesting toll free phone
service within the school district area which includes nine different telephone exchanges.
In an earlier decision, the P.U.C. had suggested that a flat rate of $0.77 per month
per subscriber would be a fair and reasonable charge for this service. The final
ruling has been held up by the telephone companies' objection to this recommendation.
Upon motion of Porter, seconded by Gransee and unanimously carried, to direct Superintendent
Brennan to write a letter to the State of Minnesota Public Utilities Commission endorsing
their original ruling in the telephone exchange rate issue that the rate of $0.77 per subscriber is fair and reasonable.
Upon motion of Clarke, seconded by Gransee and unanimously carried, to pay claims
in the amount of $171,472.70. Receipts were $702,252.57.
Upon motion of Gransee, seconded by Clarke and unanimously carried, to accept the
resignation of Head Custodian Lydell Sik effective February 1, and Elementary Secretary
Donna Eberhart effective June 30, 2000, and thank them for their years of service
to the District.
Upon motion of Therkilsen, seconded by Mattison and unanimously carried, to accept
the recommendation of the administration for the transfer of Lucille Hagert to the
position of Elementary Secretary to replace Donna Eberhardt; and for Deb Pack to
replace Lucille Hagert as a part-time secretary and continue as an Educational Assistant part-time,
with a probation period of one year; and for Giles Riley to replace Lydell Sik as
the head custodian in the Lamberton building, with a probation period of six months.
Page 3 - January 24, 2000
Discussion was held on the following Budget Reduction Recommendations made by Superintendent
Brennan:
Area
Dollar Savings
A. Physical Education $50,000
B. One Section of 4th Grade $48,819
C. Dropping ITV $20,000-$43,000
D. Music Education $15,000
E. Agriculture Education $14,800
F. Secretarial Staff $17,000
$165,619-$188,619
Upon motion of Gransee, seconded by Porter and unanimously carried, to approve the
Budget Reduction Recommendations with the understanding Superintendent Brennan will
arrange meetings with the public to ask for their input on his proposal and bring
back specific recommendations to the Board.
Due to a new law recently passed, a District must initially allocate its general education
and referendum revenue to each building in the District where the children who have
generated the revenue are served.
Motion by Porter and seconded by Mattison to adopt the following resolution: Pursuant
to MN Statutes, Sec. 126C.23, the school board has reallocated general education
revenue for FY200 as specified in the report submitted to CFL. Voting yes - Gransee,
Porter, Therkilsen, Clarke, Johnson and Mattison; voting no - Imker. Motion carried
6-1.
The bleacher situation was discussed at length as the state recently passed legislation
covering all bleachers in the state with a time line as to the correction of the
improper sections. The law requires all school districts and other organizations
owning bleachers to prepare a Certificate of Compliance signed by a certified building
officer or a licensed design professional. This certificate certifies that the bleachers
have had a visual inspection, are in compliance with the new standards and are structurally sound. The bleachers must be re-inspected for compliance every five years.
The District's Bleacher Safety Summary Report is listed below:
- High School Gym Bleachers: Repair and Retrofit Price:
Repair bleachers by installing a toeboard along back walkway, adding guardrail
bars to the side walls, enclosing the back row opening, replacing or
repairing damaged boards and structural members, and also missing wheel stops.
Projected cost: $4-6,000. Replacement cost $102,000.
- Elementary School Gym Bleachers:
Due to the total repair and retrofitting price,with the additional weight and
the age of the units, replacement is recommended. Replacement cost $68,000.
- Softball Field Bleachers:
Due to several structural problems and select building code failures, retrofit
to bring these bleachers up to code is not possible. Replacement cost $22,000.
- Baseball Field - Short Bleachers:
The write-up and evaluation is the same as with the Softball Bleachers.
Replacement cost $4,500.
Page 4 - January 24, 2000
- Baseball Field - Tall Bleachers:
Replacing all damaged structural membeers, replacing any severely damaged boards,
widening the footboards and adding riserboards to row 4 & 5 and installing
guardrails meeting current codes. Projected cost $2,500. Replacement cost
$5,000.
- Football Field Bleachers:
Repair these bleachers by extending the chain link fence on the side guardrails
to close the opening where the foot and reserboards intersect. Projected cost
$150.
It was also noted that mercury is leaking through the gym floor in Lamberton. Replacement
cost for a wooden floor would be $85,000.
Since the bleacher project involves such a significant dollar amount, coupled with
the need of a new gym floor in the high school, the question was asked if donations
from the public could be sought.
Upon motion of Gransee, seconded by Clarke and unanimously carried, to direct the
Finance Committee to look into the bleacher/gym floor matter and make sure the public
is fully informed of the situation and receive their input before deciding on future
actions.
Upon motion of Mattison, seconded by Porter and unanimously carried, to allow the
District to educate an adult student until the end of this school year and extend
their appreciation to the volunteer tutor.
Upon motion of Therkilsen, seconded by Clarke and unanimously carried, to approve
the hiring of Ann Beyer to replace Billie Brockshus who resigned in December 1999.
In the matter of Board Memorials, which had been tabled since the December meeting,
it was recommended the individual board members make voluntary contributions to a
fund which will be used for Board Memorials when needed.
The next regular meeting will be Tuesday, February 22, at 7:30 p.m. in Lamberton.
Upon motion of Porter, seconded by Imker and unanimously carried, to adjourn the meeting
at 9:55 p.m.
Al Clarke, Clerk Lucille Hagert, Recorder