School Board Minutes

Red Rock Central District No. 2884

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The regular monthly meeting of the Board of Education, District No. 2884, was held in the Board Room in Lamberton on Tuesday, February 22, 2011. Members present were: Bierl, Clarke, Erickson, Johnson, Kelsey, and Rogotzke. Stavnes was absent. A quorum of 6 was present. Superintendent Brennan, Principal Olson, Lead Teacher Riley, Sue Olson, Tom Neperman, Denise Clarke, and Joe Dietl were also in attendance.

Chairman Rogotzke called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Upon motion of Johnson, seconded by Kelsey and unanimously carried, to approve the agenda as amended, the minutes of the January 10, 2011 meeting, and the treasurer’s report.

Lead Teacher Riley’s report: Just before Christmas vacation I had gotten a call from Jessica Paul of the Hy-Vee Smart Points Team. She informed me that our elementary school had won the grand prize in their smart points program for 2010. Individuals who shopped at Hy-Vee during the time the program was running, could earn points for the school of their choice and help them win a Smart Board 680 series interactive white board and Smart Notebook collaborative learning software. She told me that a Hy-Vee store near us would be calling us to make arrangements to present the Smart Board to our school. Dan Steenhoek of the Windom Hy-Vee presented the Smart Board to us on January 6^th. All of our staff and students were in the gym to witness this presentation. I then asked Mr. Steenhoek if he could give us the name of the person who had contributed the most points for RRC because we wanted to thank that person. It turned out to be Jenifer Goblish. We are so very grateful to her and could never thank her enough. We will once again be entering the Zaner-Bloser Handwriting contest. For reasons of which we are not aware, they had moved the deadline for entries to January 23^rd. The contest took place in March in the past. We have had a lot of success in this contest, many times having students who won at the state level and we even had one win at the national level. Our library now has all of the shelves installed and many of the books – some new and those we could save – put into place. The carpet should be installed starting tomorrow. February is a short month but we have many special days to celebrate. We had Valentine’s Day, it’s “I Love to Read” month, Dental Health month, Black History month, President’s Day, and we also celebrated the 100^th Day of school. The 100^th Day was supposed to be on February 14^th, but it kept moving up till February 22^nd due to snow days. I applied to the Science Museum of Minnesota for them to come to Jeffers to present two free assemblies, - one for K-2 and one for 3-5. If you were one of the schools chosen for these free assemblies, the 4^th and 5^th graders of the same school would also be given a free trip to the museum for an overnight stay. While they are there, they will be given a pizza supper and a continental breakfast, also free of charge. Long story short, our school was chosen. Kim Higgins from the Science Museum came to Jeffers on February 16^th and gave a presentation about dinosaurs to our K-2^nd graders and one on electricity to our 3^rd-5^th graders. Both were fantastic programs and we heard many positive comments from our students. April 7^th and 8^th are the dates for our 4^th and 5^th graders to travel to the museum for their overnight

February 22, 2011 – Page 2

program. The museum also furnishes the transportation so we will not be spending a cent for this entire package. We were so thrilled to be one of the schools chosen. Our kindergarten through 5^th graders took the winter NWEA tests in reading, language, and math. These are just short inventory tests to see how the children are doing in these areas before they take them in the spring. These tests only have 20 questions compared to the 54 they have in the spring and only last approximately 20-25 minutes.

Superintendent Brennan and Tom Neperman discussed the bids for new busses that were received from Hoglund Bus Co., Inc., North Central Bus Sales, and Superior Transit. They recommended the International busses through Hoglund.

Upon motion of Clarke, seconded by Kelsey and unanimously carried, to accept the bid from Hoglund Bus Company, Inc. from Monticello, MN, and to purchase two 2011 77 passenger International – Cummins Engine – busses at $78,462 each plus a projected cost of $5,100 excise tax and $100 for title and registration through a lease purchase agreement.

Superintendent Brennan and Tom Neperman discussed replacing the lights in the Jeffers gym with donated funds. The Board asked Dr. Brennan and Mr. Neperman to find out the total cost of such a project and how much the donation would cover. No action on this item at the current meeting. It will be revisited at the next Board meeting.

Principal Olson reported the following. The 6-8 Concert was given up on because of the bad weather. They have promised to put in a couple of songs they were working on in the Spring Concert. The One-Act play finished in 3^rd place and did not advance. They are already working on a short spring play which will be performed along with the One-Act play on the same evening. Scheduling for next year will begin soon. The teachers are updating the course offering book. Snow week went well. Coronation after the game and making all seniors eligible for this honor worked well. Mr. G and I are sitting through webinars on getting our curriculum into a state-wide data base. More will be reported on this as we learn more. On one of our snow days, the staff came in for a workday. We had a presentation by Mr. Wegman and Mr. Runck on what needs to be done to get students logged on to new computers and ready for spring testing. I attended the winter meeting of the SWMASSP in Marshall. We discussed many common concerns and had a presentation on future technology use in our schools. I also gained information on some web-sites the staff may use for resources on many educational issues, especially in their Q-Comp clusters. The Bobcat wrestling team has won the Region and will be participating in the State Tournament next Thursday. Their first match is at 9:00 against Kasson-Mantorville at the Excel Center. We are still discussing school on this day, leaning toward having school but offering a chaperoned bus for students.

Upon motion of Clarke, seconded by Bierl and unanimously carried, to pay January 2011 claims in the amount of $102,106.09. Receipts were $440,242.02.

Upon motion of Clarke, seconded by Johnson and unanimously carried, to pay February 2011 claims in the amount of $159,378.87. Receipts were $563,770.90.

February 22, 2011 – Page 3

Upon motion of Kelsey, seconded by Bierl and unanimously carried, to approve the 2011-2012 school calendar as presented.

Upon motion of Clarke, seconded by Erickson and unanimously carried, to approve the hiring of Ashley Fennern as Assistant Softball Coach.

Upon motion of Erickson, seconded by Johnson and unanimously carried, to approve the proposed budget of $43,258.40 for the Southwest Integration Collaberative as presented.

The Board discussed the regulation to our absence policy whereby if a student stays home the morning after a sporting event they need to see a doctor or be ineligible to play their next game. This regulation will be modified and will be on the agenda for Board approval at the next Board meeting.

Upon motion of Johnson, seconded by Bierl and unanimously carried, to continue with the Board Compensation that has been in effect:

$50 per Board/Committee meeting; $100 per full day meeting; $400 Chairperson, $200 Clerk, $200 Treasurer; $.40 per mile.

Discussion was held regarding the following: Girls and boys sports sharing the Lamberton gym, Superintendent reporting to the board monthly or quarterly on the budget, referendum dollars coming in May and again in November, the role of the Board and the Superintendent, sending a group email for informative reasons, and saving those emails for the press.

Upon motion of Clarke, seconded by Johnson and unanimously carried, to go into Closed Session at 8:57 p.m. to discuss personnel issues.

Upon motion of Clarke, seconded by Johnson and unanimously carried, to come out of Closed Session at 9:22 p.m.

Upon motion of Erickson, seconded by Kelsey and unanimously carried, to adjourn at 9:22 p.m.

___________________________________ _____________________________

Alan J. Clarke, Clerk Denise Clarke, Recorder