School Board Minutes

Red Rock Central District No. 2884

Monday, March 21, 2011

The regular monthly meeting of the Board of Education, District No. 2884, was held in the elementary school library in Jeffers on Monday, March 21, 2011. Members present were: Clarke, Erickson, Johnson, Kelsey, Rogotzke, and Stavnes. Bierl was absent. A quorum of 6 was present. Superintendent Brennan, Principal Olson, 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 Clarke and unanimously carried, to approve the agenda as amended, the minutes of the February 22, 2011 meeting and the treasurer’s report.

Lead Teacher Riley’s report is as follows: We celebrated the birthday of Dr. Seuss on March 2^nd. Deb Kuehl from Walnut Grove came over dressed as the “Cat in the Hat,” and read “Green Eggs and Ham” to our entire student body. She had a fun personality and definitely kept our students entertained as she was reading the book. Many of the teachers spoke about this famous author and read many of his books to their students. Several of our students took out Dr. Seuss books to read for Accelerated Reading, too. The cooks helped us out by having green eggs and ham as part of the lunch menu that day. Also on March 2^nd, we had a lyceum with Bud Jefferies who is a record-setting strong man. He did various stunts, proving his strength, involving both students and staff. Toward the end of his program he got serious and spoke to our students about staying away from bullying and also standing up to bullies. His catch phrase was, “Be strong enough to be nice.” Our library is now carpeted and open to our students. It looks very nice. Mrs. Pederson has been busy ordering books, cataloging books, and putting books back onto the new shelving. We are very grateful to have our library back and hope to have an open house soon to publicly thank those who helped us get our library back. The end of the 3^rd quarter is March 25^th. Report cards will be sent home with our elementary students on April 1^st. As soon as the weather gets warmer we will finish our fire drills. We just need 2 more fire drills. We’ll also be completing lock-downs, one evacuation and the annual tornado drill.

Principal Olson gave the following report: The Student Council will sponsor a Food Drive as March is food shelf month. Spring sports are now beginning but will be quite a bit of indoor work for awhile. The Spring Play was well done, with two One Act Plays being presented. The Junior and Senior Knowledge Bowl teams advanced to the Regions and the Senior team placed 5^th out of 30 some teams. Congratulations to those students. The Large Group Music Contest was held at RRC last Wednesday without too much interruption. The Jazz Festival will be held on Tuesday and we will have school. The necessary arrangements have been made to accommodate this. We have many computer upgrades in this building and the Jeffers building as well. Microsoft settlement money was utilized for these welcome additions. Our needs for state testing will be better served with up to date computers. We have also picked up some additional computers, furniture, etc., from excess properties from the Minnesota Department of Ag. The Class Trip is next week. 23 of 37 students will be going on that trip. They are going to Florida this year. Scheduling for next year is started. I always look at numbers to determine which elective classes will run for next year.

March 21, 2011 – Page 2

Upon motion of Clarke, seconded by Stavnes and unanimously carried, to pay claims in the amount of $139,345.19. Receipts were $408,854.03.

Upon motion of Johnson, seconded by Kelsey and unanimously carried, to accept the resignations of Jeff Shaner as Head Girls’ Basketball Coach and Rose Purrington as Elementary Special Education Teacher and to thank them for their years of service to the District.

Upon motion of Kelsey, seconded by Erickson and unanimously carried, to acknowledge and accept the RRC Education Association as the sole agent for the local teachers during this negotiation period.

Upon motion of Clarke, seconded by Kelsey and unanimously carried, to honor the request for an expenditure of $1,504 plus transportation to help support the FCCLA members attending the State STAR event competition and convention.

Discussion was held regarding conducting all Board of Education meetings at the District Office (Lamberton) and to compensate those Board Members traveling over a specific number of miles away. This item was tabled for this meeting and will be revisited at the April meeting.

Upon motion of Clarke and seconded by Stavnes, to approve the following changes to our school calendar due to 4 Snow Days which need to be made up.

March 22^nd – make a school day from a workday with our Jazz Festival

April 25^th – make a school day (Monday after Easter)

June 6^th and 7^th – will become school days

Voting yes: Clarke, Erickson, Johnson, and Stavnes. Voting no: Kelsey and Rogotzke. Absent: Bierl. Motion carried.

Open discussion was held regarding students being called in as sick/tired after competing in an event the preceding evening. No Doctor’s note will now be needed in order for the student to be able to participate in the next event. Superintendent Brennan mentioned that the $600 rebate from the energy company would be used to help out with the donations for the lights in the Jeffers gym. Monthly Board Agendas are available in the District office and also can be heard on local radio stations. Mr. Pack will be invited to come to an upcoming Board meeting to discuss the pros and cons of moving all varsity sports to the Lamberton building.

Upon motion of Clarke, seconded by Stavnes and unanimously carried, to adjourn at 8:24 p.m.

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Alan J. Clarke, Clerk Denise Clarke, Recorder