School
Board Minutes
Red
Rock Central District No. 2884
Tuesday,
May 22, 2012
The regular
monthly meeting of the Board of Education, District No. 2884, was held in the
elementary library in Jeffers on Tuesday, May 22, 2012. Members present were: Bierl, Clarke, Erickson, Johnson, Kelsey,
Rogotzke, and Stavnes. Superintendent
Brennan, Principal Goetstouwers, Bryce Pack, Jake Jenniges,
Joe Dietl, and Denise Clarke 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
Stavnes, seconded by Erickson and unanimously carried, to amend the minutes of
the April 16, 2012 meeting.
Upon motion of
Clarke, seconded by Kelsey and unanimously carried, to approve the agenda, the
amended minutes of the April 16, 2012 meeting, and the treasurer’s report.
Lead Teacher
Riley’s report was distributed to the Board:
The integration trip to the Environmental Camp near Lake Carlos was once
again a very educational and entertaining trip for our 5th
graders. They left on May 2nd
and returned to Jeffers on May 4th.
We had a packed house for our elementary spring concert on May 7th. This spring our concert was directed by Miss
Van Maasdam. The 5th grade band began to
play at 6:30 that evening. Many of them
performed solos, duets, or in small groups.
Then the entire 5th grade band played several
selections. Around 7:00 the rest of our
K-5th grade students took turns on the stage to sing songs they had
been practicing. The concert ended with
all of the children singing a final group song.
When the concert was over, the children’s art work was on display for
the parents to see. We are very grateful
to Miss Van Maasdam for stepping in and delivering such an entertaining program
for our students and their parents.
Thanks goes to Mr. Hubert as well, for the many hours he put in helping
our students create their art projects and displaying those projects around the
gym area. All testing for the Jeffers
site will be completed on May 24th.
On May 21st, a representative from the Zaner-Bloser
Handwriting Company came to present state awards to a 2nd grader,
Shane Rogers, and a 3rd grader, Nicole Schroepfer. Shane is the son of Joseph and Eng Rogers
from Storden, and Nicole is the daughter of Patrick and
Marlene Schroepfer of Lamberton. They were chosen as the best in handwriting
for their grade level in the entire state of Minnesota. We are very proud of Shane and Nicole. When that presentation was finished, Karen Beranek from the Lamberton Library, came to speak with our
students about her summer reading program.
Kindergarten round up was also on May 21st. It started out with each family getting their
child registered and turning in all necessary papers. Then everyone met in the gym where I introduced
our new Cottonwood County nurse, Kortney Krick, our new Lead Teacher, Mrs. Deb Altermatt,
and our kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Paula Paplow. From there, Mrs. Paplow took over and gave
the families a tour of the school. The
children then were engaged in activities while Mrs. Paplow spoke to the
parents. Approximately nine families did
attend. So far, we are expecting twelve
kindergarteners in the fall. May 25 will
be kindergarten graduation. The program
will begin at 1:00 in the gym with the theme being “Under the Sea.” There will be 28 kindergarteners
graduating. After this graduation, the
kindergarteners are done for the year.
Also on Friday, our 4th and 5th graders will be
heading to Lamberton to tour the school and see where their classrooms will be
and other areas of the building in which they will be involved. Now that our 2011-2012 school year is winding
down, I would like to thank the teachers, support staff, and the students for
all of the effort they put
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2 – May 22, 2012
forth to make
this a successful year. I would
especially like to thank Mrs. Julie Erickson, Mrs. Val Graff, Mr. George
Hansen, and Mr. Jeff Shaner for the many years they dedicated themselves to our
students and our school district. They
were all team players and didn’t hesitate to put in the extra hours of work it
sometimes took to help our students and school be the best they could be. We wish them much happiness in their
retirements. This is my last report to
the school board. This school district
has been very good to me. It gave me the
opportunity to begin my teaching career right out of college and I’ve been here
for 38 years. I want to thank you and
the administration for all you do for our school and for the difficult
decisions you need to make. I was always
proud to say I was a teacher from Lamberton, Sanborn/Lamberton, and finally,
Red Rock Central.
Principal
Goetstouwers presented the following report:
To update the Board on the CPR grant, Mr. Bartholomaus will be certified
this summer and will implement it next year in the 10 grade and possibly work
it into the 7th and 8th grade. State FCCLA was a great success!! Many gold medals were earned in different
areas. The Junior High Parli-Pro team qualified to attend nationals with 85%
proficiency, but RRC policy states they need 90% to advance. Although disappointed, these 8th
grade girls seem very motivated and excited to reach that 90+%! RRC has always had high standards and we will
continue to uphold high standards. State
FFA went well for our teams, but extremely well for one individual! Skyler Vold received the state Star award in Agri-science! Red Rock Central received a plaque in
recognition of him! The Minnesota
Wrestling Coaches Association proudly recognizes Wabasso/Red
Rock Central as a GOLD academic team for achieving an average GPA of 3.71 for
the 2011-2012 season. Commencement is
Sunday, May 27th at 2 p.m.
There are 31 potential graduates.
The last day for seniors is tomorrow.
Baccalaureate was on May 20th. The clergy did a great job! Two seniors had nice speeches! Peggy Martius and
the music department sounded great as usual!
The Senior Honor Banquet was last night.
Many awards were received by very gifted children for many different
reasons! Our students received the most
dollars from organizational scholarship from my records, had the highest
average amount of dollars per student, but the lowest total amount of
collegiate scholarships (perhaps because of state funding). It’s obvious our RRC staff goes well beyond the
call of duty to create opportunities for success to our students! The spring concert and Fine Arts evenings
have been excellent! It’s amazing to
hear and see the talented young children.
Band numbers are up – 31 participants this year, with 40 currently
signed up for next year. Choir numbers
are also up – 70 this year, with 79 currently signed up for next year. The National Honor Society inducted 6 more
students: Jaycee Nelson, Shanaya Prins, and Lance Mattison
(11th graders) and Katelyn Hagan, Cassandra Erickson, and Melanie Kedl (10th graders). Preliminary MCA results are coming in and
we’re seeing GREAT results at the middle school. We will receive high school math scores in
the near future and reading will come at the end of June. The 6th grade NWEA results are
in! These tests are taken in the fall
and spring. Our students are showing
improvements in all three categories – Math (largest growth), Reading, and
Language Arts. We continue to be
comfortably above state norms! All
emergency drills are taken care of! The
4th and 5th graders will visit the Lamberton campus this
Friday. They will meet the teachers,
receive tours from our student council, stop at 8 different locations and
meeting the staff. An Open House will be
offered for the parents and students in the summer (more information to
come). Our last day of school is May 30th. There will be an awards assembly for our
students in grades 7-11. Overall, it’s
been a wonderful first year as principal!
I have been very fortunate to have our students, staff, Dr. Brennan and
the community. I’m looking forward to
building off of this year and continuing to keep RRC great and find ways to
somehow make it better!
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3 – May 22, 2012
Bryce Pack and
Jake Jenniges, representing the Lamberton Longstockings, addressed the Board regarding their request
to sell alcohol, as a fundraiser, at the Longstockings
baseball games which are played on the High School baseball field. Much discussion followed and the Board approved
Superintendent Brennan and the Longstockings to look
into the matter further.
Upon motion of
Stavnes, seconded by Bierl and unanimously carried, to pay claims in the amount
of $80,388.93. Receipts were
$415,542.48.
Upon motion of
Kelsey, seconded by Clarke and unanimously carried, to hire Tasha Frasher to
teacher summer band lessons.
Upon motion of
Clarke, seconded by Johnson and unanimously carried, to hire the auditing firm
of Kinner & Company LTD to perform the school
district audit for the 2011-2012 school year at a cost not to exceed $13,200.
Upon motion of
Johnson and seconded by Kelsey to approve a $3.00 increase in wages for Denise
Clarke beginning July 1, 2012 due to added responsibilities with the District’s
payroll in addition to her role as executive secretary. Voting yes:
Bierl, Johnson, Kelsey, Rogotzke.
Voting no: Erickson and Stavnes. Clarke abstained from voting. Motion carried.
Upon motion of
Clarke, seconded by Stavnes and unanimously carried, to approve the potential
31 members of the Senior Class for graduation.
Upon motion of
Clarke, seconded by Erickson and unanimously carried, approve the Local
Literacy Plan for Grades K-3 as written and to place the plan on our website as
mandated by state law.
Upon motion of
Erickson, seconded by Clarke and unanimously carried, to accept the quote from
Continental Western Group through the Wanda State Agency’s office for the
school insurance for the 2012-2013 school year totaling $44,783, with the
exception of the Worker’s Comp. with Terrorism through Ram Mutual at $25,464.
Superintendent
Brennan showed the Board notes that were written by members of the FCCLA
thanking the Board for their contribution to the FCCLA State Convention.
The Board would
like to thank all of the retiring teachers for their years of service to our
School District.
Discussion was
held regarding open enrollment, playground equipment at Lamberton, Smartboards, purchase of used furniture for classrooms, FFA
program, and looping.
Upon motion of
Clarke, seconded by Johnson and unanimously carried, to adjourn at 9:15 p.m.
_________________________________ ________________________________
Alan J. Clarke,
Clerk Denise
Clarke, Recorder