REGULAR MEETING, Unofficial Minutes – Board of Education, October 10, 2018Ind. School District 739, Kimball, MN
Vice Chair Zipoy opened the meeting at 6:00 p.m. with members Becker, Waldorf, and Meyer present. Davis and Schreiner were absent. The Pledge of Allegiance was said by all.
Motion by Becker, seconded by Meyer to approve the agenda as amended. Zipoy added a report of the Activities Committee. MC
Celebrations and success of students and staff included congratulations to Carolyn Schlawin and Tracy Theis being nominated Outstanding Educational Support Staff. They will be recognized at an event sponsored by Resource Training & Solutions on November 14th. There were five new students inducted into the National Honor Society on Sunday evening. JV football won in overtime, and fall sports are moving along with only a couple more games before playoffs.
Motion by Meyer, seconded by Waldorf, to approve the Consent Agenda. Motion Carried. The Consent Agenda included:
• Approve minutes from the September 19, 2018 Regular meeting
• Approval of Bills
• Treasurer’s and Quarterly Reports
• Accept FY18 Annual Audit as presented at the September 19th meeting
• Approve winter coaching assignments: One-Act Play – Kenzie Traurig; Boys’ Basketball – Head – Jay Klein, Assistant – Neil Helgeson, 9th – Jordan Schleper, 8th – Jake Gagnon, 7th – Barry Strand, Volunteer – Preston Peglow; Girls’ Basketball – Head – Jeremy Kuechle, Assistant – Joe Stangle, 9th – Brooke Merten, 8th – Becky Ellinger, 7th – Barry Strand; Wrestling – Head – David Joseph, Assistant – Jesse Lesnau, Jr. High – Joe Anderson, Volunteers – Marcus Hammer, Quentin Berres, Devon Kelley, Jordan Joseph, Doug Joseph, Jonathan Kerzman
Mr. Widvey shared Ms. Johnson’s report due to her being at parent-teacher conferences. Students and staff are a bit squirrely with the recent weather. There has been a lot of indoor recess. The first after school gathering was held for staff with a scavenger hunt. It was a fun activity and there were ice cream sundaes and floats to share after. Conferences are this evening and on Monday the 15th. Hamburgers are being provided by Schiefelbein Farms with all proceeds going to the Kimball Senior Scholarship fund. Teachers are busy working in their PLC’s developing Standards Based Report Cards. Ms. Johnson is working with Ms. Merten to develop Standards Based Grading for phy-ed for grades K-5. The Homeless Survey for MDE has also been completed. Coming up on Friday, 5th Grade is attending Shrek the Musical at St. John’s in the morning, Kindergarten travels to the Fire Station also in the morning, and it is Grandparents’ Day starting at 1:30 p.m.
Ms. Bonnifield reported that the high school has been busy. More than $2,500 was raised with the Change Wars fund raiser during Homecoming week, benefiting the Kimball Library fund. As stated earlier, there were five new inductees into the National Honor Society. Mr. Stangle is the advisor of this organization and does a nice job with it. The District Advisory Committee will be meeting on Monday. The Curriculum Cycle is being re-written and is proving to be a bit challenging. October is National Bullying Prevention Month. On October 24th in recognition of Unity Day, staff and students are being asked to wear orange. There will be a presentation for parents on the topic of sex trafficking on October 29th, the same night as high school parent-teacher conferences. Information will be sent home with report cards providing information on a sex trafficking presentation for students allowing parents to opt out for their student.
Member Zipoy asked about the possibility of holding a college and career fair event of some type during conferences; if not this fall, possibly in the spring.
Mr. Widvey thanked Mr. Zipoy for his efforts in getting some school crossing signage on highway 55 in front of the high school. MnDOT is working on this. Thank you to Nancy, Keri, and the district office staff for all of their help in his transition from principal to superintendent. The Central Minnesota Conference is losing Pierz, and are hoping that Royalton will join CMC. The Royalton school board votes on this next Monday. Kimball was not selected to receive a School Safety Grant in this round of applications. While attending a MASA workshop, Mr. Widvey attending a session on Special Education Funding and the Cross-Subsidy costs. Currently Kimball spends about $600,000 from the general fund to cover special education costs not covered by state or federal funding. Another session was on World’s Best Workforce, but this was more of a sales pitch than informative. There was also a presentation on sex trafficking put on by a group out of Worthington. The local Meet & Confer committee meetings will see some change. In recent years the committee has primarily worked on the calendar. Moving forward, elementary and high school staff will provide issues and concerns to their building reps who will work with their principals to either resolve them or move them to the agenda. The principals and superintendent will put the agenda together for the quarterly meetings. The next meeting is scheduled for November 5th, with other dates to follow. The calendar may continue to be completed through this committee. The Department of Education is changing the state report card to include a narrative that tells great things happening in the district.
Member Zipoy reported on the recent Activities Committee meeting.
Motion by Becker, seconded by Waldorf to accept a $402 donation from Paul Keymer for the robotics program. MC Motion by Becker, seconded by Meyer to accept resignation received from Alicia Fenske, elementary paraprofessional, effective October 5, 2018. MC The next Regular School Board meeting is at 6:00 pm on November 14, and the next Benton-Stearns Education District meetings are on October 17, and November 14, at 3:30. Motion by Meyer, seconded by Waldorf to adjourn at 6:46 p.m.
Published in the Tri-County News Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018.