The meeting was called to order by Chair Kersten at 6:31 p.m. All members except Laabs and Peglow present. Member Laabs arrived at 6:44. The Pledge of Allegiance was said by all in attendance. Motion by Stenger, seconded by Kuechle to approve the agenda as amended. A member of the teaching staff requested to address the board following the consent agenda. Member Kuechle requested item (d) be pulled from the consent agenda for discussion. MC Motion by Stenger, seconded by Kuechle to approve payment of the listed bills in the amount of $178,466.17. MC Motion by Kuechle, seconded by VanVleet to approve the consent agenda. MC. The consent agenda included: a. Approve minutes of November 10, 2005 Board Meeting. b. Approve minutes of December 8, 2005 (Truth In Taxation Hearing) Board Meeting. c. Approve leave of absence request submitted by Tammy Weisman, elementary paraprofessional, to begin January 18, 2006 until the end of the school year. d. (Pulled) e. Accept donation received from St. John’s Boys’ Choir covering the transportation expense for 6th Grade to attend St. John’s Boys’ Choir performance. f. Accept donation received from Kimball All Sports Boosters for $510 toward the purchase of a batting cage for Girls’ Softball. Item d. Upon review of details concerning severance compensation, motion by Kuechle, seconded by Stenger to accept a letter from Karen Imholte relinquishing her rights to the secondary principal position. MC Keith Haake addressed the board with concerns the teacher group has in regards to the 05-07 contract that has not yet been settled. Howard Bahn followed up with some brief comments in support of Mr. Haake’s address. Motion by Kuechle, seconded by Stenger to accept resignation received from Amber Markwardt, secondary special education paraprofessional, effective December 21, 2005. MC Motion by Laabs, seconded by Stenger with appreciation, to accept donation of $150 from Mike and Kris Nelson and $250 from Kimball Lions toward the NHS Toys for Tots effort. MC The treasurer’s report was reviewed and discussed. Dr. Thielman reviewed the 2005 Payable 2006 Levy Certification, providing an answer to one of the questions raised at the hearing the prior week. Motion by VanVleet, seconded by Kuechle to certify the Levy as presented. MC Celebrations of students and staff included Elementary students of the month: Abbey Schiefelbein, Talyn Schlueter, Colton Czech, Abby Strodtman, Ben Serbus, Raelynn Callendar, and Katelyn Asfeld. Congratulations to Keith Haake, Cheri Ploof and Mike Linn for the terrific concert and art show on Monday night. Thank you to Melissa Winter for working with Student Government to host the Holiday dance on December 10. Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball as well as wrestling are well underway and doing a good job. Congratulations to Kayla Hinkemeyer, Vanessa Gillman, Lisa Stein, Matt Mayala, Joelle Wysoski, Kyle Messer, Kelsey Klein, Sammi Stewart James, Whitney Thielman, Kate Hoff, and Jeff Miller being selected to participate in One-Act Play. The Speech team has been practicing and is gearing up for their competitions starting soon. Both 7th and 8th grade boys won their game. Thank you to Gary Riess and NHS for sponsoring the Toys for Tots campaign. Mr. Clark reported on Grandparents/Veterans Day activities held on November 11th, National Education Week November 14-18. The School of Excellence committee has begun its work. 5th Grade D.A.R.E. graduation was held. Elementary staff has participated in JMC training in hopes that the report card system will work well this quarter. The third annual Knowledge Bowl meet was held on December 1 hosting 27 teams. There was a full house at both K-3 and 5-6 elementary holiday concert/programs. The 5th graders had their Gingerbread House tours this week. 98 Country radio will be coming in and recording each classroom reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. These recordings will then be played at noon on the radio station in January. A grandparent has a connection with the Howard Lake public access programming making it possible to air the elementary program on that network. Dr. Thielman reported on the Geography Bee scheduled for December 14 was postponed until January 6. There will be a student assembly on December 21 beginning with a Tug-Of-War competition for grades 7-9 and 10-12 – thank you to Nancy Bonnifield and Mike Linn for organizing this event. Following this activity will be a hypnotist. As an update to the review of audit recommendations, Dr. Thielman reported that we are in the process of obtaining copies of other Electronic Funds Transfer policies from other districts as MSBA does not have a good model policy for this. Also, the business office has worked out a process for handling incoming mail and the handling of checks from receipting to depositing to ensure the best segregation of duties possible with the number of employees we have to work with. Another recommendation is to review accounts that use the schools tax ID number. This is taken care of along with the treasurer’s report with a review of the monthly bank statement for this account. Several changes have also been put into place in the payroll process to break up those duties somewhat. Lastly, the deadline for reporting flex expenditures for employees has been extended into January from December 15. A reminder to the board members that the MSBA Winter Conference is January 12 and 13. David Parnell (a speaker on Meth) will present at a student assembly at the high school on January 25. He will also present to parents and community members in the evening this same day. There is a transportation committee meeting scheduled for December 20 at 1:00 p.m. Committee reports included: MASA – Dr. Thielman, SEE – Dr. Thielman Motion by VanVleet to amend the board agenda and close the meeting at 7:52 for negotiations. Seconded by Stenger. MC Motion by VanVleet, seconded by Kuechle to re-open the meeting at 8:40. Motion by VanVleet, seconded by Stenger to adjourn at 8:41 p.m. MC. Marguerite Laabs, Clerk Published in the Tri-County News Thursday, Jan. 26, 2006.
