Minutes 3-26-2007

The Minnewaska Community School Board met on March 26^th, 2007 at 7:00 pm at the Minnewaska Lutheran Home Commons.

President Lara Amundson called the meeting to order at 7:00.  Board members present were Lara Amundson, Nancy Rapp, Kurt Amundson, Mike Scott, Steve Dinsmore, Kurt Swensrud, Ernie Watson, Robin Trott and Vanessa Larson.  Board members absent were ValRae Boe and Darin Pederson.  Dyanne Parsons, Jane Swalbach, Jennifer Hemis, Jerry Lee, Snooky Berg, and Virgil Amundson were also present.

A motion was made by Kurt S. and second by Ernie to accept the agenda.  Motion carried.  A motion was made by Mike and second by Steve to accept the meeting minutes from the February regular board meeting.  Motion carried.

The treasurer’s report was given.  The current balance is 51,535.61.  A motion was made by Ernie and second by Robin to accept the report as given.  Motion carried.

Dyanne Parsons gave her start up coordinators report:

-         March 6^th: Met with Cori Wahl, Project Director/Special Ed. Director with the MN Special Ed. Project.  They will provide services to our district and be available when we need assistance in all areas of special education.  This was also the public meeting date.  Steve Dess was present to also speak to those present.  The public meeting was well attended

-         March 12^th:  A radio ad was recorded to air on KMGK in Glenwood.

-         March 13^th:  A representative from KXRA radio in Alexandria presented information on radio ad packages.  A 13-week package will run 3,802.00 dollars for 30 ads per week.  The board decided to ask for a much smaller package that would cost in the range of 500 dollars.  Also discussed at this time was the Business Almanac, which is a supplement of the Pope County Tribune.  A full-page ad would be 310 dollars.  The board felt that advertising has been placed in the area and regional guides, which would cover the same area and people.  Mike will contact Mediacom and ask about a television commercial.

-         March 14^th:  Conducted interviews for elementary positions.

-         March 15^th:  Dyanne attended a grant-writing workshop.

-         March 19^th:  An interview with Gretchen Schlosser from the West Central Tribune was done with an article in the March 21^st edition.

-         March 23^rd:  Conducted more interviews for elementary positions.  At this time it is the primary concern for the kindergarten teaching position.  58 applications have been received.

-         April 4^th there will be training on the school lunch program in New Ulm.  April 19^th is a mandatory charter school meeting in Roseville.  April 24^th will be our kindergarten round up at 6:30pm. 

o       Lease aid will be complete in April and will be submitted to MDE.

o       Will be working with new staff to finalize curriculum choices.

o       Finalize handbooks.

o       Will be checking with T. Vincent’s and continuing to talk to Tom’s Food Pride about catering options.

o       Gladys Ness Brang Foundation applications are due in April.  Dyanne will also check into Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

o       Started a newsletter to parents.

o       Will be a school store with sales of sweatshirts at this time.

Robin brought to the board the MN Association of Environmental Educators.  It is a cost of 60 dollars to become members, but then up to three people can attend their annual meeting at a reduced rate.  This years meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn in Alexandria on April 27^th and 28^th.  A motion was made by Kurt S. and second by Steve to become members.  The motion carried.  There was discussion of who would like to attend the two day meetings.  A motion was made by Ernie and second by Mike to send up to 3 people at a cost of 150 dollars per person.  The motion carried.  Dyanne, Robin, and Kurt S. are currently interested.

Old Business:

-         Board training dates are April 10^th at Bemidji and April 12^th at Onamia both for Phase III training.  Ernie attended the Phase III training in St. Cloud and discussed some important points that he learned.

-         The fundraising committee was established and needs to start meeting.  Mike will head this.  The grant writing committee was also established months ago and we will ask Joy to head this committee.  Robin will also be added to the grant writing committee.

New Business:

-         The MN Special Education Project has been contacted about providing special education services for us.  There will be a cost of 5,000 dollars per year for this service along with a 500-dollar cost for software.  A motion was made by Robin and second by Vanessa to contract our services through them.  The motion carried.

-         It was a unanimous decision of the hiring committee to offer the position of kindergarten teacher to Mary Kay Frederickson with negotiations continuing on salary and benefits.  A motion was made by Mike and second by Kurt S. to hire Mary Kay.  The motion carried.  The kindergarten round up will be on April 24^th at 6:30 at the hospital building with letters being sent to all potential kindergarten students families.

-         The lease with Kensington Equities was discussed.  A motion was made by Kurt S. and second by Kurt A. to approve the proposed lease.  The motion carried.  We will gather on April 20^th at 5:00pm to move items into the building and help arrange the kindergarten room.

-         Ernie discussed the policy adoption process.  There will need to be two readings of the policies usually with a month between and approval of the policy on the second reading.  We will need to begin this immediately.  Ernie has started this process but the policy committee will meet this week to further this.

A special meeting will be held on April 2^nd at 7:00pm at the chamber office.  This meeting will be approval of kindergarten room supply spending and also for the first reading of the most important policies.

The regular meeting will be April 23^rd at MLH at 7:00pm.