NRHEG School Board
By REED WALLER
Staff Writer
At the organizational meeting of the NRHEG School Board last Thursday, it was reluctantly agreed to set Monday, January 20, Martin Luther King Day, as a make-up day for one of last week’s snow days.
The meeting itself – the first meeting of the year and first in the school’s new boardroom – had originally been scheduled for Monday, Jan. 6, but was postponed when the Governor declared Minnesota’s schools closed that day.
School was closed Tuesday as well, leaving the board with two snow days to reconcile with their calendar, lengthening what should have been a brief meeting.
King Day and Presidents’ Day, the winter Monday holidays, are legislated so that schools may choose to hold classes on that day, if they provide at least an hour of subject-related classroom content. This may be done every other year.The trouble with making such a decision now is that King Day is right around the corner. Education Minnesota representative Deb Bently was present at the meeting to register staff and faculty disapproval of the use of Martin Luther King Day as a makeup day.
“Five to seven people have already made other plans (for the holiday weekend),” Bently reported.
No one seemed pleased with the prospect of undoing a holiday, but the snow day problem has been a challenge for the last few years, with the school calendar running well into June.
“The trouble is,” said board member John Harrington, “this is only the beginning (of the snow season). Who knows how many more snow days there are ahead? We have to use the opportunity.”
“The school calendar is put together by the staff,” said board chair Rick Schultz regretfully, “and we try to remember that it’s their territory. But occasionally things come up that cause problems and we have to decide something that maybe no one’s happy with, but will solve the problem.”
Some discussion ensued regarding what to do about students whose families are committed to holiday trips, and whether it was fair for the school to treat them as unexcused absences.
Monday or Tuesday?
Funding came into question, with Jan. 6 being in the grey area between a snow day and a shutdown day. Supt. Dennis Goodwin and Bently both believed it might still be possible for there to be a calendar waiver or some other form of financial forgiveness forthcoming, so the board set Jan. 6 aside for now and set Jan. 20 as a makeup day for Jan. 7.
Officers and committees
It was unanimously voted to re-elect the current officers:
Rick Schultz – Chairman
Michele Moxon – Vice Chair
Lori Routh – Clerk
Mike Moen – Treasurer
Committee members were reappointed to last year’s positions with one change: Lis Kormann has moved from the Policy Committee to the Building and Grounds Committee, trading places with Michele Moxon.
Finance Committee – Karen Flatness, Mike Moen, Lori Routh
Policy Committee – John Harrington, Rick Schultz, Michele Moxon
Building and Grounds Committee – Lis Kormann, Rick Schultz, Mike Moen
Transportation Committee – John Harrington, Rick Schultz, Michele Moxon
School Activities Committee – John Harrington, Michele Moxon, Lori Routh
Negotiations with the Paraprofessionals Union – John Harrington, Mike Moen, Lis Kormann
Negotiations with the AFSCME Union – John Harrington, Rick Schultz, Karen Flatness
Negotiations with the Certified Staff – Rick Schultz, Lori Routh, Michele Moxon
Other assignments
Other assignments remained the same: Depository is State Bank of New Richland, official newspaper is the NRHEG Star Eagle, board meeting dates and times and board compensation remain the same.
The meeting was adjourned following some informal discussion about using Monsanto grant money to help with a proposed school greenhouse project.
The next regular meeting of the NRHEG school board will be Monday, Jan. 27, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. at New Richland Media Center.