By REED WALLER
Staff Writer
Funding
Following up on October 10’s final Facilities Task Force meeting, representatives presented the NRHEG Board of Education with their recommendations for a Facilities Plan at the regular board meeting October 15.
A Long-term (10 years) Facilities Plan must be in place in order for the district to qualify for Long Term Facilities Maintenance Revenue, which has replaced the former Health and Safety revenue program.
The recommendation, as described last week in the Star Eagle, was to go ahead with a bond referendum for $9.1 million to cover the top five areas on the prioritized list generated by the Task Force and the survey results. These areas cover a new secure entrance for Ellendale, deferred maintenance to the infrastructure at both sites, upgrades to meet the Americans With Disabilities Act (elevators, ramps etc), Science classroom upgrades and needed equipment, and Career and Technical classroom improvements, including necessary work on the Shop area and upgrading of the culinary classroom to professional level.
This agenda is far from everything the district needs, but it was all that could be covered by the amount the community survey indicated was safe to ask the voters for.
It was also mentioned that some of the items may come in under budget, and whatever monies were left over should be applied as possible to items further down the list, such as Art and Music rooms, Special Education and Preschool and Child Care.
The board moved to consider the proposal and decide what actions to take at a special work session to be held next month.
Following this, Business Manager Karla Christopherson offered a resolution to be submitted for approval next month authorizing a new board approved referendum authority.
This is unrelated to the Facilities Plan, and would be to replace the 10-year operating referendum passed in 2009. At that time the referendum was passed for $450 per pupil, and in 2014 was increased by the state to 464.02. Also at that time school boards were empowered to convert up to $300 per pupil of existing “voter approved referendum authority” to “board approved authority,” which the board did in 2014, setting the term for five years.
This expires in 2019 and, as with the proposed Bond Referendum, the board needs to file soon in order to take advantage of the opportunity.
Audit
A representative from Eide Bailly presented the audit report for 2017-2018 fiscal year, reporting a cash balance stable at about $3.1 million and about a $12,000 decrease in fund balance. The district has received a steady 80 percent of its revenue from the State for the last three years. Total general fund revenues were $9,815,870 and expenditures were $9,922,004.
Election
The Notice of General Election was approved and appears in this issue.
A special meeting was scheduled for Monday, Nov. 12 at 5:30 to canvass the results, following which they will hold their Facilities work session.
Extended field trip
Social studies teacher Theresa Buendorf petitioned the board to consider approval of a European field trip for her students during June 2019. It would be for between six and 40 participants, and would be 10th to 12th graders. Buendorf said a couple dozen families have already requested to participate. The price tag would be around $3,700. Some discussion occurred around the consideration that this was out of the budget range of most students and might be discriminatory, and there were issues with insurance. The board moved to approve to go ahead with putting it together.
Donations
Donations were accepted from:
Nick and Erin Budach for the Elementary Garden
Dr. Wayne Rudolph for books donated to Secondary Media Center
Mower County $100 for FFA
Sponberg Charitable Fund, $1,000 for scholarships
Whitetail Transports LLC $25, Ellendale Café, $20, Hanson Construction $40, Linda and Gary O’Connor $20, Barry Braaten $20, Superior Foods $25, Sun Opta $50, Casey’s General Stores $100, Hilltop Greenhouse & Farm LLC $100, Sequoia Landscape Co. $200, Al’s Body Shop $25, Schlaak Trucking $250, Jensen Heating & Air Conditioning $100, Russ Nelson Electric $25, State Bank of New Richland $500, CMD Express LLC $25, New Richland One Stop $100, David and Jenny Bunn $50, Janet and Roger Johnson $25, Gordon and Donna Hanson $50, Cole Chiropractic Office $25, John T.D. and Megan Misgen $50, Lerberg’s Fitness Center $25, KFS of Hope, LLC $25, Hemingway Photography $100, Misgen Trucking $50, and Floors $4-U $50, all for Community Ed. Competition Cheer Mats.
Total donations were $3,175.
Workforce
Winter coaching contracts were approved for: Ryan Evans, Assistant Coach B-squad Boys Basketball; Aaron Gilliland, Asst. Coach Junior High Boys Basketball; Onika Peterson, Head Coach Girls Basketball; Drew Paukert, Asst. Coach B-squad Girls Basketball; Shawn Larson, Head Coach Wrestling; and Nate Jensen, Asst. Coach Wrestling.
Hire was approved for Don Prieve, Custodian with primary assignment at Secondary School.
Resignation was accepted for Sarah Larson, Secondary Paraprofessional since December 2017.
Special Education Service Agreement for Deaf and Hard of Hearing with Owatonna Public Schools was renewed for 13 hours at hourly rate of $80.49.
Other
The January 2019 Organizational Meeting was set for Monday, January 7, 2019 at 5:30 pm in the Board Room.
January and February meeting dates were set for Tuesday, January 22, 2019 and Tuesday, February 19, 2019.