NRHEG School Board
By REED WALLER
Staff Writer
At Monday’s regular meeting, the NRHEG Board of Education approved the assignment of Nicholas Jurrens for the new Elementary Principal.
Jurrens was selected for recommendation out of 18 applicants. Interviews were conducted on March 17 and 18. Second round of interviews with six semifinalists by staff and stakeholders was held on April 7, leading up to interviewing finalists on April 12.
He has currrently been serving as Elementary Principal at United South Central Public School, for the last two years. Prior to that he has served as K-12 Principal and Elementary Principal at other districts, and a few years back was a K-5 teacher at Kasson-Mantorville Public School, where he grew up.
Jurrens will start July 1 on a two-year contract.
‘This is my fifth year as a principal,” said Jurrens. “I spent five of 12 years teaching 5th grade, and coaching three sports at Kasson-Mantorville, my family have built a home just over 12 acres just south of Kasson. I have three stepsons going to Kasson-Mantorville, and two boys of my own. I value small town, small community feel, and this district is very similar in size to USC, so I’m looking forward to get to know you all and the staff and work along with you.”
2013 Bond Refunding
Michael Hart of PMA Securities spoke on a refunding opportunity for the district’s General Obligation Capital Facilities Bonds, relative to the improvements to the Elementary Building.
“This bond is already at a low interest rate, but with COVID the interest rates have been fluctuating and the rates now are quite low.
“The 2013 bond is currently at 2.31% but you could refinance at more like 1.52%. This could amount to a $17,600 benefit.”
The refunding was approved to go ahead with a minimum savings target of $10,000.
Principal Reports
Secondary Principal Bunn reported that the emphasis on credit recovery through the Reach program, which, about 87 percent are passing. “We saved about 154 courses 6-12 corrected to passing.”
Departing Elementary Principal Doug Anderson said, “Due to the pandemic, we feel it’s very important to extend not only the Extended School Year time but the Camp Panther time. So our Extended School Year program has been increased by eight days, and our Camp Panther program, which will replace the targeted services program, has been increased by two weeks.”
Workforce
Resignation was accepted with gratitude from Amanda Inouye, Chemistry and Physics teacher 9-12. Ms. Inouye has been with the district for 11 years.
Retirement was accepted with gratitude from Ladonna Olson, Elementary LPN, 8 years with the district.
Employment/Notices of Assignment were approved for Stacy Gustafson, 7-12 Math Teacher, and Alexis Kubista, ECSE Teacher.
2021-22 Staffing Plan
“At this time, enrollment projections suggest a decrease of about 22 students in Bridges through grade 12. When compared to this time last year, it would show a decrease of about 50 students, or almost seven percent. We’ve already made adjustments.
“There is a 37 student decrease in K-5. The board may need to decrease the number of sections. The Adminstration will ask for approval at the May meeting.
“There is a decrease of 24 students in the Secondary school. Department FTE changes, three cancelled courses are anticipated.
“The Administration is suggesting a 1.0 FTE reduction in paraprofessional staffing, with an adjustment of $17,000.
“Unmet Workforce Needs include: Social Work/Mental Health/Behavioral Specialist; Reading Interventionist/Literacy Coach; Math Interventionist/Coach; Teaching and Learning Specialist; Music Teacher; Communication Coordinator.”
Questions?
TERRI ENGEL: “I got an email from the State that talked about the possibility of requiring us to have Distance Learning again next year. And when I think of the added stress to teachers that means, working in the classroom and then having responsibilty for other students. I was wondering if that would be something you should have a contingency for. It’s something to think about because from the feedback I’ve gotten, nobody wants to do it again; it’s too much stress.”
CARLSON: “It would be a portion of the budget, a budget compensation. We are meeting tomorrow administratively. There are possibilities out there, making an option to school, as far as distance learning. We do need to be working towards what that potential plan is. There will be new funding, new positions, programming personnel, funding. Thank you for that; we will be talking more consistently about that tomorrow. So there may be some changes, even significant changes between now and the May presentation, when it comes to the Staffing Plan.”
ENGEL: I just think you should be proactive, because we don’t want to lose any more students. If we don’t have something solid in place, they can go online or go to another school.”
RICK SCHULTZ: “Even if the government doesn’t approve the option of Distance Learning – is that something that is going to be mandated by the state, or what?
ENGEL: “It’s possible.”
SCHULTZ: “It’s kind of out of our control as far as what they will decide, then.”
2021-2022 Preliminary Budget
KARLA CHRISTOPHERSON:
“We’ve got a lot coming at us right now.
“At the January work session we didn’t take into account any budget reductions, state aid increases, it was just a start.
“We finished last year over. Still within our policy, but dropping.
“The assumptions we’ve made since then: 1% on the per-pupil state aid formula, 1% salary increases for those contracts to be negotiated for FY22, 7% decrease in enrollment, and staffing plan as presented. I don’t know whether we’re getting into the House bill or the Senate bill, but one goes 1% and the other has a 2% increase.
“Now the overspending is over $300,000.
“We’re going to talk a little bit about ESSER II, the House vs. Senate Omnibus Bills, Fund Balance reduction of $200,000, and reduction strategies, as long as they’re not at the expense of student achievement.
“ESSER II FUND: We buy in and we have attracted $395,995 last week. What can we do with it? Anything that supports students affected by coronavirus, anything that helps response to coronavirus, and anything that helps prevent layoffs. Today I put in a budget. We have three years to spend it.
“HOUSE vs. SENATE: The house presented an omnibus bill proposing $175 million for education among other things. The Senate offered no new money, and one-time support for classroom, intermediate districts and rural education. For us, the House version means $466,000. The Senate version means $66,000.
“The CARES Act brought over $180M in federal money. We received $80,000 in ESSER I and $10,000 Gear dollars. We were in terrific shape, so we got less money. That’s all been spent. That’s on top of the $220,000 CRF that we had to have spent by December 31.
“ESSER II is coming to us now, $529M for the State of Minnesota. And today we heard the next round of Federal relief is $1.2 billion dollars. What that means for NRHEG is $889,000, that we will have access to through September 2024. 20 percent of that has to be used to counteract the effect of lot enrollment due to the coronavirus.
“The House version and the Senate version both say, that “allow a school district to offer distance learning!”
RICK SCHULTZ: “That will be the debate over how we go forward as a school district, whether it’s an option or if it’s a mandate.”
CHRISTOPHERSON: “Correct!”
SCHULTZ: “This is going to change education forever, we’re living that right now.”
CARLSON: “Back to the staffing plan. This is additional revenue we can use to really look at programming and initiative, even though this is one-time money, it might be worth it to look at that. So we’re looking for direction, some thoughts you might have.”
LOREN SCHOENROCK: “Karla, have you ever thought about doing a budget not just for next year, but four or five years ahead? This money, when it’s gone, where are we going to sit?”
CHRISTOPHERSON: “We try to stick with under 5 years, because those kids haven’t even been born yet. This is really throwing a lot at us. Usually we wait for Mr. Anderson to tell us how many kindergarteners we’re going to have, and then we pretty much know where we might be.”
SCHULTZ: “What I’ve learned just from the history of the referendum and the projection we’ve done, it seems to me we’ve always been $200-$300,000 short every year if we take all the additional money away. Now that it’s here, it can push us through for two and possibly three years, but on the other side of that we‘ve got work to do to recap some learning opportunities for those that have lost.”
The next regular meeting of the NRHEG Board of Education will be Monday, May 17, in the Secondary Media Center, 6:30 p.m.