Reductions in staffing were a major element of the March 20 NRHEG School board meeting. School Nurse Carrie Petsinger had submitted a request that her position be reduced from full time to one day a week beginning with the 2023-24 school year. Although the board accepted the request, members Terri Engel and Pat Theuer expressed concern that the reduction might leave students “underserved.”
Under her new schedule, Petsinger will be present in the school buildings only one day a week; nurse’s offices at both the New Richland and Ellendale sites will be staffed by others, as they have been whenever Petsinger was performing other duties or at the other school site.
Still, Theuer and Engel requested that further information be assembled and the matter reviewed, even raising the possibility of seeking a second qualified nurse to be present some days of the week.
Another reduction at the March 20 meeting was to the amount of time three teachers are scheduled to spend in the classroom during the 2023-24 school year. Registration numbers for classes taught by Dan Sorum, Brad Root and Lise Weegman were below previous levels, leading Superintendent Mike Meihak to recommend their respective positions be reduced between one and three class hours over the course of the year.
Elementary teacher Devin Redman, currently in her third year with the district, was given a notice of non-renewal, meaning that her position with NRHEG ends as of June 30.
In contrast, board members were also introduced to Jason Toupence, newly hired to serve as the district’s “Teaching and Learning Coordinator” beginning with the 2023-24 school year.
During a work session the evening of March 27, board members heard about a recent discussion Meihak had recently held with New Richland City Manager Tony Martens regarding traffic flow in front of the secondary building.
Although no plans were finalized, the discussion included the possibility of making a portion of S. Ash Avenue one way. The conversation with the city stemmed from upgrades planned to the school’s east parking lot scheduled for the summer of 2024, but being placed up for bids during June. The lot will be expanded onto property at its south end which had once been residential, but was acquired by the school and the house razed. The upgrade in 2024 will include grading and paving the additional space. Work on changing and improving Ash Avenue could be facilitated by a “Safe Routes to School” grant, if the school is approved for one.
Regarding the school district’s finances, Meihak presented a summary which showed that the district is likely to finish the school year with a “general fund balance” of nearly $3.5 million; an amount equal to about one-third of its annual operating budget. Meihak stated that the board’s policy is to keep a fund balance of 22% to 28%, and thus is continuing a trend which began in 2018 of finishing above its target: The fund balance that year was 28.4%, and rose to this year’s high of 34.7%.
Meihak credited “conservative budgeting and conservative spending” which had made the district “able to preserve our fund balance over the years.” Meihak also summarized a list of benefits the district had experienced thanks to state and federal monies which came from Covid-inspired funding and from “Compensatory Aid,” which is money granted to the district based on the number of students who receive free or reduced-price lunches due to family income.
Meihak’s summary listed 5 full-time positions’ worth of staff members who were retained over the past few years because of the extra monies, including 2 elementary teacher positions which had allowed class sizes to stay low, a math interventionist, and a teaching and learning coordinator.
The superintendent’s report also cautioned that, although the district expects more than $350,000 in Covid-inspired “Exercise Science, Sports and Recreation” (ESSR) funds next year, that money is not expected to continue beyond 2024.
Of his report and his projections, Meihak admitted, “We’re guessing.” He pointed out that the amount of state funding–and the expenditures that will be mandated along with it, are still uncertain, as are the outcomes of district negotiations with various employee groups. “Compensatory” funding will be the same in 2023-24 as it was this school year, but with the recent statewide decision to provide free meals to all students, the number of applications for free and reduced lunches in the future–the chief determining factor for the federal monies–will be nonexistent. What new criteria will be arranged has yet to be determined.
“There’s a lot to look at and consider, here,” concluded Meihak, as he pointed out that the district must have its 2023-24 operating budget approved by June 30. He asked board members to reflect on the level of “deficit spending,” that is, spending above the level of income from local taxes, state and federal sources, they would be open to considering. His presentation also suggested that they “start thinking about how much in reductions” they would consider approving.