August 14, 2017 at 6:30 PM - Regular

Description:  Demuth, Habben, Hesse, Humbert, Schurman, and Wesenberg. 

Description:  The School Board Chair will lead the board and attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Description:  Board action to approve the agenda for the meeting is expected.

Description:  The agenda is open to visitors of the meeting to offer comments to and/or requests of the school board. The comments and requests should follow the adopted district guidelines which are printed and available at the meeting.  As a general rule, items introduced in the opportunity for comments and requests do not receive action from the School Board, but are taken under advisement or consideration for future action.

Description:  Action is requested on the following items of the consent agenda. Consent agenda items are typically adopted without discussion of the individual items because they are routine or ordinary in action.  Any consent agenda item may be removed for further discussion and deliberation by any member of the board.

Description:  The minutes from the Fiscal Year Institutional meeting of July 24, 2017 are included in the exhibits. Recommend approval of the minutes from the meeting.

Description:  As we move into the new school year with FY18, a number of positions have been opened and are in the process of being filled.  The selection process for the following positions has been concluded.

Mr Guetter is recommending a reassignment for Stacy Evens from a Special Education Paraprofessional to a Media Paraprofessional.  This will increase her hours from 32.5 per week to 37.5 hours per week. 

Mr Jenson is recommending Renee Bacon as the .770 FTE Business Education Teacher at the Secondary Schools for the 2017-2018 school year.

Stephanie Hillman is recommending Julie Braegelmann as the Early Childhood Special Education Teacher.  She would be replacing Kaia Swenson.  Julie had been previously approved as an EC Teacher but is now going to take the Early Childhood Special Education position.

Mr. Nelson, Assistant Principal at the Secondary Schools, is recommending Brian Heying to fill the position of Industrial Technology.  This position was created with the leave of absence of Jeron Lieser.

Stephanie Hillman is recommending and increase in hours for Laura Mueller in Early Childhood due to an addition of a 3 year old class.

Mr Guetter, Assistant Principal at the Secondary School, is recommending Lynn Stein as a Paraprofessional at the Secondary Schools at 6.5 hours per day to replace Ashley Edwards who resigned at the end of the 16-17 school year.

Stephanie Hillman, Community Education Director, is recommending Emily Hadley as an Early Childhood Teacher.  Emily will replace Julie Braegelmann who is taking the Early Childhood Special Education Teaching position vacated by Kaia Swenson.

The district has conducted a selection process for the Director of Food Services.  The position was approved at the previous meeting as a shift from the shared position with Albany to a full-time position within the ROCORI Schools alone.  The position has been offered to Chris Barker who has served as Head Cook at the Secondary site.  

Recommend approval of the offers of employment to the candidates.

Description:  Several policies are submitted for third and final readings.  These policies, as approved, become ROCORI District policies.

Policy #7-7 Meal Charge Policy, Policy #6-2 Preparation Time, and Policy #6-9 Employment of Staff have gone through the first two readings and are now considered for the third and final reading.  Approval of the policies with the third reading makes them the policies of the district..

Recommend adoption of the policies.

Description:  Action items receive individual attention because of the nature of the issues, the need to discuss or review the information prior to taking action, or the specific kind of action required for the item.

Description:  Mark Jenson, Principal of the Secondary Schools, has submitted a proposal to have additional 6th grade teaching staff for the 2017-2018 school year due to an increase in enrollment at the secondary level.  The adjustment in staff has been reviewed within the District Office in relation to the overall budget, district assignments, and previous needs.  

Desired Outcome:  Addition of teaching time to reduce class size in core instructional areas in the sixth grade from approximately 34-35 students to around 30.

Recommendation:  Authorize the proposal for 1.0 FTE teaching position at the 6th grade level.

Description:  Minnesota statute has changed in regard to election events to require school districts to annually identify the polling places if the district uses combined polling places that may be different than the polling places for elections involving cities, counties or statewide offices.  Historically, the district has maintained polling places, for school elections only, in each of the cities--Richmond, Rockville and Cold Spring.  Although the district is expected to adopt the resolution before the end of the calendar year, the potential to run an election in the fall warrants consideration of the resolution earlier and adoption of the resolution is encouraged at this time.

Desired Outcome:  Identification of combined polling places for ROCORI School District elections.

Recommendation:  Adoption of the resolution on combined polling places.

Description:  In previous meetings, there has been discussion of placing a capital improvement levy before the residents of the ROCORI District in November.  The purpose of the levy would be to support technology efforts and improvements in the district.  At the last meeting, the consensus of the board was to set the value at $250,000 per year for a ten year period.

The district has asked legal counsel, Thomas Deans, to prepare the appropriate documents and resolution to conduct the election in order to consider the issue at this school board meeting.  The Facilities and Grounds Committee, at a meeting on August 10, reaffirmed its commitment to support the referendum effort.  The details related to the election, identification of judges and other elements, will be presented at a future meeting (assuming the election resolution, itself, is adopted).

Desired Outcome:  Decision on whether or not to conduct the capital improvement referendum focused on technology improvements in November.

Recommendation:  Adoption of the resolution to authorize the election.

Description:  During the 2016-2017 school year, the senior high Carpentry class started a house construction project.  The class expected to build the house over two school years, but as the house was being constructed near County Road 50 there were several inquiries into the ability to purchase the house even though it was unfinished.  As a result of the inquiries, advertisements for sealed bids on the unfinished house were made and bids were accepted.  An acceptable offer was made on the house (meaning that the bid met the minimum amount requested by the district).  The recommendation is to accept the bid, as adjusted through direct negotiation, and to sell the house, unfinished.

Desired Outcome:  Sale of the 2016-17 Carpentry house which will allow the 2017-18 class to begin construction of a completely different house.

Recommendation:  Acceptance of the bid on the house from LTD Homes LLC and Noble Custom Homes at $40,540.

Description:  At the last School Board meeting, a closed session was conducted for the purpose of superintendent performance evaluation.  A summary of the evaluation results are expected to be presented at this meeting.

Desired Outcome:  Presentation of the public, summary statement of the superintendent annual evaluation.

Recommendation:  Adopt the statement of the school board regarding superintendent evaluation.

Description:  Discussion items receive individual attention because of the nature of the issues and the need for introductory or other discussion in order to review the information prior to taking action.  This is also the agenda location for items which simply need school board review, but no formal action on the item is required.  Discussion items will typically return to the agenda at a future point for more specific action.

Description:  The Policy Review Committee was scheduled to meet on Thursday, August 10. Several policies were discussed by the Committee during the meeting and are presented to the full board for second readings.  The policies include policy 7-8 Internet Acceptable Use Policy and 6-4 Right to Know.

Desired Outcomes:  Review of the work of the Policy Review Committee in order to offer direction for the third readings of these policies.

Recommendation:  Accept the policies as their second reading.  The policies will return on August 28 for a third and final reading.

Description:  Information related to the ROCORI District enrollment and staffing history over the past five years has been compiled.  There is no action to take with the information, but it is shared as an informational item.

Desired Outcome:  Understanding of the five year enrollment and staffing history.

Recommendation:  No formal action is required as the item is informational in nature.

Description:  The paraprofessional leadership team has been working with Nate Guetter and Jake Zauhar on an updated, revised paraprofessional handbook.  The team has asked that the handbook be shared with the school board and, much like other handbooks, receive endorsement from the board for implementation.  The handbook is shared at this meeting with the idea that it can be reviewed and endorsed at the August 28 meeting.

Desired Outcome:  Review of the revised paraprofessional handbook.

Recommendation:  Consideration of the handbook at this meeting.  Endorsement of the handbook at the next meeting.

Description:  Administrative reports are requested of each administrator for update purposes. For the second meeting, the reports are offered by the Business Cabinet members. 

Description:  The reports during the first meeting of the month are expected from the Academic team including principals and curriculum leaders.

Description:  At the last board meeting, the improvements priority list was shared with the School Board.  The conversation indicated a desire to include this list as a regular part of the board meeting packet.  This agenda item is included as an opportunity to fulfill that request.

Description:  Opportunity for School Board members to share information and feedback that they have received from the public is afforded at this portion of the agenda.  No formal action is expected.

Description:  A calendar of upcoming issues of concern to the school board is included as part of the agenda.