February 12, 2018 at 6:30 PM - Regular

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

Student Reprresentatives: AnnaMaria Tomovic, Alexa Hennen, Emily Haus, and Grace Sauer

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:  Representatives from the Student Senate, serving as student representatives to the School Board, have opportunity to share information with the full School Board.

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 Regular meeting of  January 22, 2018 are included in the exhibits.

Recommend approval of the minutes from the meetings.

Description:  Several letters of resignation have been received from employees across the district.  The letters are submitted to the School Board for acceptance of the resignations.

Dirk Apel, Paraprofessional at the Secondary schools, has submitted a letter of resignation effective February 9, 2018.

Becky Fuchs, Cook's Helper at the Secondary Schools, has submitted a letter of resignation effective February 6, 2018.

Melanie Primus has submitted a letter of resignation as the Lunchroom Supervisor at the Secondary Schools effective immediately.

Recommend acceptance of the resignation letters.

Description:  Several items of employment offers are included in the agenda for School Board consideration.

Mr Guetter, Assitant Principal at the High School is recommending Elizabeth Schmitz and Alexa Lanz as  Paraprofessionals to fill the vacancy created with the resignations of Emily Schmitz and Dirk Apel. 

Christine Barker, Food Service Director is recommending Dianna Callais and Melanie Primus as Cook's Helpers to fill the vacancies created by the resignations of Vicki Hawkinson and Becky Fuchs. 

Director of Community Education, Stephanie Hillman, has offered a list of employees serving as Kid Care Aides for the 2017-2018 school year.  Because the aides are very often students of the ROCORI District, the names and terms of employment will change frequently because of other commitments the students may have.  Stephanie Hillman will offer updates as these names change.
 
Recommend approval of the offers of employment to the candidates.

Description:  A number of policies have gone through the previous stages of readings and are brought forward by the Policy Review Committee for final consideration.  These policies are submitted on the consent agenda for third and final readings.   

The policies at this meeting include 2-13 ROCORI Naming Rights Policy, 7-4 Harassment Prevention Policy, 7-12 Violence Prevention Policy, 9-9 Weapons Policy, and 9-19 Immunization Requirements Policy.  Policy 7-12, Violence Prevention, has had an additional line added since the last meeting in Section IV to include reference to  Policy 9-10 Assaultive Behavior.

These policies, as approved, become formal ROCORI District policies.

Recommend formal adoption of the policies through the final reading.

Description:  The annual membership dues invoice for the Cold Spring Chamber of Commerce has been received.  The School District has been a member of the Chamber for an extended period of time and continued membership is recommended.

Recommend approval the membership in Cold Spring Chamber of Commerce.

Description:  Mr. Jenson, Secondary Principal, has recommended expulsion of a secondary student for disciplinary reasons.   Communications with the parents permitted a waiver of an expulsion hearing and understanding of the action to expel.  The expulsion would be imposed for one year with a start date of February 13, 2018 through February 12, 2019.

Recommend approval of the student expulsion for one year.

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:  Gwen Anderson, EL Teacher and coordinator, has submitted a letter requesting to extend her unpaid leave of absence through the second trimester of the 2018-2019 school year.  Gwen received approval for a leave of absence for the current school year after the school year started and is requesting additional time to learn about and grow into her position.  

Pam Teal, Language Arts Teacher at the Secondary Schools, has submitted a request for an unpaid leave of absence for the second trimester of the 2018-2019 school year.  This request is similar in nature to leaves of absence extended over the past several years.  The ability to honor the request is dependent on the registration process and information at the secondary level.

Jeron Lieser, Industrial Technology Teacher at the Secondary Schools, has submitted a letter requesting to extend his unpaid leave of absence through the 2018-2019 school year.  Jeron has been on an extended leave of absence for the past three years.  Approval of the leave would extend his leave to four of five years requested.

Recommendation:  The fact that all individuals have previously been on leave indicates the criteria for extending the leave of absence has largely been fulfilled.  Within that experience, however, each leave of absence has different implications and expectations.   The recommendation for each request, then, is unique.

1.  Recommend that Gwen Anderson's leave be authorized but that the leave would be granted for the entire school year 2018-2019 rather than a portion of the year.  

2.  Recommend tabling the request from Pam Teal until registration information can be completed and reviewed.

3.  Recommend approval of the fourth year of leave of absence for Jeron Lieser.

Description:  At the December meeting of the School Board, John Young from the Booster Club, presented a request for the School Board to consider implementation of artificial turf surface on the athletic field.  The group indicated it has received requests to consider turf installation and requested authorization from the School Board to seek donations toward the change to turf.  The School Board authorized the Community group to make contacts and develop a plan, primarily based on voluntary donations and contributions, toward turf installation.  John indicated he, or others from the group, expected to report back to the School Board by the February 12 meeting about progress made. 

An update regarding progress in securing donations and direction from the Community Group is expected at this meeting.

Description:  At the last meeting, the School Board members discussed a mid-year, formative evaluation of the Superintendent.  A summary of the information reviewed is offered at this meeting.

Recommendation:  Approve the mid-year formative assessment of superintendent performance.

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 has considered a number of policies in the work of the committee.  The Committee is submitting several policies for second reading.  The policies would return at the next meeting for third, and final, reading for adoption.

Included in the second reading are Policy 9-10 Assaultive Behaviors; 9;11 Student Early Entrance, 9-12 Nondiscrimination (504); 9-13 Behavior Intervention, 9-20 Student Surveys,10-3 Visitors to School Building Sites, and 6-14 License Status.  In addition, the Policy Review Committee is returning Policy 8-9 Equal Educational Opportunity with an amendment to address Title IX requirements.

At the previous meeting, 10-3 was submitted as a proposed policy based on the MSBA Model with the intent of placement in Chapter 7, but placement in Chapter 10 (Community Relations) is a more appropriate location for the policy.  6-14, License Status, was reviewed for the first time at the previous meeting as a modification of MSBA Model Policy with the intent to be clear about employees who are required to hold particular licenses in their positions.

Recommendation:  Accept the policies as their second reading.  Bring policies to the next meeting for third and final reading.

Description:  The ROCORI School District has been engaged in negotiations with all three formal bargaining units.  The District is very close to a final agreement with the Principal unit.  The District is in mediation with Education Minnesota--ROCORI.  The District has conducted several sessions of negotiations with the Paraprofessional unit.  In addition, the District has engaged in conversations with individual administrators and is expected to meet, soon, with classified employees.  

Lead negotiator Lynn Schurman is expected to provide an update for the School Board on the negotiations process.

Description:  Administrative reports are requested of each administrator for update purposes.

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

Description:  Most of the business reports of the District are offered during the second meeting.  However, the priority list for action items is included as a reminder for School Board members.


At the last meeting, a request was made to update the overall staffing information to reflect changes from the October report.  This report is included.

Description:  Opportunity for School Board members to share information they have heard or received from Community members is extended at this point of the agenda.

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