G. Moritz, Editor
The Garretson School Board had their last meeting of the 21-22 calendar year and their first meeting of their 22-23 calendar year on July 18, 2022.
There were only a few items for the 21-22, final board agenda. They modified the contract of new hire Marissa Waldner to an increase of $2,625 due to her having more education credentials than initially recorded to the BA+60 lane. They approved the payment of claims and the financial reports of business manager Jacob Schweitzer. Board President Shannon Nordstrom then noted the service of Rachel Hanisch, Jodi Linneweber, and Ryan Longhenry for their service to the school board and the district presented them with plaques thanking them for their time on the board. The old board then adjourned and a new board was reconvened.
Tana Clark and Jodi Gloe were sworn in as new school board members, filling the seats of Rachel Hanisch and Jodi Linneweber.
Ryan Longhenry had filed a petition to renew his seat on the board, but after a change of mind decided he would withdraw from his board seat, which he did at the end of this meeting when his successor was appointed to fill out his term.
Shannon Nordstrom was re-elected to his position as board president and Kari Flanagan was also re-elected as vice-president.
The board then went through several annual resolutions and renewals of protocol so that the school could continue to operate normally. They did these resolutions in blocks. The first block was to designate Business Manager Schweitzer as custodian of all bank accounts, to designate Business Manager Schweitzer as Treasurer of School Food Services and Custodial accounts, to authorize Superintendent Johnson as the purchasing agent, to designate First Bank & Trust as official depository, to designate Vice Chairperson, in addition to the Chairperson, to countersign checks drawn by the Business Manager, to authorize Superintendent Johnson as federal representative for all program applications and to authorize Business Manager Schweitzer as federal representative for fiscal responsibility and approval of federal funding. Next was to designate Superintendent Johnson as the Truancy Officer, to designate the Board Chairperson as hearing official for the School Breakfast & Lunch Programs, to join the ASBSD Emergency School Bus Mutual Assistance Pact, and to approve membership to ASBSD & SDUSA. They then set the School Board Election as the second Tuesday in April in conjunction with the City of Garretson’s election on April 11, 2023, to set the official meeting date and time of the Board meetings as the second Monday of each month at 5:45 p.m., to designate Samuel D. Kerr, of Lynn, Jackson, Shultz & Lebrun, P.C. as the School Attorney, to designate the Garretson Gazette as the official newspaper, and to authorize the agreement to continue membership with the Prairie Lakes Coop.
They then adopted a resolution to to allow the Business Manager the authority to pay Aflac, City of Garretson (gas/sewer/water), Chesterman Co., Delta Dental, First Bank & Trust Credit Cards, First Dakota Indemnity Co., Horace Mann, Northern Plains Insurance Pool, Standard Life Insurance, VSP, and Xcel Energy when due, prior to the approval of monthly bills, to adopt a resolution to establish an Imprest Fund and set the Fund at $30,000, to adopt a resolution to allow the Business Manager to invest school district funds, and to set a bond for the Business Manager & Assistant to the Business Manager at $100,000 each.
It was about that time, 6:14 p.m., that the board held off on further business, as the advertised and publicized time for the budget hearing at 6:15 was to start, so they again reviewed the annual budget. It had been published thrice in the official newspaper, but President Nordstrom told the new board members that they wouldn’t have to approve it at this meeting, that usually they waited until the August or September meeting to give the new board members time to figure out what everything means and how it works before they had to vote on it.
The hearing didn’t last long as no one had any questions at this time and there were no questions or concerns brought up by those present.
The board resumed their regular meeting and made one more bulk resolution to settle annual business. They set the School Board Member Salary at $60.00 per meeting, to set Substitute teacher pay at $130.00 per day and $135.00 per day beyond ten consecutive days, to set prices for admission to school events at $3 for students & $5 for adults, to set activity ticket prices at $20 for students and $40 for adults. Next they voted to participate in the National School Breakfast & Lunch Program and set the prices for adults at $4.10 per meal for lunch and $2.70 per meal for breakfast, for grades 6-12 at $3.30 per meal for lunch and $2.05 per meal for breakfast, for grades K-5 at $3.25 per meal for lunch and $2.05 per meal for breakfast, for reduced at $0.40 per meal for lunch and $0.30 per meal for breakfast, and $0.50 per carton of milk, and to set Preschool fees at $190.00 per month.
Superintendent Johnson reminded the board that for the last two years, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, all school meals had been paid for completely by federal funding, but now they would resume regular lunch sales.
“It has saved all our district families money,” he said, “and I’d say probably benefited our students greatly, but now those who need it will have to re-apply for free/reduced meals under the guidelines from two years ago.”
The board also approved a renewal of their agreement with Lunchtime Solutions, Inc. There will be an overall price increase for the District of 4.55 percent.
“With how crazy prices have been lately, frankly Jacob and I were shocked that it was only a 4.55 increase,” said Supt. Johnson. “We were thinking it could have potentially been much worse.”
The next item was a discussion about Mallory Zell as acting teacher for Garretson Special Education. The administration wanted to ask the state to waive the normal requirements for certification, as she is in the process of getting those credentials and working for the district in the role as is. Special Education teachers are in an extreme short supply statewide and Supt. Johnson said that Garretson is not the only school applying for such exemptions. The board didn’t want to talk about personnel matters in open session so they moved the rest of their discussion on Zell to executive session.
The board had some policy discussions, and then moved onto administrative reports. The biggest item here was the introduction to the board of the new high school principal Chris McGregor. McGregor introduced himself to those present and said he was eager to get started.
Wyatt Compton and Andy Hulscher both applied to become board members, to fill out the rest of Longhenry’s term and were present for the meeting.
During their executive session, both candidates were interviewed. When the board came out of executive session, they forgot to invite the press back into the meeting room after executive session was finished, and were packing up post adjournment when they realized that the Gazette editor was still in the hallway waiting to come back in. Newly re-elected board Chairman Shannon Nordstrom was apologetic about it, and gave the Gazette a quick recap.
“We voted to appoint Andy Hulscher as a new board member,” he said. “Ryan and Kari (Flanagan) chose to abstain from the vote. Jodi made the motion and I seconded it. She and I voted for it and Tana voted against it. We want to make it clear that we all support both of the candidates, but at the end of the day we have to make a choice and that’s the one we’ve made.”
Longhenry’s resignation from the board was effective at the end of the meeting and Hulsher will take his place.
The board also approved to send the waiver, regarding ARSD 24:28:14:02, subsection two, the requirement for three years of teaching experience within the past five years to obtain alternative certification to teach special education, contingent upon approval of an alternative certification for Mallory Zell by the Department of Education of South Dakota. Motion was unanimous.
