G. Moritz, Editor
The Garretson School board met in their regular session on Monday, August 10. It was a short meeting, only around 45 minutes. Almost everyone in attendance wore a mask.
Items of note from the consent agenda were the hiring of Teddy Dauwen as a teacher for the Special Education department. Johnson noted that Dauwen is a recent graduate of Northern State University, a teacher with a year of experience in Webster and that she is the sister of Business manager Jacob Schweitzer.
Next, the board discussed updates to the proposed budget for the 2020-21 school year. Schweitzer took the board through the few updates that had been made, chiefly the new numbers estimated to hire the additional custodial staff. He said that the school still did not have updated numbers from the county auditor’s office for final tax levies, but that he hoped those would be forthcoming soon.
Next Johnson and Schweitzer asked the board for a resolution to refinance the Capital Outlay certificates of the district. With interest rates being so low right now Schweitzer told the board that the school could save 31 thousand dollars or potentially more with some re-financing. The board voted to let them do so.
Next the board discussed the adoption of an iPad handbook for K-5th grade students. The policy mirrors the existing policy for 6th-12th grade students, with the exception that the students/families won’t be required to submit a deposit for said devices. Normally the adoption of a new handbook as policy would require a first and second reading as per usual with policy changes, but Supt. Johnson asked that it be expedited so it would be ready for the start of the year, in case the school had to switch to a distance learning only system. Only grades 3rd and up would get said units in any case, and the plan was currently that elementary students would be using their iPads in school only, and would not be traveling home with them unless there was a specific reason to do so.
The board rapidly approved the next items of adopting the Spec. Ed. Comprehensive plan, authorizing Supt. Johnson to sign federal assurances, and declaring school staff essential workers. There were no new first policy readings, but the board did give final approval to the new student and employee communicable disease guidelines. The major takeaway from these new health polices is a clear mandate that if a student or staff member has a fever, then they will be sent home, no exceptions.
Administrative reports were next, and Supt. Johnson updated the board on the status of the HVAC/lighting project and the roofing project. Very few good things could be said to have come out of the global pandemic, but Supt. Johnson said that because of it and early dismissal this past spring, work on these projects was able to start early and so they are in good shape to be finished soon. The lights are all installed, and only a few programming and control units need to be installed in the HVAC system. The roofing project is likewise nearly completed and Johnson said that he didn’t foresee any reason that they would not be finished by the time school started.
Supt. Johnson reported on the planned teacher in-service before school began, what procedures and precautions teachers and staff would take to combat COVID-19 in our bussing, halls and classrooms. He called for patience, preparation and flexibility.
“I made no secret about how proud I am of our staff when we had to shut down and transition to e-learning this last spring,” he said. “I’m likewise excited and optimistic to see how they will do when we open the school for the first time since March. I know they’ll meet the challenge of keeping our kids safe, and do everything in their power to keep them that way.”
Supt. Johnson said that so far, 15 local families have opted to keep their kids at home this year, and utilize the school’s e-learning option from the get go. He said that number could and probably would increase before school started, and that anyone who wanted to opt in for this option could do still so, but that if you did, you were locked in to that for the quarter and could not participate in any extra-curricular activities for the quarter.
Both Supt. Johnson and board member Ruth Sarar said that the conversation at Prairie Lakes Cooperative, where the school shares out their school counseling staff, is discussing how to manage their operations of 10 different schools with 10 different procedures in place for opening their doors during the pandemic.
There was no further business, so the board voted to adjourn, everyone wishing everyone good health and good luck with the opening of school.
