by Garrick A Moritz, Editor
The Garretson School Board met in regular session on Jan. 11, 2021. The meeting was brief, but Superintendent Guy Johnson had a lot of updates for the Board.
“First I’m pleased to say that the roof project is now completely finished,” he said. “There was only one piece left to do, a single ladder to be installed. It was late and so with your approval we will assess a $2,900 liquidation for damages fee on to the $80 thousand-dollar bill for the project, as it was supposed to be completed before the start of this school year. The custodial staff is very happy with the result as we now have complete and safe roof access without having to bring a portable ladder.”
The board approved paying for the project including that change order.
The board moved on to policy revision items. The school’s alcohol and drug policies hadn’t been revisited since 2006, so it was time that they were looked at again. Board President Shannon Nordstrom asked what kind of complications could arise with the passage of marijuana legalization in South Dakota that is pending this year. He said that it was his understanding that the school could still keep its same polices of drug testing and zero use policy of marijuana for teachers or staff members. Supt. Johnson confirmed that is indeed the case, as federal laws have not changed.
Supt. Johnson then updated the board on the review of the school credit card policy. School policy was in line with associated school board policy, and he also noted that card limits were set at $5 thousand. Right now, both school credit cards are set to a max of $2,500, so they could be increased. It’s something to consider since many vendors no longer do traditional billing, and want payments over the phone at the time of sale.
The board then had a second reading of the update to payment procedures and school property disposal. These passed a second reading without objection or debate.
First, Supt. Johnson reviewed a letter he had received from the Mayor of Garretson Greg Beaner with the board. He recalled the public outcry this summer that occurred when the Garretson Baseball team was not allowed to play on their home turf because the Garretson School is the entity that actually owns the baseball diamond. This meant because of the Statewide shutdown of all school property to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that no sports could be played on the field, period. This started talks about the City purchasing that ball field from the school.
Supt. Johnson said that there is no formal agreement between the school and the Baseball Association, nor has there ever been aside from verbal agreements with handshakes. While this has worked just fine in the past, it might not be the case in the future.
Supt. Johnson listed pros and cons to the board for selling the property to the city.
First, and foremost, it would save the school money. It would save the school on maintenance and upkeep costs. However, baseball is the only sport that receives a school subsidy, and that potentially might be cut if the school no longer owned the property.
The negatives are that the school uses some of the on-site storage space to store track & field equipment. The PE classes also use the field in the spring. Lastly, thinking long term, is the potential for South Dakota High School Activities Association Sports.
“I did not know this until I spoke with Dan Swartos of SDHSAA, but interestingly enough, South Dakota is the only state in the nation that does not have a sanctioned softball program and one of only three states that does not have a sanctioned baseball program,” Johnson said.
Supt. Johnson said that softball might become a sanctioned sport within the next 2 years and that baseball might become a sanctioned sport within the next 5 years.
With all this in mind, the board debated about the merits of selling the baseball field to the City. Supt. Johnson said that stipulations could easily be made that the city, as the controlling entity of the property, give first preference to any sanctioned team sports that might appear in the future. Board member Tony Martens and Board President Nordstrom were confident that if sanctioned sports did appear that the current American Legion & VFW team structure would meld seamlessly into the official sanctioned sports. Johnson said he was confident the city would be happy to work with the school on allowing the PE classes to use the field and allow them to continue storing track equipment in the storage area. The board was happy to allow the Superintendent to pursue the matter as long as the board got final vote on the decision.
Supt. Johnson reviewed the upcoming election season, as two seats on the board are up for voting. Ruth Sarar and Tony Martens were the newest board members to be elected to the board several years back. So far the school has not had an election, as all of the members have gone unchallenged since their elections or appointments. Petitions for election will be available Jan. 29th and will be due Feb. 26th by 5 p.m. The school will have a joint election with the Garretson City Council should both entitles need to fill open positions.
Supt. Johnson then declared to the board that as of the start of the new year Garretson had “a ton” of new students.
This got laughs around the table and Board President Nordstrom asked, “What exactly do you mean by a ton of new students?”
“Well I didn’t weigh them or anything like that,” Johnson said, “but we have five new students in our elementary, three new students in the middle school and nine new students in the high school, bringing our student count up to 474 students in the building.”
The student count increase was good news overall, he felt.
Then Supt. Johnson shared some bad news. The Pixalot system they use to live stream and broadcast all their home games has failed twice in a row. Tech Coordinator Matt Schrank has spent a lot of time in callback limbo with the Pixalot tech support, and has gotten no good answers. This means that the school may be looking for a new service to handle this very soon. He had heard from other districts that were having similar issues as well. Whatever the school does to get their livestream service working, it will be in full cooperation with their partners at Alliance Communications, because with the pandemic and limited seating for fans, it’s more important than ever people be able to watch it from their own homes.
That said, with the Supt. COVID-19 update which was next on his list, he’s hoping that soon we’ll be able to ease restrictions and ticket vouchers for fans.
He started his COVID-19 update with news that they hoped to have staff and teaching personnel vaccinated in February, and that medical providers would keep everyone notified when it was ready to roll out. Johnson admitted that he did not have much optimism for this school year and for our sports programs going into the 2020-21 year, but that we’ve managed to defy the odds so far. Numbers for COVID-19 have gone down in the county and region, even with the holidays potentially causing more potential contacts for students and staff. The school will maintain its mandatory mask policy, and recommend in the strongest possible terms the wearing of masks to all school sporting events by everyone. If numbers continue to trend downward, he hopes that the school will be able to ease the ticket voucher restrictions in the very near future. He will be watching it closely.
Board President Nordstrom asked if the canceling of the basketball game with Flandreau this week was COVID related, and if it was us or them. Supt. Johnson reported that yes, it was, and yes it was Flandreau that prompted cancelation.
He reviewed the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and what funds from that would do and would be used for in the School. HVAC upgrades and replacement of windows replacement in the elementary are two of many projects that are already overdue for the aging building.
This will make the budget look a lot bigger than last year. Board president Nordstrom said that they should note to their district patrons that much of this is one-time monies, and it’s not sustainable. These funds should be used first to repair and modernize with COVID in mind, to make updates that the school might not normally be able to afford in the course of a given budgetary cycle.
Supt. Johnson notes that the legislative session will begin this week and that Gov. Noem is expected to announce a 2.4 percent increase in school funding, which everyone is pretty pleased with. Of course, what the Governor wants and what the legislature votes on have not always been similar. Nordstrom is their legislative contact with the Associated School Board and will let the board know of any legislative alerts they send out.
Board member Ruth Sarar and Supt. Johnson noted that the Prairie lakes Coop will be receiving some of the COVID relief funds as a stipend for staff and to help the overall mental health of students, who have had a lot more than usual to deal with during this time.
With that, the board went into executive session to talk on a personnel matter.
