by Garrick Moritz
The Garretson School Board had two meetings last week. The first was their regularly scheduled meeting on March 14, and then a closed-door meeting on March 17.
At the March 17 meeting there was only one topic of discussion, and they spent most of it in executive session. They convened at 6:15 p.m., immediately went into executive session and were out of executive session at 6:57 p.m. They then passed a unanimous motion to approve and adopt the Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law & Decision as prepared and presented by the Hearing Officer in the Chris Long matter. They adjourned by 6:59 p.m.
This means that the Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law & Decision will now go on to the State Department of Education for review, action and decision by that body.
Mr. Chris Long himself sent in a letter to the editor for publication this week, which can be found here (online subscription required).
One detail that was incorrect in last week's story was that the booing of Supt. Johnson by students actually happened in the school lunch room, during the school day rather than at a basketball game. Students were consequently disciplined for that behavior. One detail we did get correct, despite claims on social media to the contrary, was that board president Shannon Nordstrom did not join the meeting until most of the public session of the March 14 meeting was concluded. He arrived and joined the meeting at 7:46 p.m., as we stated clearly on page 3 of last week’s paper.
The following is the coverage of the March 14 meeting after the public commentaries were complete.
After the public commentaries of Oran Sorenson and Tana Clark, the board approved their claims and finance reports. Having no old business, they moved on to new business and the biggest piece of new business was the report from Infrastructure Design group on their speculative findings for the replacement of the track and turf at the school’s sports complex. Jessica Satiroff and Chad Hanisch joined the meeting via Zoom and presented their very large and detailed report to the board.
The short thrust of the project is to replace turf, track, and subgrade the soil to remove the dips and problems that have developed since its first installation. There are also plans to replace the scoreboard, add new bleachers to the visitor’s side and a new sidewalk to connect the visiting side with the main complex and concession area, as well as concrete repairs across the complex.
During the presentation, board member Ryan Longhenry asked many detailed questions and was very thorough throughout. His self-stated goal was to make sure the issues the field is having now won’t be issues in the future, and that the district gets the very best value for each dollar spent as possible.
“The last track and turf lasted a long time, longer than we had any right to expect, and I just want to make sure that we’re spending our money wisely and that we’ll get the most possible life we can out of the next one we build,” he said. “We need to make sure the issues we’ve had get fixed and so we’re not back here in just a few short years dealing with the same problems.”
The geology of the area has quite literally moved the track and field in a slight southerly direction over the years since it was installed.
Satiroff and Hanisch walked the board through all the details, and samples of new turf and track material were passed around the board table for the board members to put their hands on directly.
Satiroff and Hanisch presented several options to the board. The lowest cost estimate was $1.18 million dollars, the middle cost plan was at $1.5 million, and he highest-cost plan was $1.95 million. The plan Satiroff and Hanisch recommended was a hybrid, taking some elements from all three plans, and would cost an estimated $1.4 million dollars to enact.
Longhenry asked if these numbers were firm, to which Satiroff and Hanisch replied they were not hard numbers, just estimates from what current pricing looks like. The Board thanked Satiroff and Hanisch for the information and held off on making any decisions or sending out for bids until they could review the data further.
Next, the board approved the dates and prices for the school’s driver’s education program, setting the rates at $245 for Garretson School District students and $300 for non-district students.
The board then considered contracts for Anna Nelson and Marissa Waldner.
Supt. Guy Johnson said that after Nelson resigned, but before her last two weeks had completed, her circumstances changed and she asked if she could continue her employment. Johnson said that the district was happy to retain her as an employee and that to do so the board could do one of two things. Either rescind their previous motion to accept her resignation or have the district offer a new contract at the same rate to continue until the end of the school year. The voted to extend a new contract to Nelson and hire Waldner to fill the open position of Tina Reiter.
The board then selected representatives to attend each of the local equalization meetings being held by the various municipalities. They also selected Shannon Nordstrom and Kari Flanagan as the board representatives to negotiate with the Garretson Teacher’s Association for contracts for the next year. Two policy revisions regarding cash in the school building and instruction scheduling passed with unanimous motions as well.
Supt. Johnson then gave his reports to the board. The first was a legislative update. He was pleased to report that all the bills he and the Associated School Boards of South Dakota were concerned about had been either defeated or killed in committee.
Business Manager Jacob Schwietzer then gave a finance report to the board about what the current General Fund projections will be for this year.
In short, they’re good and the school will end the year slightly under budget, though their long-term projections are not as good as they will be deficit spending as time goes on.
Next Supt. Johnson spoke about the school calendar for next year. One item he wanted specifically to address was the 1:30 p.m. early release time and whether or not the practice would continue next year. He had heard some members of the community express their opinion that it was not necessary, but he had a different opinion and cited a staff survey on its effectiveness. He had Principal Teresa Hulscher speak to the board about the efficacy of this, and allowing it as a time for the student support process.
At the end of this report, board member Longhenry requested that the school survey the parents of the students who’ve benefited from this student support process and Supt. Johnson said he would happily gather that data.
Neither Johnson nor board member Rachel Hanisch had been able to attend their respective Prairie Lakes Cooperative meetings, so there was no news on that front.
Nordstrom, having just arrived in time for the executive session, joined the meeting. The board was in executive session from 7:48 p.m. to 10:56 p.m., after which time they voted to extend the administrative contracts of Teresa Hulscher and Guy Johnson by one year and to renew the contracts of Matt Schrank and Jacob Schweitzer for one year, with the specific terms to be determined at a later time. Motion carried. Nordstrom, Flanagan, and Hanisch voted yes. Longhenry voted no. Linneweber abstained.
