by Garrick Moritz, Gazette
The Garretson School Board met in regular session on June 14, 2021. The meeting was a big one with a large attendance though a lot of the discussions happened in executive session. The big takeaways were the filing for judicial relief and the appointment of two new board members.
The board began with their regular business of approving minutes and financials, and the consent agenda, with only adding one item, adding a new hire of a 5th grade teacher.
The only item on the board’s old business was the preliminary budget for the next school year, set to be approved at the July meeting. Supt. Guy Johnson said that no changes or modifications for the proposed budget have been made at this time. The official budget hearing will be at the July meeting.
The board then recognized Tony Martens and Ruth Sarar for six years of service to the Garretson School as board members. They presented them with commemorative plaques and cupcakes for all present.
Business Manager Jacob Schweitzer noted that the cost of health insurance premiums would be going up slightly, but that otherwise not much would change for insurance coverage for the district, and that he was satisfied with our current provider.
Next the board had to deal with a runoff election for the South Dakota High School Activities Association member at large. The person they had cast their ballot for had withdrawn from the race, so now there was a new runoff election. The board chose to vote for Todd Pulmer of Sturgis.
After some policy readings they moved on to administrative reports. Supt Johnson had three items he wanted to discuss.
The first was the filing for judicial relief as the result of the school board voting not to canvass the results of the opt out election. Minnehaha County Circuit Court Judge, the honorable John Pekas, will hear the case, although they do not have a hearing date set as of yet. As soon as one is set, it will be published in this newspaper.
Next Supt. Johnson reported on the state of cleaning and building maintenance for the summer, and that the school’s athletic summer programs is going well and producing positive results.
Third, he and many other superintendents have been meeting weekly with the state Department of Education, about how to disperse and implement the spending of the SR3 (the Covid-19 relief fund dollars).
The only news from the Prairie Lakes Coop was that they were having difficulty filling counselor positions, but that shouldn’t affect our school directly as our counselor (Michelle Pliska) is remaining in her post.
The large crowd at this meeting had gathered for a purpose. Several of the people gathered were there to interview with the council as the council was looking to appoint two seats for the positions that Ruth Sarar and Tony Martens were vacating and had not petitioned a renewal for. After they entered executive session, they invited prospective appointees into the closed session for what amounted to a job interview.
They also deliberated in closed session about a grievance filed by Jodi Neugebauer.
Coming out of executive session, the board voted to appoint Ryan Longhenry and Jodi Linneweber as new members of the Garretson School Board, to take their oath of office at their next meeting.
The board also moved to address the grievance presented to them at a hearing that will take place in the future on a mutually agreeable date for all parties. Martens, Sarar, Nordstrom and Flanagan voted “aye,” while Hanisch abstained from the vote.
After this, the board adjourned.
