The Garretson School Board met in regular session on Aug. 12, 2019. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance and a few minor changes to the agenda.
The board approved the consent agenda, with the only item of note being that Palisades Oil was awarded the fuel quote since Vollan Oil did not return the school’s call.
Next the board discussed the 2019-2020 budget. In discussion of the budget, Superintendent Guy Johnson said that the final stages of the budget are coming together, and that as of now, the school will not need to ask for the full opt out amount and that district taxpayers will see a reduction in their taxes for this coming year. The budget should be finalized and ready to vote on by next month’s meeting.
Next the board discussed a number of financial housecleaning items. With the resignation of Emily Bucher as school business manager this past July, Supt. Johnson has had interim personnel covering her duties. He said he had also been conducting interviews for the new position and hoped to have a new person in that critical role hired in the near future. Meanwhile he had few financial items to bring to the board’s attention for cleanup.
As an example, class funds had not been rolled over. These are the funds used by a class to pay for prom and other class-related extra-curricular activities. These funds had been kept in separate small accounts, and not rolled over or cashed out when the class had graduated. Often time, he Supt. Johnson said that these accounts only had a few dollars and change leftover, but that they have been sitting idle. This has been the practice for some time now, as the backlog of these accounts goes from the graduating class of this past May, all the way back to 2007. Now that this has been discovered, Superintendent Johnson recommended that these funds be rolled over for use by the next class in line and the board agreed, and voted to do so.
The board also voted to move 10 thousand from the general fund to the preschool fund to keep that fund solvent for the start of the year. They also voted to sign all the federal assurance documents so the school can take part in any and all federal school programs and they approved the special education comprehensive plan.
Next the board discussed informational items, polices under discussion for review.
The first item on discussion was policy item BDDH, public participation at board meetings.
“The State has passed some new laws as regards this issue,” said Board President Shannon Nordstrom. “You all will remember that we had a personnel issue this past year that was very difficult and distressing and we had a room full of upset parents and constituents who had very strong opinions on the matter that they wished to share. Because of the nature of the issue as a personnel matter, we as a board are not allowed to talk about this issue but it is important going forward that we sit and listen. So, we want to amend this policy to reflect the new changes in state law and to accommodate what our patrons and guests have to say, even if we can make no comments about it.”
They also discussed potential revisions to the teacher job description and the special education director’s job description.
The board then had first readings of two newly revised policies regarding the guidance program and patriotic exercises, such as the raising of the flag, saying the pledge before classes and the singing or playing of the national anthem before sporting events.
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