G. Moritz, Gazette
We will do a full story on the School Board meeting that occurred on Monday, May 13th, but here is a synopsis in brief, with the items of note.
Vice President Andy Hulscher led the meeting as Board President Shannon Nordstrom was absent.
The board approved personnel actions in their consent agenda, including the renewal of all outstanding administration contracts. Amber Williamson has agreed to coach Soccer once again and the School has hired Nathan Scieszinski as the new PE teacher and Jr. High Football Coach.
The board recognized Jacob Heumiller as the Teacher of the Year, saying he was universally liked by students and staff alike, has taken on many leadership roles and is focused on the success of his students.
Tension around the table happened as the board considered their ballot for the South Dakota High School Activates Association election and ballot issues. Board Members Tana Clark and Jodi Gloe voted to nominate Superintendent Chris Long of the Lyman School District for the open seat on the SDHSAA board. Board Members Wyatt Compton and Andy Hulsher voted against this, leaving it tied 2-2 with a failed motion. Instead, the board voted to simply abstain from the ballot.
The board set their regular July board meeting for July 15th instead of the week of the 4th, a time when a board meeting would not be what anyone wanted. Board Member Gloe asked that the oncoming new board members be informed of the change. School board member elect Natasha Mendoza was in the room and acknowledged in person. They set the annual budget hearing for July 15th at 6:30 as well.
The board had a talk about transparency. Board Member Clark mentioned that community trust in the board and the administration was at a low point, and wanted to take active steps to foster that trust. Gloe suggested the same, and said that especially with the scheduling of special meetings of the board, notification needed to be pushed.
Supt. Johnson and tech coordinator Matt Schrank were leery of pushing too much data at people’s phones, as too many text messages or notifications tend to get ignored as spam. However, discussion around the table centered around pushing the preparation of an agenda back one more day, and to make sure that if a special meeting was happening that it gets pushed to the forefront of their website, live stream, social media, and text notifications. Supt. Johnson said that on the policy books, the only directive was that they comply with state law, but he did have the ASBSD recommended policies ready for the board to review and begin the adoption process. The board opted to wait for now, and try some of these new practices before they make any new policy adoptions or changes.
The commentary about public trust being at a low point is perhaps the only oblique reference to the two large articles this newspaper has published on the issues of student bullying. The school board did have an executive session about a student matter, but after they ended their executive session, they took no action resulting from the executive session and simply adjourned. We’ll have a more detailed report in our next issue.
