By Garrick Moritz, Gazette
The Garretson School Board had their regular meeting on Nov. 14, 2022. The biggest item for the meeting was the Board approving to go forward with bidding process for the proposed renovation project of the athletic complex.
As the board approved their consent agenda, Board President Shannon Nordstrom and Superintendent Guy Johnson noted that the school had received a bid for surplus property, an offer for $252.00 to buy the storage shed listed for sale. The board voted to accept the bid.
The first bit of new board business was the approval of an exception to policy KG, to allow the school volleyball program to host their annual volleyball camp events at the school. This passed without deliberation.
Next, President Nordstrom reviewed the documentation and current stances and proposals for the Associated School Boards of South Dakota and what proposals and standing positions that the board wanted him, as their designated delegate, to take. Generally, their stance is to focus on local control and local focus, rather than unfunded state mandates.
The next item was a big topic they’d already had a special meeting about at the end of October.
“What we want to decide tonight is whether or not the project gets put out for bids, and how we go about that process,” said Nordstrom. “We have some repairs that must be made for insurance purposes, but we’ve got to decide what our priorities are out there and how we go about getting it done. We start the bidding process, and we don’t like where it lands, we can always vote to reject all bids. That said, there is work that needs to be done out there and the general feeling is that we all want a facility that the community can be proud of.”
The board debated for a short time about what those priorities should be. Coloring the turf and decorating it in Blue Dragon colors turned out to not be a priority, or at least one the board felt the field could do without. After some discussion Andy Hulscher made a motion, seconded by Jodi Gloe, to make the bid based on recommendations from Infrastructure Design at the discretion of administration at final consultation. The general bid would be for track and turf replacement and include replacement of the scoreboard as part of the main bid. Concrete repairs, bleachers, and a separate concrete pad to support those bleachers would be added as alternates. The board members wanted local concrete contractors to have a competitive chance on whatever aspects of the project they could bid on.
After policy reviews, the board moved on to administrative reports.
The first was with Supt. Johnson.
Referring to School Business Manager Jacob Schweitzer, Johnson said, “Jacob here, had applied for an EPA grant to acquire for the school funding for some brand-new electric buses. Well, he succeeded beyond expectations and the school has been awarded a grant of $1.185 million dollars to purchase said buses. Very impressive, and thank you to Jacob! The day after we found out about it, the news was sent to media outlets, so you’ve probably already read about it in our local newspaper. So, the question is now, what’s the best way to approach using those resources. Of all the districts in the state, we got the largest grant by far. My chief concern is of course, January and February weather conditions. How an electric bus will handle the snowy conditions and what our expectations for battery life will be in those conditions.”
“This all said,” Johnson continued, “the price is right. The savings in diesel fuel costs alone will be excellent for the district.”
Johnson elaborated about the propane fueled buses that the district has already placed in service, partially funded from a state grant. The bus drivers and crews already call the propane buses the pride of the fleet. Three new electric buses will transition out several of the oldest buses in the garage, perhaps leading to having only one or maybe no diesel buses in the garage.
Board President Shannon Nordstrom is the resident expert on auto mechanics in the room, and he said that he found the prospect pretty exciting. As far as torque and engine power, Nordstrom said that the new electric vehicles are unmatched, amazing and better than any standard internal combustion engine on the market. He too, shares the skeptic's view on performance in high snow and cold, but the research he’s done suggests that the rapid charging stations can have the bus ready to go in plenty of time between morning and afternoon runs. Driver training might be key, he said, as in those snowy conditions, electrics handle differently than traditional diesels, but that it’s largely a matter of training and practice. With propane backup and a diesel backup available, he thinks it could be a very interesting prospect going forward and is excited for the district to have the opportunity to try out this technology.
Elementary Principal Katie Hoekman gave her report to the board. She reported an excellent turnout for parent/teacher conferences on the elementary side. She’s formulating plans on how to use the student data from state tests to implement a new math intervention program as well as conducting a staff survey on new curriculum and its effectiveness in the classroom. She also reported on the success of the Veterans Day program in the school, which had very high attendance.
Middle school/high school Principal Chris McGregor wanted to inform the board that Jenna Van Holland, Raegen Altman and Preston Bohl had been selected as the Garretson High School Champions of Character. He also reported that he nominated Grace Hove for the Touchstone Energy Cooperative Scholar of the Week. Next, he reported high attendance at the conferences for middle school/ high school and that there were several events to make note of coming up in the next few weeks. The MS/HS band concert was on Tuesday, Nov. 15. The Winter Formal, titled the “Jingle Ball” is scheduled for Dec. 3rd and the MS/HS Christmas Concert will be held on Monday, Dec. 12.
Supt. Johnson then gave his report. First, he spoke about the accreditation process. They’ve made solid progress and he felt it was going well.
The second part of his report was the timeline for a potential tax opt out for the district, as was discussed in their special meeting at the end of October. The January regular meeting is when the admin team will plan to have their recommendations ready for the board to vote on, and this will include a public vote to ratify any tax opt out the board passes.
Then, Supt. Johnson and Assistant Athletic Director Kevin Steckler briefed the board about the situation with youth boys’ basketball.
Steckler laid the situation out pretty succinctly. The school simply does not have enough players to field a team for 5th, 6th and 7th grade students. Local students have chosen to play on other teams in neighboring communities. He and Johnson said this reflects a lot of trends in sports, both state and nationwide.
Skeckler reported the obvious solution is to let the 6th grade boys who want to play, play up at a 7th grade level so that the 7th grade can field a team. He requested that the board allow him to do just that, and they voted to grant their permission.
The board did have an executive session for a personnel matter, but it lasted only 8 minutes and the only resolution made afterwards was to adjourn.
The next meeting of the school board will be held on Monday, December 12 at 5:45 p.m. at the school library.
