Board will choose new member next month
By Garrick Moritz, Gazette
The Garretson School Board met in regular session on June 13th. Major topics of the meeting were a budget update, a report from tech coordinator Matt Schrank, an update on summer projects and building maintenance, and finalizing new board member candidates.
Starting off, Superintendent Johnson introduced the new elementary principal, Katie Hoekman, to the board. Hoekman greeted the board, though she was wearing a mask and maintained social distance because she had a family exposure to Covid and was trying to mitigate risk, for which the board was appreciative.
The board approved their consent agenda and reviewed the financial reports with business manager Jacob Schweitzer.
Schweitzer then gave the board a review of the most recent updates to the budget. The changes made since the last meeting have simply been reactionary to the national stage. Since inflation is affecting everything, he’s adjusted the budget by about 8 percent in price for fuel costs. Staffing and salary costs, he said, will require some adjustments too.
The budget hearing will officially be on July 18th, when the budget will be finalized and approved.
Next the board moved onto the school’s audit report. Schweitzer reviewed this document and said that the audit report was good There were flaws found in three areas in the school’s finance, all of which he expected.
The first was lack of segregation of duties. He and Mr. Johnson said that this is a finding the report makes every year and is common for all small school districts across the state. Effectively, the auditors, and the state by proxy, want more hands and eyes handling the money and budgetary process of the school when there is really no feasible way to do so without hiring more staff, which is impractical and an unrealistic expectation for a school our size. Most school districts in the state our size and smaller get this on their report every year, and board members and administration alike were at a loss to remember a time when this did not appear on the annual audit report.
Schweitzer also confirmed that both the general fund budget and the special education fund had overspent slightly. Schweitzer said that dollars spent in both budgets were just a little off, but not bad considering the past fiscal year. The notice of audit can be read on page 7 of this newspaper.
The board voted to approve the audit and to re-hire Quam, Berglin & Post, P.C as auditors for fiscal year 2022.
The board then voted to approve exceptions to policy KG to allow the numerous summer sports camps to take place in the school. They also voted to renew their property and liability insurance policies for the school. Though the insurance rate has gone up by 20 percent for a total cost of $90,208, the valuation of the school has also been increased, for a total coverage replacement of $41 million.
The board then talked policy. The main meat of this was in the school’s hazing policy. Though Supt. Johnson had spoken about the potential to eliminate the policy on the grounds that the policy was covered under the school’s anti-bullying policy, the board had asked him to review it again and perhaps consider its merits.
“I took a closer, second look at this policy and I think the board decision to look at it again was a good one,” he said. “It’s clear that this hazing policy is specific and has specific things this policy is addressing directly. A lot of times with our policy discussions we like to shrink down the policy book, but in this case, I think I’ve been convinced that this policy serves a purpose and should we should keep it.”
The only proposal for change on the ban on corporal punishment policy was its review date. Both policies passed their review by vote of the board.
Next, technology coordinator Matt Schrank took center stage and was enthusiastic about both hardware and software upgrades for staff and students. He was happy to report the installation of a new server. Most people in the meeting joked about the old ones being dinosaurs in the computer world. Still, the school had gotten as much life out of the units as possible. New wireless routers had been installed to supplement the existing network and Schrank told the board that the school was continuing its march toward using less paper, downsizing to only 10 printers in the building when last year there were 30.
He was very excited about the new devices that would be coming in for staff and students this school year. He said with the new Apple financial agreement, the school was getting both a good deal and some very good cutting-edge technology for students and staff with some wonderful training opportunities for both this coming year.
Supt. Johnson then gave his report. First, he announced that he had two candidates for the open position on the board that Ryan Longhenry would be vacating in July. Wyatt Compton and Andy Hulscher both submitted applications to fill out the term that Longhenry won with no contest, but now will no longer serve. The board will interview both candidates and determine which of the two applicants will serve.
Supt. Johnson also reported that he was pleased the new head custodian and the progress she and custodial staff were making building-wide.
“Melissa is a person of checklists and details and she’s doing a really good job and the custodial staff under her leadership is becoming a very smooth operation.”
