By Garrick Moritz, Garretson Gazette
The Garretson School Board met in regular session on Sept. 13, 2021. After the regular motions of approving the agenda, minutes and school financial reports the board approved pay increases for Michelle Pliska and Amber Williamson as they had both increased their accreditation to merit a lane change.
The first big item on the school board’s agenda was the approval of the 2022 budget. After several months of review, the budget they were confident that had worked out any issues. This budget does include sending out bids for repairs to the sports complex.
“The astro-turf, when it was installed has an expected lifespan of 10-12 years,” said Superintendent Guy Johnson. “It was installed in 2005, 16 years ago. I think we’ve gotten as much life out of it as is feasible.”
The plan is to start the process in Oct., and in Jan/February put out bids. Capital Outlay funds will be used from this fiscal year and from the next to pay for the project. The total cost of the project to repair and update the complex is projected to cost the district between 750 K to 1.5 million.
Supt. Johnson said that inevitably, this will raise questions among district constituents. The school will be planning another tax opt out measure in the spring as well, so he is certain that the school will get complaints that, if we’re seeking an opt out, why are we taking on such a big project.
The simple answer is that the school will be facing a general fund shortage, not a capital outlay shortage. To break it down for those who don’t understand how our state laws and governmental structure works we’ll use a metaphor.
Imagine that you have two checking accounts. One is designated for certain things like paying your company employees. The other checking account is designated for buying new things or constructing new buildings. The state law as written says you can only write checks for certain things with each checking account, and if you write checks from an account to make payments on things that aren’t for the exact thing you supposed to use it for, then you’re breaking the law.
This is the state of things in South Dakota right now, and a useful provision in state law that allowed school districts to tap into Capital Outlay funds for emergency budgetary shortfalls expired back in 2018. Add this to the fact that the state does not allow districts to save money in their general fund when they might have a budgetary surplus and you’ll have some idea about why the state educational funding formula is broken in our state, and seemingly no one in our legislature or leadership seems to have the political will or desire to repair it. This is why almost half the districts in the state choose to pass tax opt out measures, so they can have enough revenue incoming to operate in the day to day.
All of this to one side, Supt. Johnson said that the project to keep the sports complex functional is both needed and apparent to anyone who goes out and looks at the field where our athletes play football, soccer or run track. This is a project that the district needs for the health and safety of our young athletes, and necessary to host such outdoor sporting events. Drainage issues, leveling and replacement turf are all real needs that must be addressed.
The board approved the new budget unanimously.
The next issue the board had to deal with were out of date sexual harassment policies. Supt. Johnson said that the school’s policy needed to be changed immediately to reflect associated school board and state standards and asked the board for emergency approval to do so. Normally the approval for policy changes takes two board meetings, but that can be bypassed if there is an immediate need to fix a policy. The board so voted.
Next, the board discussed the need for long term substitutes and an adjustment in pay scale for long term accredited substitute teachers. Supt. Johnson told the board that the district is already stretched to find substitute teachers, as other neighboring districts have had a high demand for subs in recent times. GHS substitute teacher pay is $100 per day.
The current issue is that our vocal music teacher, Mrs. Erica Brown, is off on maternity leave.
“I’m happy for her, and maternity leave is very important, and I feel it’s a basic right of everyone to take as much of that time as they need for that leave. It’s an important and special time. But while she’s gone we have some big shoes to fill. In talking with possible substitutes, educators who are certified to teach music, and that is something that we really must have if we’re to continue our K-12 music program as is, we have to make it worth their time to come up here. Most of these prospects live in Sioux Falls or other larger communities in our area, and it would be a minimum of 20 mi-nutes to a half-hour of travel for them every day. With just the basic costs of putting gas in the tank, that $100 just isn’t worth it.”
Supt. Johnson and the board discussed what would be a fair price for a certified teacher to substitute teach long term. Johnson said he simply asked what would entice them to sign on, $150 a day was the most common response. Though that’s significantly more than usual sub pay, it is for a certified staff member, someone accredited by a college or university with a current teacher certification, and still less than a regular certified staff member would earn.
The board approved this measure, and also discussed with Supt. Johnson the potential of hiring a staff member whose full-time job would be to fill in wherever needed. This is a practice the school has done in the past, and it might be time to revisit that need in the district.
For informational discussion, the board briefly discussed anti-bullying and harassment and the complaint process. They had first readings of revised medical cannabis administration to qualifying students as well as alcohol and drug policies for students and staff.
Supt. Johnson then gave his report to the board. First, he talked about the state approval process for the ARPESSER III plan, using the COVID-19 relief funds for student learning, remediation, and mental health improvement. He said that after some corrective language from state agencies they felt the Garretson plan was solid gold for the approval process.
Next, he wanted to report that currently the School was on yellow alert for COVID-19 cases in the elementary. They had several confirmed cases and were strongly encouraging everyone to wear masks. Though they did not make them a requirement, he was pleased to say that he saw the majority of students begin to wear masks again once the yellow alert went up. He felt that staff and especially students completely understood the need for masks in school. He said that it’s the adults who are the ones who are less understanding and more apt to complain, and they were pretty quiet after the yellow alert went up. He would continue to encourage safety protocols and watch the situation closely. As of this printing, the school downgraded their alert back to green as no new cases have developed after a week of close monitoring. In any case, Johnson said that they will remain vigilant.
This week, Pfizer released their initial study on the results of their vaccine in ages 5-11, noting a dose one-third of the adult dose was safe and effective for that age group. They are expected to apply for emergency use authorization as soon as possible.
The board did have an executive session regarding a student matter. After the board came back into open session they voted to affirm Garry Kaufman as Title IX Investigator. Under SD law and SD Board of Regents direction, such an investigator’s job is to investigate claims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking, and to investigate and pursue any other human rights complaint procedure.
