by Garrick A Moritz, Gazette
The Garretson School Board met in regular session on Nov. 8, 2021. The School Board meeting was held in classroom #182 as the school’s library was being used for the book fair. There was no technology set up to broadcast the meeting on the Alliance network as usual because of the shuffle.
The board approved the consent agenda noting fuel quotes and other such resource purposes. Board member Ryan Longhenry asked about quotes for propane. Superintendent Guy Johnson said that he expected that to be a question soon, but the school does not have a propane tank installed at the new bus garage yet, though it will be coming. Palisades Oil & Propane so far has directly provided the district's propane filling needs for the two new propane fueled busses, which have a 90 gallon and 100-gallon propane tank each. Supt. Johnson said that when the tank has been installed and staff trained on operation, they would be bidding for fuel quotes as per standard procedure.
Board president Shannon Nordstrom and the board then recognized American Education Week, which was started by the American Legion nationwide back in 1921.
Next, Nordstrom reviewed the upcoming positions for the Associated School Boards of South Dakota for this upcoming legislative session year. Kari Flanagan is the Garretson School Board delegate for this year.
One of the big policy changes and pushes for the ASBSD will be a focus on mental health of South Dakota students, especially with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. This will lead to a general review and revisal of mental health policies across the state.
Other positions include a continued push for the state to follow the law and increase school budget funding 3% or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. Some in the ASBSD think it’s time to retire that provision because it potentially limits school budgetary growth. Still others are worried that it will destroy school financial safety nets if it’s removed. Board Member Longhenry suggested they push to change that wording to whichever is more, especially considering what inflation will do to prices this year.
Next, Nordstrom talked about the ASBSD stance to review student curriculums. People up at the top wanted control over what curriculum was taught in SD schools.
“Not to put too fine a point on it, but it isn’t any of their business,” he said. “The people who review our curriculum are professionals and I trust their judgment. This is an issue of local control. We choose our professionals carefully and they choose carefully what curriculum is taught in our school and that’s the end of the debate. We’ll maintain our own standards and the ASBSD will tell the Governor and anyone else in Pierre to stay out of it.”
Likewise, they discussed their stance on opposing tax money going to charter and private schools, and tax breaks for private schools.
Also, with the transgender issues that have been coming up regularly in the legislature, they made clear that their stance and the ASBSD stance is that this issue is purely an issue of local control. School districts want to foster an environment of learning and education and safety for their students and so if, for example, a school wants to adopt a transgender bathroom policy for their district, it’s their fundamental right to do so without state governmental interference.
They also took measure of vaccination requirements. So far, no district in South Dakota has made COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for staff or students. However, there are many other vaccine requirements for school attendance and this is unlikely to change, even with the anti-vax moment. Religious exemptions exist, and anyone who wants one must fill out a form and sign for the district. Supt. Johnson said that for the most part, people have done the right thing and gotten their shots. He said the staff has been vaccinated against COVID-19 and that now the vaccine is available for all school age children, many students are already getting their shots.
Then Shannon Nordstrom talked about public notices, and the ASBSD stance that they should be taken out of local newspapers and put on a state-run website instead. Nordstrom said he was all for saving money for the school, but he had a caveat.
“Although, our board members might not necessarily agree with that stance, and we like our local paper, and I also remember reading something in our paper about this very topic,” he said.
He called on Garretson Gazette owner, and recently elected vice president of the South Dakota Newspaper Association, Garrick Moritz to explain the issue.
Moritz tried to be brief, explaining that this was simply a legislative ploy to take away public notices, because having those notices published in the free press would be inconvenient for certain legislators, since they’re not eager for the public to actually know how their tax dollars are spent.
State Government would likely have to create a whole new department just to manage all the data, which would cost even more money to the taxpayer. Moritz said that SDNA has had an online database where anyone with a computer or a smartphone can look up any legal notice published in South Dakota at www.sdpublicnotices.com, and stated that this site has been in place since the 1990s and that just this past year they’ve done a major update to make it easier to use on the go with mobile devices.
“Why they want to reinvent something that’s already in place and already paid for is beyond me,” said Moritz. “Especially since getting private enterprise to perform a public service for the government at an extreme discount is the very definition of fiscal conservatism.”
“Well, you can’t say it fairer than that,” said Nordstrom.
Moritz said he had more to say on the matter but didn’t want to take up any more meeting time, and he promised to draft a letter to the school board as to why they should oppose the ASBSD policy on this matter. You can see this open letter here.
The board moved on to deciding a date for the board retreat. They did not hold a retreat last year because of COVID-19 safety concerns, which means it has been two years since their last such meeting. They set the date for Jan. 20, 2022 at 5:30 p.m., depending on weather.
Next was discussion and reading of policy items and changes. The policies on bullying and harassment were updated and the board also approved the Medical Cannabis Administration Plan.
“We are basically making up these rules as we go along, as the State has had very little forward movement on this issue,” said Supt. Johnson. “We’re adopting policy recommended by the ASBSD and we can’t really do more than that at this time.”
Next was the Supt. report. First was an update on the athletic complex and the track and turf replacement. We got deep into the weeds on this one, no pun intended. Supt. Johnson had spoken with Chad Hanisch of Infrastructure Design Group. The clay and soil mix at the athletic complex has notable flaws and instabilities. It moves, drifts and lifts. This presents challenges to make it the kind of field we want as our sports complex. Hanisch, and Supt. Johnson after speaking with him, recommend that a full study be done of the complex by an engineering firm. With better specs as to what the field will need, we can better create solutions that will stand the test of time, to make sure every dollar spent goes to the complex utility and longevity.
Hanisch’s firm has worked with the district in the past, worked on the field, and has a good deal of the base knowledge needed to create those plans. He asked for the board's blessing to proceed. He noted that if the district did hire Infrastructure Design Group, that a conflict of interest would have to be noted, as wife Rachel Hanisch is a school board member.
However, their past expertise and existing knowledge of the complex is without question, making them the best candidate for the job in his opinion.
Supt. Johnson reported that with the vaccine available for age 5 and up, more students are getting their shots. Again, the school isn’t requiring students to get the COVID-19 vaccine, just strongly encouraging them to do so. The more do so, the sooner we leave COVID in the dust bin of history.
Rachel Hanisch, who is the new board’s delegate to the Prairie Lakes Cooperative, reported that she discovered something she didn’t know. Our co-op is one of only 12 that operates state-wide. The Medicare reimbursement payments will go up by about $64.84 per student. Also, the coop is having difficulty hiring psychologist councilors as they are in short supply. The chairman of the co-op believes that only in-the-flesh counseling is helpful, but Hanisch challenged him on that, citing her own family’s experience with an online speech therapist to help her son with a stuttering problem. Telehealth isn’t a perfect solution, but it’s much better than no solution at all.
The board then entered and executive session to talk about a personnel matter. After 20 minutes of discussion they exited executive session, took no action, and voted to adjourn.
