by Garrick Moritz, Gazette
The Garretson School Board met in regular session on March 9th. It was a short agenda, but there was a lot to talk about. Highlights included the commendation of Julie Hersom for 40 years of service to the district, discussion to revising the rules regarding teams going to state events, and the upcoming dissolution of Thrive Nutrition Services, which will force the school to find a new food service provider for next year.
Starting with consent agenda items, the board accepted the resignation of Julie Gnadt as the cheer advisor effective at the end of this school year.
The Board also reluctantly accepted the resignation of Julie Hersom, issuing her a commendation for 40 years of service to the district.
“Obviously we don’t want her to retire because she’s really done a such a great job for our district, and I don’t want this milestone for her to pass without commendation for a job well done,” said Board President Shannon Nordstrom.
“She has chosen to spend her entire working professional career in education in one district,” said Supt. Guy Johnson. “That’s exceedingly rare and wonderful and she has interacted and positively impacted the lives of generations of Garretson students. It is very proper that she be recognized for that.”
Next the board discussed the bids for the upcoming roof renovation project. They discussed and then accepted the low bid from Dalson, Inc. out of Sioux Falls.
With the HVAC and light replacement projects set to start after school ends, and this project set to start in July after the school’s fiscal year begins anew, Supt. Johnson said that the school should be able to do both projects without the need for bonds or any kind of borrowing. The school is living within its means, though he cautioned the board that most of the maintenance and project budgets will be tight, so no new projects will be happening until the 2022 fiscal year. However, Johnson said that many existing maintenance issues will be solved by these projects. New lights without ballasts, a better roof and HVAC system overhaul will make the building comfortable in all climates.
Next, board members discussed and selected which delegates would attend each of the local equalization board meetings, and it worked out that each one of the 5 board members would attend one of the local meetings of Garretson, Sherman, Edison, Palisades, and Highland.
They next discussed the summer driver’s education program. Though a final schedule had not yet been set, the administration recommended no increases in pricing.
The board then passed an exception to their normal events policy to allow Jr. Olympic Volleyball training camps to be hosted in the building. The cost will be approximately $250 per student & open to students in grades 5 to 12, and Supt. Johnson said that scholarships would be available for students who wanted to attend, but the listed price would cause financial hardships for their families. These camps would start right away, March 9 and go until around May 1st. Assistant Athletic Director Kevin Steckler said that though scheduling would be a challenge at times, he was confident he could accommodate everyone’s needs. As to whether or not this would become a regular event, Supt. Johnson said that so far this is a trial effort. If it is successful and the board was satisfied with the arrangement, he would still like an annual board approval for an exemption, as he wants a clear directive from the board for any time the school deviates from policy as written. It should be noted that board member Rachel Hanisch recused herself from voting on this issue due to a personal conflict.
The board voted to renew contracts for all current administrators, then it was time to review some policy items.
One item was the communicable disease guidelines. With the novel Coronavirus aka COVID-19, on the national and international stage right now, it’s a good time to review a policy that hasn’t been looked at since 2007. Though it’s going into the process and was effectively tabled at the meeting for more review, Board President Nordstrom said he had confidence in our staff.
“Mr. Johnson and other school superintendents around the state have been watching this all develop very closely and are aware of the facts, and what measures they can implement to protect our students and staff, and they have my full confidence they will do everything needful to protect the health and safety of our students. They have their finger on the pulse of this issue and have plans in place.”
Principals Teresa Hulscher and Chris Long spoke to the board about revisions to the student handbook. Though not ready for this meeting, the handbook with revisions will be available for review soon. One large topic of discussion at the meeting was discipline protocols, as well as students at game events.
Many times, students simply run amuck through the halls during home basketball games. At home football games, students play on the northside hill as well. Board member Hanisch said that her daughter broke her collarbone playing on the hill in question this past year. The discussion centered on how much of a balance to strike. Most adults come to watch the games, but not all students necessarily come to watch the games, but rather just for the social aspect of spending time with friends. They don’t want to discourage attendance either way, but the issue is striking a balance between safety and order and letting kids play and have good and fun experiences with their fellow students. Nordstrom and board member Tony Martens fondly reminisced about fun games of Kill the Carrier on that hill in bygone years, but that it has been a cyclical issue, with times of administrators and coaches not allowing those things to happen because of potential injury. Nothing was proposed as to how best to find that balance.
Mr. Long talked about the senior capstone experience and internship opportunities and how that would relate to graduation requirements for our seniors. He was proposing for an internship as part of the senior project to be an elective. At this time the options are that the senior project be required and the internship be an elective, but depending on how much and how successful it is, that might have room for change.
Long was certain that the new classes being taught by Darcy McGee, the new Computer Technology and Business educator, were doing a great job of helping GHS grads be more workforce ready than ever before. He noted she was helping students prepare for job interviews, prepping resumes, and teaching related skills. He also said her accounting class has been so well attended that they’ re thinking of adding an Accounting 2 course next year.
Long also mentioned the extremely solid efforts of Kelsey Buchholz in prepping students for their senior projects and presentation day. He said whatever the future holds, it’s looking better all the time.
The policy items the board next discussed were about state events, and what the policy changes might be for that, including what the school does or does not pay for when athletes attend state events. Martens felt very strongly and made a very compelling case that student managers were extremely important to school sports and should receive meal and hotel stipends as do student athletes. He cited wrestling as an example he is personally close to and made a compelling case that the school should support both athletes and student managers equally, since they’re all part of the same team even if they’re not on the team sport. Assistant AD Steckler said that a student manager is, “a coach’s best friend...” and essential for the smooth operation of a sport, be it a team or individual sport with team dynamics.
Since new legislation was passed this year regarding State Event participation issues anyway, the board consensus was to look at the two policies in question in greater depth and run them through the revision process with all of that in mind.
The board also discussed and passed policy on student admission for new residents and students from unaccredited schools. Specifically, this could have an effect on admitting home-schooled students. Mr. Long was in direct contact with a family that this issue could directly affect, and he reported to the board that any potential issues have been cleared up, and the board voted to make the revision. They also passed the job description for the school library education assistant position, clarifying those duties with some grammatical revisions from board member and retired English teacher Ruth Sarar. Board president Nordstrom and Supt. Johnson thanked her for her stalwart service in this endeavor. Whenever there is a policy review, she always finds potential mistakes and errors. Correct words lead to clear intentions and actions.
Next, school Business Manager Jacob Schweitzer gave a report to the board about the upcoming election season. Only board Vice President Kari Flanagan’s position was up for election this year. She was the only board person to turn in an election petition so she will win the election without contest.
Moving on to the Supt. Report, Mr. Johnson gave the board a brief legislative report. All of the bills that were directed at schools in SD that would have been troubling or disturbing to the district were killed in committee or on the floor.
One issue of concern is that they did pass a bill regarding dyslexia.
Johnson said that it’s good that it’s finally being recognized as a problem in state law, but that no funding mandates have been made to support dyslexia as a special education program.
He is worried that it will become an unfunded mandate that will put an undue strain on the already underfunded special education budgets of our school and schools across the state. He also reported that the Governor and Pierre leadership had a big press conference announcing that schools would get their 2% overall increase, but that the lobby team for the statewide school association says to never count the chickens before they hatch, or in other words, wait till the appropriation legislation has been voted on and the bill signed by the governor before anyone celebrates anything.
Next, he had some unpleasant news. Thrive Nutrition Services had contacted him and informed him that the school would be receiving a certified letter soon. The main issue is that the parent company of Thrive Nutrition Services is dissolving their branch, and that dissolution will be effective as of June 30th.
This means that the school will need to proceed with a request for proposals for a new food service provider. Johnson and Nordstrom both commented that this is coming on the heels of a transition year last summer when the school transferred companies from Lunchtime Solutions to Thrive, and the lunch staff had to change employment from one company to another. Nordstrom said he was upset about this employee turnover causing stress and hardship in loss of job security for the people who work hard in the school’s kitchens.
Savvy Gazette readers will remember that this was the exact reason that five years ago, former school board member John Brinkman cast the sole vote in opposition to using a contracted lunch service provider rather staffing the kitchen with school employees. This was precisely the situation he was concerned might happen.
Board member Hanisch said that she would like to make sure that no employees who worked at the school signed any non-compete clause documents, or if they had, that Thrive release them from any such stipulations, as that would be the least they could do as they are dissolving. All agreed that would be for the best.
Both Johnson and Sarar reported that they voted to let Rutland/Ramona leave the Prairie Lakes Co-op, as they are planning to join another co-op. Supt. Johnson said it was a mutually beneficial parting of the ways, and hopefully will give more potential school psychologist hours to Garretson and other schools, which will be especially needed if the aforementioned dyslexia testing does become an unfunded mandate.
The board entered an executive session to discuss staff negotiations and a personnel matter.
