School Counselor and two studentspresent Spotlight on Education
Clearbrook-Gonvick School Counselor Kim Cousins and two students Shadow Dahlke and Kaitlyn Martine spoke to the school board on Monday, March 21 on visits that are available to students at area colleges.
Dahlke was interested in going to North Dakota Science at Wahpeton, North Dakota to see the Diesel Technician program. He was able to go into the classrooms to get an idea of what it is like. Other area students Andrew Gebhardt and Cody Rude had also attended that school. Kaitlyn is interested in the Registered Nursing route and she was able to visit with her parents in the classrooms. They both thought the experience was great.
Cousins will also be the proctor for the upcoming ACT test that will be given at the school on April 19. The four hour exam will be paid for by the state. Last year 65,000 students took the test the same day and same time in their schools. She will also be giving the College Board Accuplacer. If a student wishes to do post-secondary, on line or college in the classroom they have to take this exam in order to do any one of those three choices.
Principal Jeff Burgess
The principal gave his report starting with the school testing that will start on April 11.
Archery Club started with Kyle Christianson. The Gully Sportsmen Club donated a bow for the club.
The prom is set for April 16th.
He is working on scheduling for the next year with juniors and seniors have the first look to see how it works in their schedule. Changes will be made in junior high rotations and 8th grade will be one section with most classes. The elementary will start after the high school is finished.
Staff development is going on with the elementary working on data review and the high school working on policy updates. There will be upcoming sessions on MCA testing, Mandatory Reporting, Learning outcomes and elementary standards.
Superintendent
Wayne Olson
The 41 pages of documents for Title money will be reviewed in the coming week.
The non-certified staff wants to bargain on salary. A meeting has not been set up.
The library committee met and the purchase of books for the upper elementary and Junior High school is a priority. They will be getting some furniture to have a more comfortable place to read. A projector and screen in the library for meetings. Money will also be set aside to repair books and materials. They are also looking at bins for the lighter reading books for younger children.
Consent Calendar
The board approved the bills, electronic transfers and other banking transaction and the treasurer’s report. Some of the payments were to Stein’s Bus Service LLC for $53,140.97; Clearwater-Polk Electric $8,736.22; Marco $8,406.71, BRIC $5,306.47; Ehlers & Associates, Inc. $2,800.00; City of Clearbrook $2,132.79; Anderson Disposal $1,809.70; Garden Valley Telephone Company $1,528.36; Thompso;’s Sand and Gravel $1,297.50
BRIC update
Bemidji Regional Interdistrict Council (BRIC) is looking at a policy change. BRIC would like to change the policy that allows districts a partial withdrawal. This would leave little latitude for participating districts as to what they can do for staffing. There are 13 school districts that are members of BRIC that provide services in the area of special education. Each member has a chance to vote on April 22 with the majority ruling. The way it is leaves the district with some flexibility.
Personnel
The board approved the hiring of Tamra Ragan as the Elementary/Vocal Music Teacher for the 2016-2017 school year. She was put on the salary schedule at BA step 10 for a base salary of $45,841.00. Katrina Stewart will be with the Senior and Junior High bands and give instrument lessons for the district.
The board approved hiring Kyle Christianson as the Assistant Track Coach. He will be the third coach to work with the 60 students who are out for track this year. He will be on the second year Step 2 and receive $2,820.00 for his time.
The board approved the resignation of Deb Smith the SPED Para.
The board approved the resolution discontinuing and reducing educational programs for the art position to half time for the next year. The move had been discussed with the art teacher and there is not a problem.
The board approved the two–year contract for the Superintendent Wayne Olson. For the year 2016-17 he will be paid $103,000 and for 2017-18 it will be $106,000. He will receive full family coverage and an additional week of vacation. The extra week vacation is more in line with area schools. What had been vacation was for the four day week that the district had been on with the previous superintendent.
The 2016-2017 school calendar was presented. They will start after Labor Day and finish before Memorial Day. There is 168 ½ student days. They will be looking at it some more before it gets passed.
The superintendent’s evaluation will be done again with information being sent to Tracy Imle on the board and she will process it to be reviewed by the board.
The technology proposal committee will be meeting on April 1 to decide what direction they will be going. If they go with an e-rate proposal it would mean an 80% reduction in some services.
The board approved the master salary contract for staff. It is shown below. The schedule reflects only the salary and not other benefits such as insurance.
The next board meeting will be April 18.