Prom presentation made at school board meeting

The Clearbrook-Gonvick Junior class is planning the Junior-Senior prom for this coming spring. A presentation was presented at the school board meeting on Monday, December 21 for the prom to be a destination prom. They are planning to have it at the Timbers in Bagley with the Grand March at the school at 6:00 p.m. Last year it was held at the Fireside in Bagley with students being bussed to that location after the Grand March. Money for the expenses come out of the Junior Class account by popcorn and candy sales throughout the years.

Principal Jeff 

Burgess report

Events and concerts were held and the end of the first Semester is January 22.

Teacher observations were held with the first round completed in November. The second round will be in January and February and the third round will be in March and April. The Daily 5 curriculum is strengthening instruction.

Staff development will be on January 18th with a Teacher-In-Service Day. The elementary teachers will be having a Journey’s curriculum training on technology and writing. Journey’s is the new Reading Series the high school teachers will be going to Thief River Falls for the area technology conference.

The staff will be meeting with Marco to discuss services that they provide on January 11 at 10:00 a.m. They will go over options of service and pricing.

He has already started scheduling meetings for high school and is looking at priorities were junior high rotation and core classes for upper levels that would be moved to the middle of the day. Students go to various activities with sporting events and others and leave the last hour of the day.

Superintendent 

Wayne Olson report

No Child Left Behind Act from 2001 is now new legislation being replaced with Every Student Succeeds Act. The federal government will not be involved as much. The district will continue what they have been doing as there is not a whole lot of changes. Most of the money for the district comes from the state.

The board was given a comparison report for the finances. They are down some on the projections as some of the funds have not come into the district. There was also a dust collector system that had to be put in, a new generator, the new text books that were purchased were higher than anticipated and long-term substitute situations were not budgeted. They will know more when the money comes in. 

Superintendent Olson presented the anticipated budget for the Car Restoration Program that Ross Faldet will be offering. They have a donation that will be put into the account when it is all set up. They are thinking of a muscle car and will be looking at leads to find one that can be restored to be put up for sale. 

The District hiring guidelines was postponed to the January meeting.

New Business

The School safety presentation was postponed. Dan Gazelka will present how school safety should be handled.

Truth in Taxation information was presented to the board. The state reimbursement has not kept up with inflation. 

The board approved the levy limitation and certification for $1,687,701.05 that did not include the Q comp levy of $38,312.00.

Special Property Tax Refund is available for all homestead properties with a gross tax increase of at least 12% and $100 over the prior year. Refund is 60% of the amount by which the tax increase exceeds the greater of 12% or $100, up to a maximum of $1,000. 

There are no income limits. One has to fill out state tax form M-1PR. 

•Allows people 65 years of age or older with a household income of $60,000 or less to defer a portion of the property taxes on their home 

•Taxes paid in any year limited to 3% of household income for year before entering deferral program; this amount does not change in future years 

•Additional taxes are deferred, but not forgiven 

•State charges interest up to 5% per year on deferred taxes and attaches a lien to the property 

•The deferred property taxes plus accrued interest must be paid when the home is sold or the homeowner(s) dies

The board approved the hiring of Jenetta Mathson as the new Office Assistant. The hiring of a SPED Para was not ready to be offered at this time.

The board approved the new scholarship language for the hand book. When a scholarship is offered a student has to submit his grade point average after his first semester of college or trade school to be able to get the money offered in the scholarship. A 2.0 average is required. 

Bills were approved with amounts going to: Stein’s Bus Service LLC $47,850.51; BRIC $42,090.54; Clearwater-Polk Electric $9,291.40; Marco $7,941.25; Community Oil Co $6,200.00; Clearwater County Nursing Service $3,891.25; City of Clearbrook $2,267.68; Garden Valley Telephone Company $1,522.82; Rogers Two Way Radio $1,144.65 and Wiebolt Electric $1,077.87.

The next meeting and board reorganization meeting will be January 25.