November 21, 2022 at 7:30 PM - Regular Meeting

Description:  All speakers are asked to complete the Listening Session Sign-in Form including as much detail as possible and including a printed / written copy of your presentation if one is available. This is an opportunity for the Board to listen, the Board will not engage in dialogue. As a general rule, the Board will not comment on or respond to any comments made by speakers. Please do not include names of Greenbush Middle River employees or representatives, their title, or location in your remarks for your own legal protection and the legal rights of staff.

Each speaker will have five (5) minutes to speak: speakers may not roll their time to another speaker. Speakers will be timed and are asked to complete their comments in this time frame. Board members may ask questions if needed.  Please begin your presentation by stating your name and topic only.
In the spirit of fairness to all participants, we request that you respect the format above. Thank you for taking the time today to attend this meeting and share your concerns and suggestions.
Members of the public may wish to email Board [listening session] communication(s) to <info@greenbush.k12.mn.us>

Description:  01 General Fund
o  02 Food Service
o  04 Community Services
o  07 Debt Redemption
o  08 Scholarships
o  09 Student Activities
• *see attached 

Description:  The BGMR Girls Volleyball team advanced to the State Tournament for the second consecutive year.  The team finished as Consolation Champions (5th Place) in State Class A.  Cassie Dahl and Jade Reese received All State recognition.  Jade Reese received All Tournament Team recognition.
Head Coach Mrs. Stacy Dahl received Section A Coach of the Year.
MN VB Coaches’ Association recognizes teams with seniors’ cumulative GPA’s of 3.8 or higher for the Gold Award. BGMR earned this high honor.
Congratulations to the girls volleyball program and the coaching staff headed by Mrs. Stacy Dahl.

Description:  B/GMR Football players Zach Blawat & Dylan Von Ende were named to the Section 8 All District Football team.

Description:  Every year, American Education Week is held the week before Thanksgiving.  The intent of American Education Week (November 14-18) is to celebrate public education and recognize the individuals working to ensure that every student receives a quality education.

We honor and THANK the team of people who work in the GMR School.  There are ~50 school employees including:  Teachers, Para Professionals, Custodians, Transportation, Food Service, Technology, Preschool, Office Support and Administration that provide public service to nearly 220 K-12 students as well as an additional number of pre-school children.  

Description:  An application to the Arlys Graff Trust Fund was made to benefit the drama and music departments, First Robotics and academic offerings for students (eg:  Accelerated Math & Accelerated Reading).  The full amount requested [$32,280.00) was received a few days ago.

Motion by Board Member _____________________ and seconded by ________________ to accept a donation in the amount of $32,280.00 to  benefit the drama and music departments, First Robotics and academic offerings for students (eg:  Accelerated Math & Accelerated Reading). 

Description:  Congratulations to seniors Chance Christian and Cassidy Dahl, selected by faculty as our school’s nominees for the MSHSL AAA award.

To be eligible for the Academics, Arts, and Athletics Award a student must:

• be a high school senior at the time of nomination. Schools may nominate one senior boy and one senior girl for this award.
• have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher at the time of nomination.
• participate in at least one League-sponsored athletic program and one arts/activity program.
• comply with the MSHSL's Student Code of Conduct 

 

Description:  Congratulations to juniors Sierra Westberg and Vincent Stenberg, selected by faculty as our school’s nominees for the MSHSL ExCEL award.

The ExCEL Award [Excellence in Community, Education and Leadership] - is a unique recognition program designed exclusively for Minnesota high school juniors who are active in school activities, leaders in their schools, and who demonstrate a strong commitment to community service. This award is sponsored by the League's corporate partner Wells Fargo. 
Nomination Criteria 
Every League member school is invited to nominate one girl and one boy for the ExCEL Award. Nominees must:

• Be a junior in high school
• Make satisfactory progress toward graduation
• Participate in an MSHSL fine arts and/or athletic activity
• Hold a leadership position(s) in their school
• Volunteer in their community
• Meet MSHSL General Eligibility Requirements (Bylaw 206)

Description:  Board members B.Kuznia, K. Stenberg and A. Harder are GMR Board representatives to a sub-committee to review GMR School District Administrative structure options.

The current GMR School Principal & Activities Director signed a one-year Agreement which expires June 30, 2023.

The current Superintendent of School was employed by the GMR School Board in late June 2019 for the 2019-2020 school year as a part-time interim Superintendent.  With the on-set and continuation of COVID-19, an employment agreement was mutually extended to the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years.  The Supt. Agreement expires June 30, 2023.

Moving forward:  The Board should begin to consider administrative structure options effective July 1, 2023.

Board Discussion:

Description:  Board members S. Kilen & B. Kuznia and Allision Harder are GMR School Board representatives to a proposed Joint Powers Agreement between Greenbush Middle River School District ISD #2683 and Tri-County School District ISD #2358.  Joint Board representatives met at the Tri-County School on Nov. 14, 2022.  Mr. Gary Lee of the MN School Boards Association attends the Joint Powers Meeting(s) virtually.
The next Joint Powers meeting is scheduled for November 30, 2022 in the Greenbush School Library.

Board representative(s) report and Board discussion:

Suggested Board Action (?) Motion by Board member ___________________ and seconded by ___________________ to approve a Joint Powers Agreement between Greenbush Middle River School District ISD #2683 and Tri-County School District ISD #2358 as developed by the MN School Boards Association.

Description:  John Lee has been a football coach in B/GMR for 15 years, the past 10 as Head Coach.


Suggested Board Action:  Motion by Board Member _____________________ and seconded by _______________ to accept the resignation of Mr. John Lee as Head Football Coach as per submitted letter.

Description:  Two new members of the GMR School Board will take their Board seat in January 2023.  According to the MSBA... "This year, the MSBA reports 1,600 candidates across the state filed for approximately 1,000 open seats, 618 of whom are incumbents. That means there could potentially be about 400 new faces on school boards across the state." 

Member ____________________ introduced the following Resolution and moved its adoption.

RESOLUTION CANVASSING RETURNS
OF VOTES OF SCHOOL DISTRICT GENERAL ELECTION

BE IT RESOLVED by the School Board of Independent School District No.2683, as follows:
 

1. It is hereby found, determined and declared that the general election of the voters of the district held on November 8 , 2022, was in all respects duly and legally called and held.

 

2. As specified in the attached Abstracts and Return of Votes Cast by eligible voters in Roseau, Kittson and Marshall Counties, a total of 1,676 voters of the district voted at said election on the election of four school board members for four year term vacancies on the board caused by expiration of term on the first Monday in January next following the general election as follows:

Allison Harder         792

Peter Kern                854

Kurt Stenberg           814

Sue Ann Wahl          956
 

3. Allison Harder, Peter Kern, Kurt Stenberg and Sue Ann Wahl, having received the highest number of votes, are elected to four year terms beginning the first Monday in January, 2023.

 

4. The school district clerk is hereby authorized to certify the results of the election to the county auditor of each county in which the school district is located in whole or in part.

The motion for the adoption of the foregoing resolution was duly seconded by Member __________________ and upon vote being taken thereon, the following voted in favor thereof:


and the following voted against the same:


whereupon said resolution was declared duly passed and adopted.

(Attach Abstracts and Return of Votes Cast)
 

Description:  RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING ISSUANCE OF CERTIFICATES OF ELECTION AND DIRECTING SCHOOL DISTRICT CLERK TO PERFORM OTHER ELECTION RELATED DUTIES

WHEREAS, the board has canvassed the general election for school board members held on November 8, 2022 .

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the School Board of Independent School District No. 2683 , State of Minnesota, as follows:

1. The chair and clerk are hereby authorized to execute certificates of election on behalf of the school board of Independent School District No. 2683 to the following candidates:

Allison Harder
Peter Kern
Kurt Stenberg
Sue Ann Wahl

who have received a sufficiently large number of votes to be elected to fill vacancies on the board caused by expiration of term on the first Monday in January next following the election, based on the results of the canvass.

2. The certificate of election form is attached hereto.

3. After the time for contesting the election has passed and the candidate has filed all campaign financial reports required by Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 211A, the clerk of the school board is hereby directed to deliver the certificates to the persons entitled thereto personally or by certified mail.

4. The clerk is hereby directed to enclose with the certificate of acceptance of office an oath of office form attached hereto.

The motion for the adoption of the foregoing resolution was duly seconded by Member _____________________

Upon vote, the following voted in favor of:

and the following voted in opposition of:

Thereby the resolution passed.

Description:  A representative [Mr. Brian Stavenger] of the accounting firm of Eide Bailly (Fargo, N.D.) will provide the Independent Audit Report of the Greenbush Middle River School District Fiscal Year 2021-2022..

School Districts are required, by statute, to have an annual independent audit of their financial affairs.  A representative of the accounting firm of Eide Bailly will present the GMR financial audit for the 2021-2022 school year.

attachments 

A motion was made by ______________, seconded by _____________, to approve the Greenbush Middle River School District 2021-2022 Financial Audit as presented by the accounting firm of Eide Bailly.. 

Description:  With the Girls Volleyball team and High School Pep Band attending the state Tournament in St. Paul, I can’t express my gratitude to all our elementary teachers and our students for how they adjusted their efforts to make the Veterans Day program a success.  Special thanks to Robin Waage & Jeanne Novacek, Mary Anderson and Deb Aune working hard behind the scenes for this program.   

see attached Veterans Day Program

Description:  Governor Walz (D) won re-election to a second term. The Democratic Farm Labor (DFL) retained it's House majority (70-64) and found a narrow pathway to the Senate majority (34-33) meaning the DFL party has what some term as a governing 'trifecta' for the first time since the 2012 election.   Therefore, the DFL will pretty much control the State's political agenda at least for the next two years.  For PreK-12 Public Education  "As for Education; vouchers and ‘education savings accounts’ are dead on arrival.  Instead, we should expect a significant, if not a truly historic education package to emerge from the Walz budget plan, to be released by January 24. In recent years, union pressure has been to allocate state aid to categories of staff groups, like school counselors, in addition to dollars in student based formulas (general education, special education, EL). Staff categorical funding may be one of the areas of tension going forward for public education interests, all seeking to improve education as a profession. Governor Walz in his press conference last Wednesday (Nov. 9) talked about potentially fully funding special education. For MREA and all public school interests, our job is to figure this out together and not miss the opportunity to invest a historic budget surplus in our staff and students."  source:  retrieved from MREAVOICE.ORG on Nov. 14, 2022.

The Governor will be seeking a new Commissioner of Education as the current Commissioner  [Heather Mueller] has decided not to seek re-appointment to her position.

In the U.S. Congress, the Republican Party has a majority in the House of Representatives and the Democratic Party has a majority in the Senate.  The Federal govt. provides education funding to schools.



 

Description:  Last week, media attention was directed to student lunch debt.

Schools that offer an alternate meal, such as a cold cheese sandwich, to students with lunch debt are violating state law, according to an opinion issued Thursday (November 17, 2022) by Attorney General Keith Ellison.

One section of the relevant statute says schools "must ensure that any reminders for payment of outstanding student meal balances do not demean or stigmatize any child participating in the school lunch program, including but not limited to dumping meals, withdrawing a meal that has been served, announcing or listing students’ names publicly, or affixing stickers, stamps, or pins."  source:  retrieved from sahanjoural.com & St. Paul Pioneer Press on 11/21/2022.

The GMR School Does Not offer an alternate meal to students with lunch debt.

Description:  Math League, Knowledge Bowl, First Robotics, Band & Choir practice for Christmas programs underway.

Winter Sports Practice begins:
       Girls BB ......... Nov. 14
       Wrestling ....... Nov. 21
       Boys BB......... Nov. 21
       Cheer Team....Nov. 21

Description: 
Motion by__________________        Second by ____________________ to ADJOURN

Description: 

• December 8   9-12 Grade Choir performing at DigiKey
• Dec. 19 Christmas Program:  H.S. (Grades 7-12) Music Concert  7:00 pm
• Regular December School Board Meeting - December 19, 2022 @ 7:30 p.m. in GMR School Library
• Dec. 22 Christmas Program:  Elementary @ 1:30 pm
• MN School Boards Association State Convention at Minneapolis Convention Center.  January 12-13, 2023