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.

• As requested by board member, document will be provided on monthly basis.

Budget consists of 6 fund balances:

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

A motion was made by ______________, seconded by _________________ to accept the following donation(s):

Greenbush Pharmacy to First Robotics  ..... $500

Wahl Brothers Racing to First Robotics  ..... $500

American Legion Post #88 to First Robotics  ..... $842

Orens Parts to First Robotics..... $350.00

Greenbush Ace Hardware to First Robotics.... $500.00

TOP NOTCH (Jeff Jenson & Roberta Jenson) to First Robotics .... $250

Agassiz Insurance Group to First Robotics..... $500

Greenbush Vetinary Clinic to First Robotics..... $1,000

Robert & Carol Novacek to First Robotics..... $200

Mike & Shellie Gust to First Robotics..... $7,600

Titan Machinery to First Robotics..... $500

T.G. Design to First Robotics............ $250

Border State Bank to First Robtics ....$1,000 

American Legion Post #88 to STEAM Starts in Kindergarten ..... $1,500
STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.

American Legion Post #88  to Greenbush Clay Target Team  ..... $631

William Kauth memorial donation for by Kristi Howell for purchasing library books...$10 

William Kauth memorial donation for by Keith & Karyl Langaas for purchasing library books...$10 

William Kauth memorial donation for by Eunice Stenberg for purchasing library books...$10 

William Kauth memorial donation for by "Anonymous" for purchasing library books...$25 

"Anonymous" donation to GATOR GAP.......... $100

Keith Kappan donation eqully divided to all School Activities [$100 to Music Dept and $300 to Lunch Account Fund].... $1,000

Wikstrom Telephone Company to GMR School Tele Communications..... $5,967

This agenda item was also on the Board Agenda in April 2019.  The approved Board minutes from this agenda item are:

"8. 1. k. District Support of Summer Recreation Baseball/Softball

Request has been received from Middle River Summer Rec to continue program in Middle River. Following much Board discussion regarding what is contributed in each community,

A motion was made by Shane Kilen, seconded by Joe Melby, and UC that, BE
IT RESOLVED that the Board of Education of District 2683 provide funds in
the amount of $2,000.00 to each community to offset expenses for Summer
Rec as well as extend the use of District School Buses as has been done in
previous years."

See attached for Greenbush Middle River School District enrollment as of Feb. 12, 2020.      

In 1984, the MN Legislature passed the Local Government Pay Equity Act.  This legislation is
often referred to as Comparable Worth legislation.  The legislation provides laws for local
government jurisdictions to have an equitable compensation relationship with its employee groups.   What this means is the compensation for female-dominated work classes is not consistently
below the compensation for male dominated work classes of comparable worth.

The District’s Pay Equity Implementation Report that is being submitted to the Pay Equity Office of the Minnesota Management & Budget Department (formerly the MN Department of Employee Relations or DOER) is data in place as of December 31, 2019 and replaces an approved Pay Equity Implementation Report previously submitted (2017).   Minnesota school districts are on a three year cycle for submitting pay equity data.  The Pay Equity Office will analyze the submitted information and determine if the District is in compliance with comparable worth legislation, a response is expected later in the school year.  (Exhibit)


Suggested Board Action:  Moved by ________________and seconded by ____________ to approve the Greenbush Middle River School District’s 2020 Pay Equity Implementation Report.     

The School District's Buildings & Grounds Supervisor (Mr. Josh Kern) will provide a report on the condition of school facilities that need to / should be considered to be addressed in the summer of 2020.

Summer 2019 facility improvements included:
sidewalk replacement
Gym Floor replacement
Air handling system in Industrial Arts area.

Summer 2020 facility improvement consideration(s).

Flat roof-top water leaking in Industrial Tech Dept.
Flat roof-top water leak in Gym

Facility Improvement Funding sources include:

Long Term Facilities Maintenance (LTFM)
Operating Capital Allocation
Geneneral Fund (01)
Voter-Approved Bond referendum (similar to what was done in the Fall of 2005 for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning [HVAC] with bond refinanced in 2016
LTFM General Obligation Facilities Maintenance Bond (Board Approved)

Current MN Statute does not permit school (classes) to start before Labor Day which falls on the first Monday in September.  Legislation has been proposed in the 2019 (and previous)     MN Legislative sessions to dismiss the post Labor Day requirement - the legislation has not passed.

Labor Day is Monday, Sept. 7th.  The latest date it can be on the calendar cycle.  To schedule 172 student days and 180 teacher days results in limitations of school calendar options.


2020-2021 proposed School Calendar will be presented to staff members as well as board members prior to the March school board meeting.Calendar will be presented for Board approval during March meeting

• February 17th - 21st
• Minnesota School Board members manage approximately 2,000 schools within Minnesota
• School Board member responsibilities include : Facilities, State and Federal Mandates, Staffing, Activities, Finance, Curriculum, Policy, Negotiations, etc.
• Minnesota School Board members make decisions that affect more than 52,000 teachers and thousands of administrators and support staff.
• Minnesota School Board members oversee school district budgets that fund education programs for more than 825,000 students in Minnesota.

• Governor Tim Walz proclaimed January 27-31 as Paraprofessional Recognition Week. 
• There are over 20,000 paraprofessionals in Minnesota working hard every day to make sure every child has the education they need to succeed in school and life.
•  Attached is the Governor’s proclamation. 
  

The current Superintendent of Schools was hired during a June 24, 2019 Special School Board meeting as a part-time interim Superintendent effective July 2019.  Seven Months have passed.  In February / March, the Board should begin to consider options available for a future Superintendent of the GMR Supt. position. 

Board Options in no particular order include (but not limited to):

1)  Communicate with neighboring school district(s) to determine if they desire to share a Supt.;  
2)  Using the MN School Boards Association Supt. Search model, advertise for Supt. position (full or part-time as determined by the Board);
3)  GMR do their own Supt. search by advertising for Supt. position (full or part-time as determined by the Board);
4)  Seek to determine if the current interim Supt. would extend another year;
5)  "other" options previously discussed or yet to be discussed by the Board.

In an ideal world, advertising and recruiting for licensed positions in K-12 Public Education should begin in earnest in Feb. / March 2020.


NOTE:  excerpt of MN Statute:  Superintendent of School Requirement:

123B.143 SUPERINTENDENT.§Subdivision 1.Contract; duties. 

All districts maintaining a classified secondary school must employ a superintendent who shall be an ex officio nonvoting member of the school board. The authority for selection and employment of a superintendent must be vested in the board in all cases.

The opening session of 2020 MN Legislature in St. Paul began on Feb. 11, 2020.

Minnesota’s legislative schedule is based on a two-year biennial timeline with the first year focused on passing a two-year state budget, the second year focused on policy priorities and passing a bonding bill to fund state infrastructure. The 2020 appears to be following this similar pattern with a lot of focus on bonding and a push to pass policy priorities in a very compressed legislative schedule. 

The November 2020 General Election being a Presidential election, the 2020 election will have ALL MN Representatives and Senators up for election.  Expect the current legislative session to include "posturing" for the Fall election.

The State of MN has a $1.3 billion surplus. With that surplus, some legislators want to prioritize tax relief for Minnesotans.  Others desire to pass legislation to spend the surplus in a variety of areas.   A new REVISED state budget forecast will be release at the end of February / early March.

Bonding for improvements to infrasture (eg:  roads and bridges) is a major priority for the legislature.

There are a number of issues expected to be front and center during the upcoming legislative session, including:

                  supplemental budget [how to spend the $1.3 billion surplus]; 
                  school safety;
                  changes to the newly enacted teacher licensure system;
                  unpaid school meal debt; 
                  Pre-school progrmming; and;
                  statewide unfunded mandates surrounding curriculum and graduation requirements.

Legislators desire to "look good" coming out of the 2020 legislative session.

Principal Schultz reported One Act Play Competition is January 25, 2020 in Lake of the Woods

Audrey Gust (7th) advanced to Spelling Bee competition in Thief River Falls.  Audrey participated in Spelling Bee contest on February 5th at Northland Technical College.   Audrey is the Daughter of Ervin and Mara Gust.  Second place in the GMR Spelling Bee went to Sawyer Strand (8th).  Third place went to Zairyn Wimpfheimer (6th).

In early January, the GMR First Robotics team started to design and build a robot to the meet specifications of competition.  The 2020 First Robotics Theme:  Infinite Recharge.   First Robotics advisor is Mrs. Mary Anderson.  Mrs. Anderson is assisted by: Russ Anderson, Doug Hlucny, Donnie Brekke, Aaron Kvien, Brian Utter, Barney Tarala, Rley Sovde, Brady Kilen, Ryan Bergeron, Vern & John Langaas and many others.  Students in 9th - 12th grade are eligible to participate.  The first competition for the First Robotics team is Feb. 26-29 at the Great Northern Regional in Grand Forks.  

In INFINITE RECHARGE, two alliances work to protect FIRST City from approaching asteroids caused by a distant space skirmish.  Each Alliance, along with their trusty droids, race to collect and score Power Cells in order to energize their Shield Generator for maximum protection. To activate stages of the Shield Generator, droids manipulate their Control Panels after scoring a specific number of Power Cells.  Near the end of the match, droids race to their Rendezvous Point to get their Shield Generator operational in order to protect the city!

Ryan Hlucny qualified to participate in the State Math League Competition scheduled to take place on March 9 at South St. Paul High School.  Math League is a MN State High Mathematics League activity.  Mrs. Tara Kern is the Math League Adviser. 

The BGMR Gators will be participating in the State Team Wrestling Tournament at the end of February.

Motion by__________________        Second by ____________________ to ADJOURN

                

• Regular March School Board Meeting - March 16, 7:30 p.m. in GMR School Library