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.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, members of the public may wish to email Board communication(s) to <info@greenbush.k12.mn.us>

attached

attached

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 

The Northwest Minnesota Arts Council (NWMAC) announced "Nature’s Offerings: An Art Exhibit Featuring Watercolor Paintings by Debbie Dahl Aune & Other Works by NW Minnesota Artists." The exhibit is open Mon to Fridays May 25 to August 1st the NWMAC Gallery at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls. 

FCCLA received the following donations for expenses to attend the FCCLA National Competition.

-Arlys Graff Trust:  $3,400.oo
-Border Bank - Greenbush Branch:  $200.00
-Middle River Sportsmans Club:  $200.00
-Middle River Community Club:  $400.00

Donation from Otto & Carol Waage for softball bathroom improvement project;  $5,000.00

Suggested Board Action:   Motion by Board Member _________ and seconded by _____________ to accept donations from Arlys Graff Trust [$3,400], Border Bank, [$200.00]  Middle River Sportsmans Club [$200.00] and the Middle River Community Club [$400.00] for donations to be applied to travel expenses for FCCLA to attend a National Conference in San Diego, CA. and $5,000 from Otto & Carol Waage for softball bathroom improvement project.

GMR's two (2) State Officers, Bella Burkel (State President Elect) and McKenna Bennett (State Treasurer), along with nine (9) other GMR students who are National STAR events recipients will be traveling with the assistant FCCLA Advisor to the National Conference in San Diego, CA this weekend.  

MN Statute requires a School District to employee a licensed School Superintendent:

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 of COVID-19 in March 2020, a similar employment agreement was extended to the 2020-2021 school year as well as the 2021-2022 school year.

A recruitment effort to replace the current Supt. was conducted by a Joint Powers Board (Greenbush Middle River and Tri-County School Districts) in March and April.  The outcome of that effort was such that during the May 2022 regular Board meeting the Board approved to extend a one-year Supt. contract to Dr. Larry Guggisberg.

Motion by Board Member _____________ and seconded by _______________ to approve a one-year employment contract with Superintendent Larry S. Guggisberg, Ed.D. for the 2022-2023 school [fiscal] year.

 

Since the onset of COVID 19, the Board has used ZOOM.COM [basic plan] for virtual meetings. 
Prior to COVID-19, the ZOOM basic [free] plan was limited to 40 minutes.  In support of primary and secondary (K-12) education during the pandemic, Zoom temporarily lifted the 40-minute time limit.  This program will conclude on June 30, 2022.  The free basic program has a time limitation of 40 minutes.  Up-grading to a paid Zoom subscription is $149.00 per year which will allow up to 100 attendees.

During the May 2021 regular School Board meeting, the Board passed a motion to revert to pre-pandemic public attendance at School Board Meetings effective with the regular June 2021 School Board meeting.  The board discussion during the May 2021 meeting included an understanding to continue with audio/video streaming of meetings to have transparency of school board public meetings.

Since then, the audio/video streaming of meetings has been archived on the school's website for a period of 30 days or until the previous board meeting minutes are Board approved.

Continuance of public viewing of school board meetings via ZOOM?

Board Action:  Motion by ______________ and seconded by  _______________ to 

Suggested Board Action:  Motion by Board member _____________ and seconded by ______________ to approved employment of Mrs. Elizabeth Brandon as a Kindergarten teacher effective with the 2022-2023 school year.
 

Suggest Board Action:   Motion by Board member _______________ and seconded by __________________ to approve employment of Mrs. Kaitlynn Creviston as a licensed Elementary Teacher. 

The Board Chair, Vice Chair and Clerk met with Mrs. Sharon Schultz (Principal / Activities Director) on June 27, 2022 to renew her employment Agreement.  Both parties agreed to a one (1) year employment Agreement with a 1.5% increase in salary over 2021-2022.  All other terms and conditions of employment remain the same as the previous Agreement.

Motion by ____________________ and seconded by ________________ to renew a one (1) year employment Agreement for 2022-2023 with Mrs. Sharon Schultz (Principal / Activities Director) as recommended by Board representatives.

The General Election is on November 8, 2022

What's on the Election Day ballot in 2022?

All voters will have these races on their general election ballot:

• U.S. Representative
• Governor & Lt. Governor
• Secretary of State
• State Auditor
• Attorney General
• State Senator
• State Representative
• Judicial seats

Voters may have one or more of these races on their ballot:

• County Officials
• City Officers
• School Board Members
• Township Officers
• Local ballot questions

Special Elections

Special elections are used to fill vacant offices or decide ballot questions; they can be scheduled at various times during the year, and may be held in conjunction with a regularly scheduled election.  [There is NO special election for the GMR School District in the Nov. 2022 election.]

Source:  MN Secretary of State

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Candidates file for School Board Election in the Greenbush Middle River School District Office.  The filing fee is $2.00.
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The GMR School District boundaries are within three (3) counties:  Marshall, Kittson and Roseau with Roseau being the "home county."

Each county will administer the elections for the school district. However, affidavits of candidacy will be filed with the School District Office.

Mail ballots are the means for voting for GMR School District residents within Marshall County and Kittson County.

The GMR School District will follow General Election Timelines.

Attached:
(1)  2022 General Election Timeline
(2)  List of GMR School Board seats up for election.

The General Election is held the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November (November 8, 2022).

Three seats on the GMR School Board are up for election.  See attached.
Prior to the July regular meeting, notice(s) of election must take place in school district newspaper publications.  The timeline for the November 2020 General Election is attached. 


ELECTION NOTICE to be published in Greenbush Tribune and in the Middle River Honker: 

NOTICE OF FILING DATES FOR ELECTION TO THE SCHOOL BOARD
INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 2683
(GREENBUSH MIDDLE RIVER)
STATE OF MINNESOTA

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the period for filing affidavits of candidacy to fill four (4) vacancies for the office of school board member of Independent School District No. 2683 shall begin on August 2, 2022, and shall close at 5:00 o'clock p.m. on August 16, 2022.

The election shall be held during the General Election on Tuesday, November 8, 2022.  At that General Election, four (4) individuals will be elected to fill vacancies with each term expiring December 31, 2026.

Affidavits of Candidacy are available from the school district clerk, Independent School District No. 2683, 401 Park Avenue West.  The filing fee for this office is $2.  A candidate for this office must be an eligible voter, must be 21 years of age or more on assuming office, must have been a resident of the school district from which the candidate seeks election for thirty (30) days before the general election, and must have no other affidavit on file for any other office at the same primary or general election.

The affidavits of candidacy must be filed in the office of the school district clerk and the filing fee paid prior to 5:00 o'clock p.m. on August 16, 2022.

BY ORDER OF THE SCHOOL BOARD
/s/ Carrie Jo Howard                       
School District Clerk

The Board will adopt a resolution calling for a School Board election during the Nov. 8, 2022 General Election during its August regular meeting (to be held on or before August 26, 2022)

The GMR School website has resources available from the MN School Boards Association for prospective Board Members.
<https://www.middleriver.k12.mn.us>   Administration ---> School Board ---> "BECOMING A SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER"

 

27th day of June, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. for the purpose, in part, to APPROVE RESOLUTION FOR DESIGNATION OF AN IDENTIFIED OFFICIAL WITH AUTHORITY FOR EDUCATION IDENTITY ACCESS MANAGEMENT
The following Board members were present:

and the following were absent:

Member ____________  introduced the following resolution and moved its adoption:
BE IT RESOLVED by the School Board of Independent School District No.2683, State of Minnesota, as follows:
Designation of an Identified Official with Authority for Education Identity Access Management
The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), Professional Educator Licensing Standards Board (PELSB), and Office of Higher Education (OHE) require annual designation of an Identified Official with Authority (IOwA) for each local educational agency that uses the Education Identity and Access Management (EDIAM) system. The IOwA is responsible for authorizing, reviewing, and recertifying user access for their local educational agency in accordance with the State of Minnesota Enterprise Identity and Access Management Standard, which states that all user access rights to Minnesota state systems must be reviewed and recertified at least annually. The IOwA will authorize user access to State of Minnesota Education secure systems in accordance with the user’s assigned job duties, and will revoke that user’s access when it is no longer needed to perform their job duties.
The Greenbush Middle River School Board must designate an IOwA to authorize user access to State of Minnesota Education secure websites for its organization. This EDIAM board resolution must be completed and submitted to the Minnesota Department of Education annually, as well as any time there is a change in the assignment of the Identified Official with Authority.
It is strongly recommended that only one person at the local educational agency or organization (the superintendent or exec. director) is designated as the IOwA. The IOwA will grant the IOwA Proxy role(s).
Designation of the Identified Official with Authority for Education Identity and Access Management
Organization Name: Greenbush Middle River School Board
6-Digit or 9-Digit Organization Number 2683-01
Superintendent or Exec. Director Name: Larry S. Guggisberg, ED.D.
Will act as the IOwA?  X   Yes _____ No
The above-mentioned resolution was seconded by Board Member _____ and upon roll call vote;
The following voted in favor thereof:

and the following voting in opposition:

Thereby the resolutions passed.

• The MN School Boards Association (MSBA) is an organization specific to School Board members.
• Greenbush Middle River School District currently is a member of the Minnesota School Boards Association 
• Membership dues are required annually 
• MSBA assists the Greenbush Middle River School District on a variety of issues such as policy development, negotiations, human resources, advice based on legal precedent, legislative lobbying 

Suggest Board Action:  Motion by Board Member ______________, seconded by _________________, to renew the District's annual membership with the Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA). 

• MREA advocates exclusively for Greater Minnesota School Districts · MREA provides guidance and information relating to best practice within education, professional development opportunities as well as legislative policy.
• MREA provides a voice at the Minnesota Legislature advocating for policy, testifying before committees as well as informing legislators on the issues that impact rural education. 
• Membership dues are required annually. 

Suggested Board Action:   Motion by Board Member  ______________, seconded by _________________, to renew the District's annual membership with the Minnesota Rural Education Association (MREA).
 

MN Statute 123B.77 indicates that prior to July 1 of each fiscal year, the Board of each school district must approve and adopt its revenue and expenditure budgets for the next school year.  The budget document so adopted must be considered an expenditure-authorizing or appropriations document.  No funds shall be expended by any Board or district for any purpose in any school year prior to the adoption of the budget document which authorizes that expenditure, or prior to an amendment to the budget document by the board to authorize the expenditure.

The administrative recommendation for adopting this "rollover" budget is for legal compliance with the understanding the 2022-2023 estimated school budget will be amended at a later time .  School boards are required to adopt annual budgets before the fiscal year ends June 30.  .

What we do know is State general education revenue is projected to increase 2% for the 2022-23 school year.  However, the increase in State aid will likely be off-set by declining K-12 student enrollment and / or high inflationary costs.
[According to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual inflation rate in May was 8.6%, its highest level since 1981, as measured by the consumer price index.  source:  pewresearch.org]

Suggested Board Action: Moved by _____________ and seconded by _____________ to adopt the estimated 2022-2023 (FY 23) budget as a preliminary working budget for July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023 (FY23) with the understanding the FY 23 Budget will be amended at a later date.    

School Meals have been at no cost to students since the on-set of Covid-19 through the conclusion of the 2021-2022 school year.  Federal waivers permitting universal meals are set to end this (2021-2022) school year.  Districts nationwide have benefited the past two years from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s pandemic-era waiver authority to provide free meals to all students regardless of income.
The June 30, 2022 deadline is nearing for Congress to extend the USDA’s ability to keep universal meals and other waivers assisting school nutrition programs.  

If the waivers do not continue, families nationwide will have to start paying again for breakfast and lunch unless their children qualify for free or reduced-price meals.  Families of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals will still have to fill out applications. 

For the past two years students have been getting free meals, so the interest in filling out application paperwork was not important,

Prices will likely increase to keep up with inflation and rising food costs.This will be a challenge, considering prices haven’t risen for the past two years given the federal universal meal waiver. 


- Free school lunches since on-set of Covid through conclusion of 2021-2022 school year
- Federal Govt. action (none to-date)
- State of MN action (none to-date)

Board Consideration(s) moving forward.
(A.)  - meal prices
         [K-12 students] re-instate cost with a 10 cent increase;
         [non K-12 students] re-instate cost with an increase from $____ to $_____ due to State minimums
     
(B.) Address public relations campaign to encourage families to apply for free or reduced meals.
   
(C.)  - Address issue of non-payment

Discussion:  No Board Action until later date
 

The 2022 regular MN Legislative Session concluded on May 23, 2022.

About a week before the end of the regular session last month, Walz and top legislators announced an agreement on a plan to use $4 billion of the surplus over the next few years to cut taxes, $4 billion to increase spending in a number of areas and to save another $4 billion in case of an economic slowdown.

K-12 Public Education spending was included within the $4 billion in new spending [with a focus on Special Education Cross Subsidy financial relief].

Republican and Democrat leaders "reached an impasse" leaving about $7.2 billion of an original $9.25 billion budget surplus unspent.

Without a Special Session, next year’s Legislature and whoever wins the governor’s race will decide how to use the money. 

source:  U.S. News & World Report:  2022-06-17
 

School may not be in session but there is plenty of activity "coming and going" in and around the school.  Shown below is a list of activities "going on in your school:"

• Elementary Summer School programming started June 13th.  Thank you Robin Waage, Deb Koebernick and Trish Waage for providing this educational program.

• Junior Olympics (JO) Girls Volleyball in the gym

• Prairie Fire Theater (~30 students) [includes kids signed up from Badger and Roseau] all last week with performances at 2:00 and 6:00 pm held on Friday, June 10 [Thank you Judy Pulczinski for organizing - on behalf of the GB Friends of the Library]

• ECFE Summer programming is underway (Thank you Lynn Balstad for coordinating)

• Boys Basketball Camp

• Girls Basketball Camp

• Girls Softball

• t-ball

• Swimming Pool activities

• Driver's Ed with Tom Niebauer

• ~10 GMR Students will soon be going on a trip to Europe [July 25 thru Aug. 8] (Sue Lieberg and Stacy Dahl - chaperones)

• A contractor (FLR) will be "doing" Gym Floor resurfacing (warranty work) starting Jun 27

• Parking Lot work efforts have started.  

             -milling around sidewalks by the shop and wrestling room
                      sidewalk removal is scheduled to begin this week
                      new sidewalk installed after that
             -milling on south side of parking lot to make room for a curb gutter which will channel water east to the river
             - Four (tree) trees removed (based on recommendation of the Wannaska Forestry) on east side of the school

• The new school bus purchased with Federal ESSER III funds arrived last week.  Even though the bus is new, it still must pass Dept. of Transportation (DOT) Inspection.  The school's DOT inspection date is July 27.
• New Teacher computers purchased with Federal ESSER III funds and Federal e-rate funds arrived last week.  Distribution will coincide with Flat Panel set-up in classrooms.
• New Interactive Flat panels have been ordered using Federal ESSER III funds - unfortunately, the Flat Panels are on backorder.
• Carts for the interactive Flat panels purchased with Federal ESSER III funds arrived in mid-June.
• The new storage shed for Elementary Playground items made possible with a donation from Mrs. Mary Kuznia and family and built by Mr. Moore's construction class has been moved to its place of use. 
• Thank you Mrs. Deb Stanelle and the STAR TEAM for recently purchasing playground activity items to put in the storage shed.

School Meals have been at no cost to students.  Federal waivers permitting universal meals are set to end this school year.  Districts nationwide benefited the past two years from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s pandemic-era waiver authority to provide free meals to all students regardless of income.
The June 30 deadline is nearing for Congress to extend the USDA’s ability to keep universal meals and other waivers assisting school nutrition programs.  

If the waivers do not continue, families nationwide will have to start paying again for breakfast and lunch unless their children qualify for free or reduced-price meals.  Families of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals will still have to fill out applications. 

For the past two years students were getting free meals so the interest in filling out application paperwork was not important,

Prices will likely increase to keep up with inflation and rising food costs.This will be a challenge, considering prices haven’t risen for the past two years given the federal universal meal waiver. 

The GMR School District's Year-End (2021-2022) Financial Audit has been scheduled for the week of Sept. 19, 2022.

The Public Accounting firm of Eide Bailly (Fargo, ND) is the District's Financial Auditor.

The MN Department of Transportation (DOT) Highway Patrol Division will conduct its annual inspection of the School's Transportation Fleet on July 27, 2022.

The MN Dept of Education released the attached communication regarding Covid-19 vaccination for young children.  

We are expecting 21 students who just finished Kindergarten through 6th grade. Teachers are Deb Koebernick, Robin Waage and Trish Waage with Para Professionals Hanna Black, Stacey Dallager, Trina Gust and Erika Howell.
Small groups of students will rotate through stations for reading, math and writing. Classes will be Monday through Thursday, 8:30-11:00 a.m. for six weeks: 3 weeks in June, one in July and two in August. Classes will not be held during County Fair week and 4th of July week.

B/GMR Athletes Jasimine Christianson, Jaxon Janousek and Jade Reese qualified to participate in the State Gold Meet to be held at Pebble Creek in Becker, MN on June 14-15.

Val Truscinski is the Head Coach.

B/GMR/Freeze athletes Liam Collins, Treston Nichols and Brady Skeim qualified to participate in the State Track & Field Tournament June 9 -11 at St. Michael Albertville High School.

John Lee is the Head Coach.

During the MN State High School League June Board of Directors meeting, the Board of Directors approved an opportunity for conferences to make the decision to permit the use of a 35-second shot clock during all conference contests if all schools have the capability to use a shot clock.
Shot clocks will be mandated in the 2023-2024 season.

Girls Wrestling

Motion by__________________        Second by ____________________ to ADJOURN

• Regular July School Board Meeting - July 18 2022 @ 7:30 p.m. in GMR School Library