Description:  
MSBA Conference:  MSBA Conference will take place on Thursday, January 12, and Friday, January 13, 2023, at the Minneapolis Convention Center.  Everyone is registered unless you have notified Angel about not attending.

January Meeting:  We will be posting the January meeting date as January 9 beginning at 6:30 pm.  This meeting will be the First Monday in January Organizational Meeting.

The transportation department has been approved on phase one and three of the bus camera grants.  We are in the process of purchasing all the equipment to install cameras on our entire fleet of school buses.  Director, Tom Risley is participating in a workshop to ensure we meet all requirements of the grant.  The workshop is on Dec. 14.

Our entire cabinet, consisting of directors, administrators, and department leadership participated in a workshop with Dr. Dave Webb, who is the author of the book, "Homerun Leadership".  Dr. Webb provided a 2 hour training on a simple 4 step decision making model supported by science that we hope will provide a common language and process in our team decision making.

We held a "New Board Member Orientation" on Monday, November 28.  It was a great time to get an introduction to some key policies, information about the school. 

Calendar Committee is currently waiting to be surveyed due to potential delays in construction, which may delay the start of school for the 23-24 school year.

Congratulations to Chair Swanson on his recognition as a President's Award winner by MSBA.  Mark was recognized as one of 15 board members throughout the state who have completed 300 or more hours of attendance at MSBA sponsored meetings and activities.

 

 I recommend approving the personnel items as presented.

Policy 706 Acceptance of Gifts permits the school board to accept donations or gifts under the terms of the policy.  I recommend accepting the gifts as described in the enclosure.  Thank you to those who have donated to our schools and students.

M.S. 120B.11 requires the school board to adopt the prior year World's Best Workforce Report Summary.  In accordance with Becker School District Policy 601, I, along with Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Carla Nolan recommend adopting the 2021-2022 World's Best Workforce Report Summary.

Kevin Januszewski and I recommend approving the FY22 financial audit as presented.  The June 30, 2022 unassigned fund balance is 9.83%.  This is a third year of increase following last year which saw an increase from 2.1% (2020) to 9.68% (2021).  District Policy 714 Fund Balances states that the district will strive to maintain a minimum unassigned general fund balance of 8%.  According to information obtained from MDE web report Fiscal Year 2009-2022 General Fund Unreserved Balance, The total fund balance of 13.5% is the highest amount since 2009 when it was 11.8%.  2022 is the second year since 2009 to meet the policy requirement.   (KDV Powerpoint Attached).

Truth in Taxation information will be presented by Kevin Januszewski, Director of Business Services.  I recommend approving the payable 2023 levy in the amount of $11,976,896.  This represents a 4.67% ($534,829) increase compared to the 2022 levy.

Policy 201:  Modified the legal reference to match MSBA.
Policy 203.2:  Has been reordered to match our current agenda order.
Policy 223:  There are some minor recommended changes due to our recent approval of the 2022-2027 Strategic Plan.
Policy 534:  Brought to the board to share information related to a new AG opinion from November 18, 2022 that requires an end to "lunch shaming".  Becker Public Schools has no changes, because we do not follow any practice of "lunch shaming".

I recommend approval of MSBA Model Policy 722.

We have created a committee calendar for the 2023 calendar year.  This will provide board members with the opportunity to see what works in their interests and schedule as committees are selected in January.

I am recommending January 9 for the Organizational School Board Meeting due to no school on January 2.

I recommend approval of a re-bid for transportation building fire protection work scope.