Welcome to Maria Moore who will join Emelia Hansen as our student school board representative.

1.  Fall Staff Development was extremely successful throughout the district and within each building. Carla Nolan did a great job with help from building principals and other directors to lead staff development for new teachers and all staff during the weeks leading up to the first student days.  

2. A great beginning to school for our students. Thanks to all the parents and students for their flexibility at the beginning of the school year. Open house participation was extremely high this year with over 95% participation.

3. Facility Updates: We are still dealing with a few hiccups and the need for flexibility in our elementary schools. The middle school and high school are continuing work as we strive to provide a quick solution to provide students and staff with the necessary tools for classes. See the attached documents for updated information.

4.  The 2024 MSBA Leadership Conference is slated for Thursday, January 11, and Friday, January 12, 2024, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. 
Fall Advocacy Tour: Finally, please bring your good ideas to one of our virtual Fall Advocacy Tour sessions in September. Visit the MSBA website to access the Advocacy Tour schedule and Zoom registration or contact Angel or me for assistance. 

5.   The annual Truth in Taxation meeting will take place during our regular meeting on December 4th, 2023 at 6:30 pm-Agenda Item
 

Minn. Stat. 13D.05, subd. 3(a)
A school board may close a meeting to evaluate the performance of an individual who is subject to its authority.

I recommend approval of the personnel report as listed.

Policy 566, Student Extended Trip, Section V.B.2 states the Becker School Board will either approve or reject the proposal.  High School Principal, Dave Kreft and I recommend approval of the Band/Choir extended trip.

Minnesota's Truth in Taxation Law requires school districts to provide a public hearing before adopting a tax levy for the following year.  This meeting must take place between November 25th and December 28th of 2023.  I recommend holding the annual Truth in Taxation meeting during our regular meeting on December 4th, 2023 at 6:30 pm.

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.

Kevin Januszewski and I recommend approval of the transfer of $10,000 to Early Childhood Screening from the General Fund (Retroactive to June 30)

Policy 208, Development, Adoption, and Implementation of Policies Article IV, Subd. D allows for minor changes that do not affect the substance of policy or because of a legal change over which the school board has no control, may be approved at one meeting.  In addition, Article V, Subd. D states the school board shall review policies at least once every three years.

Changes to the attached policies may include formatting or legal references. 

Per the MSBA Model Policy Update attached, we are reviewing 406 and 427.

We are also holding a review on Policy 423 (legal and reference changes only).

We have not held a first or second reading on the following policies since 3/83, 12/04 and 8/08 respectively.  

Please note that MSBA does not have a policy for any of these policies.

The first "levy run" typically contains errors.  Kevin Januszewski will work with MDE to correct the calculations over the next few weeks.  He will review the preliminary Payable 2024 levy information at the school board meeting.  

The Pay 24 Preliminary Levy is comparable to the Pay 23 Levy, I recommend approving the maximum preliminary certification.  

A presentation covering the 23-24 budget and the Payable 24 Levy will be provided during the December regular board meeting.  The final levy amount will be approved by the board at that time.