The Roseau School Board met for their regular meeting April 15. Among discussion topics were an upcoming school facility improvements survey, the purchase of a new property, a proposed 2019-2020 school calendar, employee health insurance plans, student handbook changes and a visit from State Representative Dan Fabian.
In attendance at the meeting were: School Board Members Micky Hulst, Tim Fugleberg, Thor Didrickson, Jodee Haugen, Vonda Danielson and Pete Kvien, Superintendent Larry Guggisberg, Principals Ivan Hirst, Kelsey Johnson and Amy McGuire, Special Education Director Cheryl Hirst, Board Secretary Heidi Karnowski, guests Shannon Carlson, Stuart McFarlane, Cameron Olson, later joined by Rep. Dan Fabian.
There were several significant school events, including the recognition of the speech team who had their Section A State Tournament April 12. Wyatt Cameron and Ayla Gross placed eighth in Duo Interpretation and Skyllar Schoening placed 22nd in Drama for Roseau, noting a successful year for first time speech coach Jake Mack.
The Roseau Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) continues to be good to the school recently providing a well received movie night and helping provide goodies for MCA testing.
Roseau Honor Society Blood Drive had over 30 units of blood donated in March. Guggisberg said the success of the drive is significant.
“When we can get students that participate in that, there’s hope that they will continue to do that throughout the rest of their lifetime,” said Guggisberg.
The Roseau Teacher’s Association (RTA) recognized Super One Foods with the 2019 “Friends of Education” award for their continued support of school activities including the recent spaghetti feed at Memorial Arena.
The board also recognized Kacie Borowicz for winning “Miss Basketball Minnesota” — the first time a northwest Minnesota player has received the honor. Borowicz holds the new points record for Roseau Schools, and is ranked seventh in the state. The Miss Basketball award is the highest individual achievement that any high school girls basketball player can receive.
The school continues to expand it’s property acquisitions West of the school, recently purchasing the property of Ruth (Bob) Melby during the March meeting. Superintendent Guggisberg and member Fugleberg recommended the acquisition of the Tyrin Hagen home on Fourth Ave. NE after coming to an agreement of $165,000. After a short discussion the board unanimously approved the purchase by re-prioritizing money set aside to replace the apron at the bus garage facility.
High school Principal Ivan Hirst spoke about the proposed 2019-2020 school calendar. One proposed change for next year is moving fall conferences from November to the evenings of October 15 and 21. During public comments at the beginning of the meeting, second grade teacher Kim Czeh expressed an issue the RTA had with conferences being proposed for October. The RTA would like conferences to be moved back to November before the final 2019-2020 calendar is approved.
There was also discussion about a designated make up day in April and the possibility of having an electronic school day (E-day) for that make up day. As there is a lot of work to do to prepare for such a day, that decision will need to be made before the first day of school.
Graduation day for 2020 is still under consideration. After 25% response to a survey sent to junior class parents, the consensus was that graduation should remain on Memorial day weekend (May 24). Graduation dates being considered are May 24, 29 and 31. Approval of the calendar was tabled for future action.
Stuart McFarlane and Shannon Carlson — representing the School Facilities Task Force — spoke about a public building improvement support survey that the task force has compiled along with survey company School Perceptions.
The survey includes some general questions about households, information about the current state of school facilities, proposed improvements and a concept for new construction, as well as a breakdown of costs for each section of the proposal and questions on how likely you would be to support each project. There will also be annual tax impact information and questions regarding level of support for possible bond referendum options.
Every household in the school district will receive a survey in early May and is requested to complete the paper copy and return by mail. There is also an option to complete it online, which must be done by May 24. Informational meetings and facility tours are scheduled for May 7 and 14.
Rep. Fabian joined the meeting and spoke about the current tax bill and proposed tax increases.
“In the next budget that’s been proposed by the House and the Governor, over four years, there are over $12 billion in new taxes,” he said. “That’s about one-fourth of our current budget right now, general fund. Between K-12 education and health and human services, it takes up about 73-74% of the entire general fund.”
“The budget that’s put out by the House at this point increases the disparity between metro schools and rural schools,” Fabian said, continuing. “I don’t support that”
Fabian mentioned the importance of education funding for safe schools and mental health issues as well as praising the Roseau Electric Co-op for there efforts in expanding broadband access.
When asked about special education funding Fabian voiced his frustration with the federal government.“I wish the federal government would live up to what their obligation is,” he said.”Let’s face it, the vast majority of the mandates for special education come from the feds and the feds have kicked the can down to the states and the states have kicked it down to the local taxpayers.”
Before leaving Fabian thanked the school board.“I appreciate all you do,” Fabian said. “You folks do a great job and Roseau school is held in very high regards in the area.”
The meeting resumed with the approval of a bid recommendation to continue using the NW Service Cooperative as the district’s group health and hospitalization insurance provider for 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. The renewal rates will see a 5% decrease in 2019-2020, attributed to a young staff, a decrease in actual medical services for school employees and people becoming more in-tune about their own health and health care.
School administration has been incrementally providing changes to the school handbook to be approved in full at a later time. In this section of handbook changes it’s noted that report cards will no longer be printed and will be available online or by request. The last day for class changes for first semester will be September 6, 2019 and January 24, 2020 for second semester. All changes must be approved by the school principal. There are also clarifications in National Honor Society requirements and independent study courses.
There is also a move to change the physical education and health requirements from 8th and 10th grade to 7th and 9th grade to address health issues at an earlier age. There is a two-year plan to implement that change with 2019-2020 being the last year of 10th grade health/phy. ed.
There was a short discussion about traffic control issues in the school parking lot, including the possibility of implementing speed bumps and new stop signs or hiring a parking lot attendant.
The final communications and reports noted that Tim Denney’s Feb. visit talking with 7-12th grade students about mental health and suicide awareness and prevention went so well that they asked him to return April 30.Denney will be talking with individual grade levels on more specific discussions ranging from “Identifying Emotions” for 7th grade to “Life Transition Pressures” for 12th grade.
Last modified: 04/26/2019
