MINNEOTA SCHOOL BOARD MEETING

The school board meeting on Sept. 15 capped off an eventful day because high school students were able to be back in the building for the first time for the 2020-21 school year.
Though the future is still unknown, it was great to have the building full of student from Pre-K to seniors. Board members had many positive comments on the success of the school year so far. Distance learning was working well, but it is much better for students and teachers to be face-to-face.
There were some discussions at the meeting regarding the drilling of two wells that will be used to water the practice football field. There was not enough water with one well and to dig deeper would have had a similar cost to drilling a second one. Physical education classes are also held at this area.
COVID-19 has affected the school budget. There are costs that are not incurred (the Ivanhoe bus and referees), but there are also additional costs such as custodians working overtime. Keeping the building clean and sanitized takes many man hours. The administrators will each be paid $2,000 for their extra work the past three months preparing for hybrid learning.
Enrollment has decreased from 540 in May to 520 in September. The budget was prepared using an enrollment number of 517, which means the district is doing well financially.
Reports from the high school principal and superintendent were enthusiastic that students PreK-12 have returned to the building. The Minnesota Department of Education and Health have been instrumental in assisting with getting everyone back to school here. The students seem to have few problems adapting to masks and other new guidelines.
The school calendar has been adjusted to make up five of the six days lost in August. Three days will be made up during fall semester, while two days will be made up in the spring semester.
A big decision for the technology department was purchasing 38 new ThinkPads to replace the previous devices from 2015.
The October meeting will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 20 in the band room of the school.