MINNEOTA SCHOOL BOARD MEETING

This month’s board meeting began with congratulations to the volleyball state champions and the football team’s continued race for a championship. The girls' cross-country team placed sixth in state, which was also acknowledged.
Activities Director Patty Myrvik reported that she is blown away with the coaches, advisors, many referees, judges, and tournament officials comment on the excellent behavior of the Minneota Vikings.
Girls’ basketball started on Nov. 14, with 42 participants in grades 7-12. Boys’ basketball and wrestling started on Nov. 21, with 43 boys in basketball and 30 in wrestling. There were 59 kids participating in the first elementary basketball practice. Scott Anderson had the opportunity to apply for a $600 scholarship which will be donated to a fund established in Ross Eischen’s name for speakers at the football field. There has been about $2,000 raised at this time for these speakers.
Community education is hosting a photography class taught by Brian Jeremiason. This will be held in January for students in grades 4-12. In the future, Joseph Cheadle will be working with an EdBot class for younger students.
Les Engler was on hand to give a building/grounds report. The boiler went out in May, but the new burner is now in and operating at 93 percent efficiency with greater than 80 percent considered good. Two of the boilers have been cleaned and the third one will be cleaned over the Thanksgiving break.
A meeting with Otter Tail Power discussed the possibility of solar power for the school which would provide energy savings. This is in the planning stages.
The HelpMe app is up and running for grades 4-12. Students may report feelings of depression, anxiety, and/or bullying. There have been 16 reports from Minneota.
With these reports, students may have access to professional counseling. This does not happen without full disclosure to the parents.
As might be expected, the high school schedule has been in a bit of an upheaval the past few weeks. Principal Heather Anderson commended the staff for staying on track, getting work done, and being flexible.
The home teams are working on various community service projects. Some examples are holiday planters, little libraries around the community, gathering clothing to have for in-school needs, and teaming up with elementary classrooms to read and tutor. The eighth graders were fortunate to be able to attend “The Christmas Carol” at the Guthrie. The high school concert will be held on Dec. 8.
Superintendent Scott Monson reported that there has been a 16.2 percent increase in free and reduced lunches which helps significantly with state funding. The food service program continues to do a fantastic job with 20 percent of the student body eating breakfast and 76 percent of the students eating lunch.
The business meeting followed with the consent agenda being passed. This included the seniority list for the paraprofessionals and the MN welding certificate agreement.
Personnel hires were: Kaley Buysse as elementary student council advisor, Kim Gades as head speech coach, Faith Beisler and Shane Balbach as part-time paras, Matt Myrvik and Matt Buysse as co-head wrestling coaches, Alex Lessman as assistant FFA advisor, Rick Hennen as 8th grade girls’ basketball coach, Mitchel VanWesten as JV boys’ basketball coach, Dylan Tolk as 8th grade boys basketball, and wrestling volunteers are Drew Bouwman, Wade Gillund, and Chad Janiszeski.
The property, liability, and auto insurance bids as well as workmen’s comp bid were presented by Chris Gorter of HUB Insurance and Mike Panka and Jenny Pohlen of Panka Insurance of Ivanhoe and Canby. Rates have gone up partly because the building has been valued at $37 million instead of the past number of $26 million.
There will be a special board meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 29, at 6:30 p.m. covering the 2021-2022 audit. The truth and taxation meeting and regular school board meeting will be held on Dec. 20, at 6:30 pm.