June 16, 2025 at 5:30 PM - Regular School Board Meeting and Schoolhouse Closing Public Hearing

Description: 

__ Ron Kubicek	__ Timothy Jensen	__ Andrea Van Gelder
__ Elizabeth Hedlund	__ Jolayne Mohs	__ Mark Sebring
__ Lori Weisenburger
__ Superintendent Elstad	__ Student Representative Erin Baker   __ Student Representative Ayoub Farah

Description: 

As required by Minnesota Statute 123B.51, the School Board of Independent School District No. 761 (Owatonna Public Schools), State of Minnesota, will conduct a public hearing regarding the necessity and practicality of closing the former Owatonna Public Schools district office building located at 515 West Bridge Street, Owatonna, Minnesota, and the Rose Street Center located at 115 East Rose Street, Owatonna, Minnesota.

The reason for closing the former district office and Rose Street Center is as follows:

Operations housed at 515 West Bridge Street and 115 East Rose Street moved to the 333 East School Street property.

Persons requesting to give testimony for and against the proposed closing shall be heard before the School Board.

Description:  Inspiring Excellence. Every Learner, Every Day.

Description:  If desired, items may be removed from the consent agenda by request by an individual school board member for independent consideration.  A request is timely if made prior to the vote on the consent agenda.  The request does not require a second or a vote by the school board.  An item removed from the consent agenda will then be discussed and acted on separately immediately following the consideration of the consent agenda.

Roll call vote is required as the consent agenda contains the personnel report.

Description:  The public hearing on the closing of the former Owatonna Public Schools District Office and Rose Street Center was held on June 16. Attached is the resolution to close these two buildings.
 

Description:  The attached policies were reviewed by the policy committee and presented for a first reading at the May meeting. They are being presented for a second reading and consideration of approval.  Also attached is the policy revisions summary.

Key: (1) language to be deleted (2) new language
 

Description: 

To comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Affordable Care Act regulations, the District uses an hourly rate for casual workers in order to accurately track the number of hours these employees work in the District. The Act requires the District to offer benefits to all employees working 30 hours or more per week. With this rate schedule, the District is able to properly track hours worked for these positions to ensure that we are applying benefits accurately and consistently. 

A summary of recommendations for hourly rates for casual workers for the 2025-2026 school year is attached.
 

Description:  Director of Finance and Operations Mark Stotts will be available for questions.

Description:  The preliminary budget was reviewed at the June 9, 2025 work session. The proposed preliminary budget is attached.

Description: 

The Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA) supports and empowers Minnesota public school boards through advocacy, board development, and policy and legal guidance.

The District’s yearly dues to the Minnesota School Boards Association are based on our average daily membership of students served. Dues for 2025-2026 are $11,613. This amount includes policy services.

Description: 

Schools Advocating for Fair Funding (SAFF) works to ensure that all public school children have equal access to a high-quality education regardless of where they live in Minnesota. SAFF provides a constant presence at the Minnesota Capitol, lobbying on issues that impact school districts.

The 2025-2026 membership fee is $7,280. 

SAFF was formerly known as SEE.
 

Description: 

The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), Professional Educator Licensing Standards Board (PELSB), and Office of Higher Education (OHE) require annual designation of an Identified Official with Authority (IOwA) for each local educational agency that uses the Education Identity and Access Management (EDIAM) system. The IOwA is responsible for authorizing, reviewing, and recertifying user access for their local educational agency in accordance with the State of Minnesota Enterprise Identity and Access Management Standard, which states that all user access rights to Minnesota state systems must be reviewed and recertified at least annually. The IOwA will authorize user access to State of Minnesota Education secure systems in accordance with the user’s assigned job duties, and will revoke that user’s access when it is no longer needed to perform their job duties. 

Our school board must designate an IOwA to authorize user access to State of Minnesota Education secure websites for our school district. This EDIAM board resolution must be completed and submitted to the Minnesota Department of Education annually, as well as any time there is a change in the assignment of the Identified Official with Authority.

It is recommended that the Board authorize Superintendent Tamara Champa to act as the Identified Official with Authority (IOwA) for Owatonna Public Schools starting July 1, 2025. 

Description:  Independent School District #761 has experienced an increase in population from the 2020 census figure of 30,167, to the current census figure of 30,351 as determined by the state demographer. 

With the approval of this resolution, the school district will be able to certify the new census number to the state demographer for use in the 2025 payable 2026 revenue calculations.
 

Description:  Attached is a resolution relating to increasing the school district's general education revenue by $700 per pupil and calling for a special election to be held on November 4, 2025.
 

Description: 

Policy 706 establishes guidelines for the acceptance of gifts to the District.  As specified by Minnesota Statute 465.03, the School Board may accept a gift, grant, or property only by the adoption of a resolution approved by two-thirds of its members. Any gifts accepted of more than nominal value (more than $5), shall become property of the District (Policy 421).

The gifts are listed on the attached resolution.