August 15, 2014 at 4:00 PM - Superintendent's Weekly Update to the Board of Education

Description: 
There were a number of emails and consultation by lawyers on both sides to reach the final AIA contract with Winkelman.  We were able to easily receive all of the contract language Jay recommended or was concerned about for the best interest of the Royalton School District.

I had the approval of the AIA contract on the board agenda for Monday's meeting.  Now I can go back in and include the contract itself.

Please call me if you have any questions.

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Please find information about two confidential personnel items.

Description: 
Dr. Gurbada wasn't able to find another elementary Spanish teacher to replace the one we hired and then left us within a few weeks.  Although we prefer to have Spanish taught like last year our best option now is to have art added for one year.  

We need to have a third rotation to go along with music and PE.  The sections in most all elementary grades will be able to be approximately 24, 24, and 24.  The 2nd grade class will be 31, 31, and 32.

It has been made clear to Cathy Hesch this is a temporary one year position.  We will be looking extensively next spring for a permanent Spanish teacher.  

Description: 
After negotiations were finished with community education, Sarah approached me with the idea of making the preschool teacher position salaried instead of hourly.  Also, it was her suggestion to pay by the preschool session/class.

Sarah, Kelsie and I worked out the details that can be seen in the attached document.  We used her hourly rate and current hours worked to come up with a salary per taught session.

This makes good sense because teachers are salaried for a reason.  Many work longer than 40 hours/week.  Pam is not an exception to the norm.

Please call me if you have questions.  It's not more money for the district.  It's actually in favor of the district.         

Description: 
Kelsie and I used the thoughts/ideas from the board to come up with an agreement for Bill.  When we had a sit down conversation with Bill he said he was enjoying his retirement and questioned our need for him coming back.  

In the end, we agreed to lower the hours to "not exceed 25 hours per pay period."  This means it could be 25 hours one pay period and then 7 hours the next.  The hours will be determined in advance to each pay period between Bill, Tony and me.  Bill liked this flexibility.  It should end up being a good relationship. 

There was some talk about paying Bill as a consultant.  He wasn't interested in this option because it wouldn't help any with his retirement benefits.  To avoid responsibility of paying to PERA a retired member must be hired back as an employee of another business.  You cannot be hired with another Minnesota school district or be an independent consultant.

Description: 
RESP members agreed to leave the language regarding sick leave out of the contract (see attachment).

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All Minnesota school districts need to have a union and board approved agreement for teacher evaluations.  The document attached in this weekly letter and board packet reflect the eval process we developed together last spring.  The approved agreement does NOT go into the REM contract.  Lots of staff development has and will go toward implementing the new district-wide plan.

Description: 
The board will need to rescind the 2013 resolution authorizing the $300 and affirm the action taken in July 2014.  It sounds like this new authorization from the state has been somewhat a mess for everyone.  Mary can answer any questions/concerns as she has been working with attorneys and MDE on this issue. 

Description: 
I added on the board agenda a discussion item for hiring an owners representative for construction.  This has been shared with me by different board members and it's best to have a board discussion on it now.  An owner's rep essentially is a "watchdog" of all others involved (e.g., construction manager firm, architect, etc.) and working in the best interest of the school district. 

Description: 
A board member asked about process for board members adding items on the board agendas.  I thought we could discuss this too for a few minutes.  The process we've used in the past is contacting the board chairperson or myself.  I was pleased the board member did not feel his ability to add items was being hindered with our current process.

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There are no weekly bills this week requiring your approval.