August 14, 2015 at 4:00 PM - Superintendent's Weekly Update to the Board of Education

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Yesterday the bids were opened for package #1.  There were four different contracts area contractors bid on for the project.  Please see attached the results.  

The overarching good news is the total for package #1 came in approximately $150,000 under our budgeted dollars.  There is one contract, however, that has a possibility of going higher.  It's contract 1 Earthwork/Site Work/Site Utilities.

Molitor Excavating, Inc was the low bid on contract 1 at $918,465.  They placed a combined bid with Joe's Excavating.  The next lowest bid was Burski Excavating, Inc. at $1,442,000.  This a difference of $523,535 - a lot of difference and money.

Here is the concern...Robbie Schultz and Winkelman has worked with Joe's Excavating on a few recent projects in the St. Cloud area.  Unfortunately, the owner is difficult to work with and shady in business practices.  They will bid a project with the intent of coming back with several costly change orders.  Robbie and others at Winkelman are going to sit down with Joe and our civil engineers to make sure everything is covered and agreed upon together.

I visited with Robbie and Matt for nearly an hour about this today.  The good news is Joe's excavating does do good work.  And they have approximately $400,000 of the $918,465.  Molitor's Excavating, Inc. has the larger half and primary company listed on the combined bid.

Robbie said Winkelman will have to place someone from their office directly on Joe's Excavating.  They'll need to watch him for doing work at night under the cloak of darkness or after the other crews and the site superintendent have left for home.  These are the kinds of problems Winkelman has had with Joe.

Robbie and Winkelman will get back to us next week with a recommendation who to hire.  I empathized with Robbie for having to deal with Joe.  I said the $523,535 in savings between the Molitors Excavating, Inc/Joe's Excavating and the next lowest bid is a lot of money and even a few costly change orders is still way below - Robbie and Matt agreed.  

The reason why the total for all four contracts (bid package 1) came in $150,000 below budget is because Kasella Concrete, Inc. and Molitor Excavating, Inc, "hit it hard."        

The second attached file is Winkelman's recommendation letter to approve the contractors for contracts 2, 3, and 4.  It's contract 1 that we need to wait on for now (talked about above).  Winkelman hopes/plans to have contract 1 sorted out by the end of next Wednesday.
   

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All of the acoustical panels in the elementary gym will be installed by the end of the wekend. The new floor will be installed the week of August 24-28.The classroom unit ventilators were shipped last Friday. They too will be installed in time for the new school year.

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At the special board meeting last week, we mentioned there may be one concern identified in the annual audit.  The food service inventory was not properly matching up between paperwork and actual items in the freezers and fridges.  The good news is the food is accounted for and theft ruled out.  Attached is a threaded email conversation.  

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So much can be said about our concerns with the Royalton Wrestling Booster Club.  Because legal council has been hired to investigate for us I'll wait on writing a book in this week's Superintendent's Weekly Update to the Board of Education.

Here are a few things to know:

a.  Kelly Burns is an associate attorney with Kevin Rupp's law firm RASW.  She has been assigned to the investigation with the Royalton Wrestling Booster Club.

b.  Kelly talked with Kevin and he advised that "it is permissible for the Board to mention at its meeting on Monday that the District has hired outside counsel to conduct an investigation into allegations concerning the Royalton Wrestling Booster Club."

c.  The two main concerns/issues with the Royalton Wrestling Booster Club are paying for volunteer coaches and paying for student athletes to attend camps. 
1)  No paying volunteer coaches. It causes us to be out of compliance with Title IX. If they are paying for coaches above the four provided/paid by the District it becomes a requirement (not  discretion) for the District to hire more volleyball coaches, softball coaches, etc. - whether needed or not.  This would cost the District lots and lots of unnecessary expenses.
2)  Club cannot gift pay wrestlers to attend camps.  It's a violation of MSHSL rules. It places our students ineligible for two weeks. The wrestlers can work and get paid a reasonable hourly rate. Not $50+ an hour.

Leadership in the Royals Wrestling Booster Club have been told multiple times the last few years and they don't comply. They just sneak in dishonesty.  Federal laws and MSHSL rules are above us.

Also, the public thinks the Royalton Wrestling Booster Club gives all of kinds of money to the school. I've heard they make $30-$40 k a year.  

The board approved just under $3,000 last year and a total of approximately $21,000 in the last 4 years.  The question the community members may want to know who thinks the school district is receiving $20,000+ a year. Where is the money?

Lots and lots more to the concerns and very potential legal violations broken by club.  Ironically, they are personally attacking (intimidating, threatening and blackmailing) school leaders. For what reason?  They are the one's who are going to find themselves in a lot of trouble. 

Description: 
I visited with the Board of School Administrators (BOSA) after receiving the attached legal opinion.  The person I visited with is the Executive Director.

Brent needs to be licensed for the community education part of the new position.  This isn't a problem with the following plan:

1.  Brent would need to be titled as a "coordinator" and not a "director" until he completes his licensure.
2.  Dr. Gurbada has a license in community education to cover the district's requirement.
3.  Similar to our previous community education coordinators (Angie and Sarah), Brent would do the work under Dr. Gurbada.  Once he earns the proper licensure he'll be re-titled to a "director."
4.  The Executive Director at BOSA said few higher education institutions in Minnesota have a licensure program in community education.  Fortunately, St. Cloud has a community education director licensure program that is all online.  It will require Brent to take 20 graduate credits at SCSU.    

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Schedule

8:00- Coffee and Breakfast (HS Commons)

8:15-11:30- All Staff Program
Welcome: Board of Education (8:15-8:20)
Introduction of new elementary staff: Dr. Gurbada (8:20-8:40)
Introduction of new secondary staff: Joel Swenson (8:40-9:00)
Address by Superintendent: Dr. Ellerbusch (9:00-10:00)
Blood Borne Pathogen and Employee Right to Know Training (10:00-10:30)
Epi-Pen Training: Ashley Britz (10:30-10:45)
HR Wellness: Kelsie Herzog (10:45-11:00)
Teacher and Staff Member of the Year Awards (11:00-11:15)

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Please see attached the weekly bills for your approval.