May 13, 2016 at 4:00 PM - Superintendent's Weekly Update to the Board of Education

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Springsted is very busy with helping school districts across the state with bonds for newly anticipated LTFM revenue.  Two school district examples I am aware of in our area that are combining LTFM dollars with voter approved building bonds are Sartell School District and Little Falls School District.  The guys at Winkelman said they are working with Sartell on using LTFM dollars with construction dollars.

In the upper left-hand corner of page 4, you will read how the Little Falls School District is using the new Long-term Facilities Maintenance (LFTM) dollars.  They will be using the new revenue in combination with their recently voter approved construction project.

Referendum Amount is Less – Here’s WhyTotal Amount if Both Questions Pass is $4.3 Million Less:
($32.3 million for 2016 vs $36.6 Million in 2015) The 2015 Legislature changed the way rural Minnesota schools finance facility maintenance. The Long Term Facilities Maintenance Revenue program (LTFMR) will help us with ongoing maintenance, but the referendum will help us catch up with major needs now, while interest rates are low. The district identified $5.4 million worth of projects from the previous referendum and shifted them to the LTFMR plan, which reduces the total amount needed for Question #1. While $5.4 million was shifted, the cost of the work increased by $1.1 million from 2015 to 2016 due to inflation. Therefore, the referendum request is a $4.3 million reduction.

Mary will be able to answer any questions you have about our LTFM funds and proposed bond.  Also, MSBA put out an article in their Journal about the new LTFM funds (see attachment).

The attached document titiled, "LTFM Items (5-12-16)" is our prioritized thoughts of where the LTFM revenue needs to be spent.  Please know this will shift around a little after our walk-through with Winkelman next week and as we discover new needs (e.g., Phil shared with me today the need to replace his two sets of gym doors).  We should also look at replacing the exterior doors where students come in and leave for the buses.

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I did not receive Mr. Swenson's recommendation letter to hire Mike Eveslage until last evening.  Normally, I do not ask the board to add action items after the board agenda has been published.  I will ask the board to approve this hire for the benefit of both the District and our new social science teacher.  We'd like to finalize the hire as much as I am sure he does too.

It was moved by Director _____________ and seconded by Director _____________ to approve the hiring of Mike Eveslage as a social science teacher effective the beginning of the 2016-17 school year as per administrative recommendation.  Motion carried/failed by ___ vote.

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Please see attached confidential personnel items.

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On Tuesday, May 10 we had a surprise OSHA inspection in response to an employee complaint.  I was not here at the time because of an area superintendent meeting in Sartell.  Mary wrote up the following notes for the board and me:

On Tuesday we had a limited OSHA inspection in response to an employee complaint. He only looked at the tile floor in the SPED room, which the complaint states was mold.  The air quality in that room was tested in September and that report is attached.  This report was also sent to the board in the September 25, 2015 Weekly Update to the Board.

The other complaint was "torn carpeting creating a tripping hazard".  It was actually where the carpet was pulling up at the seams in a few places. Both that tile floor and the carpet are set to be replaced soon with LTFM dollars.

He issued no citations while he was here.  We e-mailed him a few documents on Wednesday including our OSHA logs and training records, and we will see if he asks for more or just closes the case.  Several staff members accompanied the OSHA inspector during his visit.  They were Mary Plante, Tony Duevel, Joel Swenson, and Kevin Presler.

Tony sent this e-mail to staff the on Thursday: "Hello staff, We recently had a visit from an OSHA representative about some safety concerns in the MS/HS building. Loose carpet seams and a tile issue, both very minor repairs. Please inform me or my crew of any potential safety concerns you see. All of you are my eyes and ears as it's impossible for us to find every potential problem without your help. The best way to report a problem is via an email to me, I then transfer these emails to a FIX-IT list and we repair things promptly. Communication and teamwork is so important!!!!"

The April newsletter also requested that staff always report unsafe conditions to their supervisor.

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Please see attached the contract requests from Tony Duevel and Kelsie Herzog.  We will discuss their requests at the board meeting on Monday.  We need to schedule a date and time to meet with Brent Lieser.

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Please see attached minutes of construction progress meeting #17. 

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Schools for Equity in Education (SEE) provided us a link to the 2016-17 Education Finance and Policy Omnibus Bills.  It is interesting to view a side-by-side comparison of the Governor, House and Senate plans. 

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Please read the attached email school leaders received from the U.S. Department of Education.

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Please see attached the weekly bills for your approval.  They look at little different than usual because we had a software problem this afternoon and the service providers office is closed at this time. This is what will create checks for next week. But we do need to be sure to get them paid next week.