February 26, 2024 at 6:00 PM - Regular Meeting of the School Board

Discussion:  The Board of Education of Hermantown Independent School District No. 700 met in regular session on February 26, 2024. Chair, Heather Holst, called the meeting to order at 6:00 P.M.

Discussion:  MEMBERS PRESENT: Lindsay Clauson, David Hokanson, Heather Holst, Ashley McFarland (virtual), Matthew Munger, Tim Peterson, Wayne Whitwam, Superintendent, Lance Takkunen, Director of Business Services

VISITORS: Jason Wilcox, Michael Pothast, Kristal Berg, Sadie Kukowski, Gretchen Appelwick, Lori Sinnott, John Muenich, Julie Patton, Heather Hren

Discussion:  Appelwick. Thanked the Elementary leadership team for their efforts in planning I Love to Read Month activities. Also thanked the Hermantown community for snacks and appreciation sent our way. 
Peterson. Congratulated the Mirage on their performances during both the Section 7A  tournament and the MSHSL Class A Tournament. 
Whitwam. Recognized School Bus Driver Appreciation Day last week and also that MSBA is recognizing school board members this month. Acknowledged the retirement of Ruth DesMarais and her contributions to the district since she started in 1984. 

Discussion:  No Visitor Business

Discussion:  No Correspondence 

Discussion:  John Muenich and Michael Pothast presented on offering hybrid classes at the High School for juniors and seniors. 

Discussion:  February 29 is Kindergarten Registration Night. We currently have about 115 resident enrollments for Kindergarten next year. There are a lot of non-residents on the waiting list and some residents that haven't enrolled yet. Holding off on making some of those open enrollment decisions until we have the most accurate picture possible. Once we think we have that, we will need to make some decisions regarding open enrollment. 

Discussion:  Scheduled to have a Communications meeting last week, but didn't end up having it. We picked a night that was 50 degrees and the Mirage were playing. Sarah and I waited until 4:10 p.m. and nobody showed up to the meeting, so it will need to be rescheduled.  
The Facilities group will be meeting this week. Plan to present about what it would cost tax payers to open a new elementary school. Discuss the district's greatest needs for facilities. 

Discussion:  McFarland is going down to the Capitol with a MSBA group and Whitwam is going with a Superintendent's group in March to talk with legislators about different bills that are out there that we can support. The governor is planning to announce the budget on February 28th. A lot of what we are going down there for is for language. Some rural school districts will be going down to advocate for a four-day school week as a possibility to let school boards choose, because MDE has decided that it is not accepting any more applications. There is a debate on legislation around the hybrid learning that we are doing. You hear them arguing down there that we are already allowed to do it, but they want clarity in the language, making sure that everyone knows that you can offer things like that. Hermantown was an early adopter of LETRS, so there is a chance they will go back two years and give a reimbursement to early adopters.