August 12, 2024 at 7:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Monthly Meeting

Discussion:  President Lutkemeier opened the meeting at 7 pm.  The meeting notice was advertised in the August 1st publication of the Blue Hill Leader.  "The Open Meetings Act" poster was displayed in the meeting room.

Discussion:  N/A - All board members were in attendance.

Discussion:  Guests in attendance were Jennifer Karr, Adam Klein and Chris Sluka.  No comments were offered at this time.

Discussion:  Mr. Bauer thanked board members for their comments, suggestions and guidance at the budget workshop last week.  He's been attending several committee and superintendent meetings regarding the legislative special session and trying to stay ahead of proposed budget legislation.  Mr. Bauer also attended the school finance and budget meeting.  He's currently waiting on valuations to finish putting the budget and tax request together.  Our administrators attended Administrator Days in Kearney.  Mr. Bauer finished up his report by giving board members the current legislative updates.

Discussion:  Mr. Drake reported our enrollment numbers were up from last year.   He went on to report current and upcoming events, which included taking the new teachers on a tour of the district.   Mr. Drake also stated that the Rocket Math program is being implemented in Grades 1–6.

Discussion:  Mr. Jones also reported enrollment numbers were up from last year.  He summarized current and upcoming events for staff and students.  Mr. Jones also gave an update on the status of the Booster Club.

Discussion:  Each year the board needs to take action to approve expenses from the Special Building Fund.  

Webster County - $1,087.80 (taxes on the house in Bladen) 

Village of Roseland - $8,000 (Sprinklers for the practice field)

Discussion:  Each year the board of education needs to take action on expenses from the depreciation fund. 

No expenses from the Depreciation fund - No action needed.

Discussion:  The board functionally made this change three years ago at the administrative teams' request.  Mr. Drake noticed that this change was not put into policy.  

The change is moving the date from April 15th to March 15th.  We have also included our definition of "Suitable replacement".  

Discussion:  The Washington Trip is an amazing opportunity for our students.  However, the year of the trip we are generally going to get hit for $60,000 - $90,000 against our budget.  In off years it is closer to $20,000 

Is the board okay with us considering a different account and possibly running this through our Booster Club when we are up and running?  It is simply money in and out, but this is hurting us as it shows as a receipt and an expense as well.  We deposit all the money raised at fundraisers, then we pay for the fund-raising items.  It would still be under the district's umbrella.  

I wanted to get your okay before contacting our legal representation to see if this is within our legal limits.  Other schools do this in different ways.  

I do not know if we could operate our FFA account accordingly, guessing the answer will be no, but I would love to ask that question while I have them on the line.  

Discussion:  The next meeting is set for Wednesday, September 11th, 2024 with the Budget Hearing scheduled for 7 pm, the Tax Request Hearing to follow and the Regular Board of Education meeting following both hearings at the High School in Roseland.