MFL MarMac Community School
Regular Meeting Minutes
November 12, 2018
The MFL MarMac Board of Education held its regular monthly board meeting on November 12, 2018 in the high school library of the Monona schoolhouse.
President Roys called the meeting to order at 7:02 P.M. Members present at roll call were Gina Roys, Josh Grau, Jonathon Moser, Tonya Meyer, and Collin Stubbs. Absent were Brian Meyer and Sharon Greener. Also present were Dale Crozier, Superintendent, Larry Meyer, High School Principal, Kathy Koether, Elementary Principal, representation from the North Iowa Times and Outlook, Teacher and Data Coordinator Jen Wilwert, Eight Students, Five Student FFA Members, FFA Teacher Sarah Wille, and two adult guests. Guests were welcomed and recognized.
Motion by Moser and Seconded by T. Meyer to approve the agenda as presented. The motion was unanimously carried.
President Roys Opened the Public Hearing at 7:03 for public comments to consider the renewal of Instructional Support. Superintendent Crozier gave an overview of the resolution, and details of the current resolution that include regular program cost, surtax, and timelines. There were no public comments. President Roys closed the public hearing at 7:06.
Motion by Stubbs to approve the following consent agenda items from the agenda:
- Minutes from the October 8th Board Meeting.
- Bills against the district as listed: General Fund: 90,877.49, Capital Projects: 47,406.89, PPEL: 38,110.79, Clearing Account: 49,729.09, Food Service: 22,561.98, HAWC: 41,921.12, Little Bulldog Center: 4507.29, Dr. Smith Center: 2086.04.
- The Secretary’s Report, Activity Report, and Food Service Report will be filed subject to audit.
Moser seconded the motion and the motion was unanimously carried.
The Board heard a presentation by five FFA students and teacher Sarah Wille. The students presented on the FFA trip to National FFA Convention in Indianapolis that included a variety of academic and fun activities. These activities included career experiences, service projects, leadership and communications workshops, workshops in farming strategies and current agricultural methods, and a Garth Brooks concert. The students told the board that the trip was very rewarding.
The Board heard a presentation by Jen Wilwert on our data. This data was compiled by the new AEA Data System. This data compared the district by many factors and showed the data disaggregated by social-economic variance, race, special education and students with disabilities, and gender. The board held a discussion on this, and also discussed factors of race, creed and national origin to the extent that the data allows. The test scores show that the district achieves at an overall rate between 75% and 80% proficient when all students are accounted for. The board encouraged the administration to continue this discussion with other groups, to continue to work toward improvement, and to work on closing our gaps.
Motion by Grau to approve the resolution to extend instructional support to begin with the 2019-20 school year through the 2023-24 school year. The motion was seconded by T. Meyer. Roll Call ayes: Stubbs, Grau, Moser, T. Meyer, and Roys. Motion carried.
Motion by Moser, and seconded by T. Meyer to approve the SBRC application for increasing enrollment for a modified supplemental amount of 98,812.80. The motion was unanimously carried.
Motion by Stubbs and seconded by Grau to approve the school improvement advisory committee for 2018-19. The motion was unanimously carried.
Motion by Moser and seconded by Stubbs to approve the revision of the Board Policy series on student records 504.1. 504.2 and 2a. A discussion was held on the content of the policies, and the need for student record privacy. The motion was unanimously carried.
Motion by T. Meyer and seconded by Grau to approve the paraprofessional contract for Jean Pellymounter. The motion was unanimously carried.
Motion was made by Stubbs and seconded by T. Meyer to approve the resignation of assistant softball coach Melissa Ward. The motion was unanimously carried.
Motion by T. Meyer, seconded by Grau to change the time of the December 10th meeting to 12:00 noon so that Dr. Crozier can attend a financial meeting in Des Moines. The motion was unanimously carried.
Principal Meyer gave a report about the play Annie which was outstanding, a speaker to the high school students Cedric James, who was a professional football player and had a very motivational message, the baseball and softball field upgrades, and National Honor Society. Principal Meyer reported that 70% of the student body in the high school has a 3.0 GPA or better. Principal Koether reported on recent parent-teacher conferences and that 99% of parents received a conference with their child’s teacher. Dec 18th is the music concert, with a make-up date for snow later in the week, and that we will review the possibility of a night concert in the spring. Mrs. Koether reported that The Holiday Train will come at 2:45 P.M. on December 5th to Marquette. There is a 2:20 early out that day, but parents can pick up their children early on that day with no penalty. The Holiday Train supports the food bank in St. Olaf.
Superintendent Crozier reported that enrollment has increased by 14.64 students, and that actual physical enrollment has increased by 20.64 students over last year. He went on to say that even though we had an increase in enrollment, we lost 19 students last year, so we are basically even over the past two years. He reported that the future looks positive, as there will be two small high school classes graduating that will likely be replaced with larger kindergarten classes. There will tentatively be a school improvement advisory meeting on November 26th. The district, as well as all districts that want to participate in Keystone AEA, received a computer science grant. This grant will provide training for one teacher in each level, elementary, middle school and high school, in the areas of computer science and STEM. The training will be for one day in the elementary this spring, and two days over the summer for middle and high school. The grant will cover all costs associated with the training.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 P.M. by President Roys.
Respectfully Submitted,
Dale Crozier, Acting Board Secretary