The Big Lake School Board held their March meeting last week. They have started to make plans for prom and graduation, after the state released guidelines for the events.

Prom and Graduation

The state recently sent out guidelines regarding prom and graduation. The school has a committee which has been working since December to find a way to host these events that meets state regulations.

The state gave guidelines requiring face coverings to be worn both indoors and outdoors and limited capacity, based on the venue. Food and beverage consumption must end at 11 p.m., and students who are eating or drinking must be seated. Groups are not to exceed six people, and must remain six feet apart from other groups while dancing or mingling. The Big Lake gym would be able to accommodate 460 people with these limitations.

The state also recommended that prom and graduation be held after the school year has ended, if possible, and for couples in the grand march to not hold hands, but possibly hold something between them, such as, for example, a “school colored pool noodle.” They also recommended holding the dance and graduation virtually. Schools were also encouraged to limit participation to seniors only, and limit it to district students. 

However, schools are allowed to make their own decisions about prom and graduation. Big Lake plans to hold prom in the high school gymnasium and open it up to both seniors and juniors. Typically there are only 100-some guests at prom, so there were no concerns about capacity.

For graduation, the state recommends having several smaller graduation groups rather than one big one, and suggests the schools supplement virtual or hybrid events by having special events surrounding gown pick-up and other graduation preparations. Families will be discouraged from interacting with one another. Those exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms should not attend. 

Principal Bob Dockendorf, head of the prom/graduation committee, said the schools did a lot of this last year, plus some other special recognition for the graduating students, such as signs around town and a video of all students walking across the stage (at separate times). 

Dockendorf was concerned that holding prom could cause the COVID-19 disease to spread among students, then robbing them of their graduation. The solution he and his committee came up with was to hold graduation first, at the normal time, and delay prom until June. This could even possibly have the effect of having fewer restrictions at prom. 

Financial Report

Enrollment is still down from what the board had budgeted for the year. Many students are being homeschooled or are attending part-time. In 2021, the school had 23 part-time students – students who only attended one or two classes and were homeschooled the rest of the day. This is up substantially from the 6-10 part time students in a normal year.

Director of business services Angie Manuel said she was not too concerned about enrollment, as it has been down all year. She thought it was possible some students would start to come back to school soon. 

Since enrollment is down, some budget revisions were necessary. Otherwise, the school is staying consistent with the amount of money in its accounts.

The school received an upgrade to its bond rating from the state. The bond rating is based on the area taxpayers’ ability to pay their taxes to the school. It also reflects on financial decisions made by the school board (in this case, positive decisions). Big Lake was at an A1 rating, which is average, but has now been upgraded to an AA3 rating, which is one step higher. 

There is a holdup on distributing ESSER II funding to the schools, which had Manuel concerned, since the school will need some of that funding for summer school. If the school has to come up with the funding for the summer program, it is possible, though not guaranteed, that the money will be reimbursed to the school at a later date.

Manuel and Superintendent Tim Truebenbach went on to explain how they felt the ESSER funding was being unfairly distributed, being based on Title I allocations. A previous Patriot article explains this more fully, and is available at PatriotNewsMN.com.

Survey of Households

The Morris Leatherman Company will be conducting a survey on behalf of the school of 500 randomly selected households in the district. The board had considered doing a self-survey, but decided to hire out the process in part to hear the opinions of residents who do not have students in the school, but who are still voters who affect the outcome of ballot items for the school.

Some of the board members voiced concern over spending the money to complete this survey. 

Tech Levy Updates

In 2017, the school had a lot of old technology in the buildings – old wiring and infrastructure. Part of the Tech Levy was used to update that infrastructure. It was also used to implement online classroom services, such as Google Classroom. Wireless systems in the building were updated as well. Staff and students have been provided with laptops and tablets to be able to work from home. 

Student liaison Ella Dotzler said the tech services, while they had a few hiccups at first, was eventually very helpful for at-home learning. 

Use of District Facilities

Allen Berg, director for community education, proposed an update to school code language regarding which groups can use school facilities. This provides guidance on who gets priority and discounted rates for school facilities. Lower rates and higher priority go to groups who are from the district, with higher rates and lower priority going to groups outside of the district.

Student Liaison Report

The Snow-Daze dance was a success, and Dotzler went on to thank high school staff for going on to make plans for prom and graduation, as those events are very important to the students. She plans to bring forward proposals for these events at the next board workshop.

Superintendent’s Report

There will be a community meeting in April regarding Co. Rd. 43, which is part of the city’s “Safe Routes to School” program, about installing a roundabout. One concerned parent asked about the safety of students walking to school during this project.

The school is continuing to pursue a grant to help combat underage drinking.