The meeting was unable to pass motions for the first hour due a the lack of a quorum, with Board Members Bryan Olson, Mark Swanson and Sheri Lumley not present by the 6:30 p.m. starting time.  Chairman Aaron Jurek, Vice-Chairman Jason Kindred and Treasurer Lori Molus were able to discuss various matters in the interim, and Dr. Stephen Malone presented his monthly report, which included details of a school board/superintendent relationship policy report for the Aug. 4 meeting and a school finance overview he and Business Director Joe Prom will present in the fall.  Malone also cited Food Service Director Renee Abrogast for the high quality of her annual wellness report.

 

Becker Education Association Co-President Dan Olson addressed the board in relation to press releases regarding the continuing contract negotiations between the district and the BEA.  Olson said that the appearance of the releases in “The Citizen” was a violation of the guidelines set down by the Bureau of Mediation Services, which state that al negotiations should be closed to the public and the press.

 

Olson said the BEA position is that, while such actions may not be illegal, they do “violate the spirit of the mediation process”, and that revealing information during the process can create an “adverse impact” on the negotiations and the perceptions in the community towards the process.

 

Negotiations should be conducted “face to face,” Olson said, and not in the pages of “The Citizen.”

 

Malone replied that the district did not believe that the release of the information was prohibited during the negotiation process, and that the opinion of legal counsel is that the district is “within its rights” to issue press releases.

 

The personnel items on the agenda included a notation marking the return of second-grade teacher Nathan Butcher to the classroom at Becker Primary School.  Kindred detailed some of the challenges Bucher had experienced during his two years working with students at the Jesus in Haiti Ministry, of which Kindred is a board member.

 

Bucher arrived to find a school with 250 children and lacking a director, who resigned just before he and his wife Kristi arrived in the country.  Taking over as director, Bucher was able to find sponsorship and create a K-12 school under very difficult conditions, Kindred said.

 

Bucher will be back in the classroom this fall.

 

When Lumley was able to join the meeting, the board proceeded to consider the items on the consent agenda.  These included the 2014-15 fee schedule, which involves the USDA National School Lunch Program requirements in which public schools are required to calculate weighted average meal prices each year and increase same by $.10 per meal until the federal $2.65 per meal requirement is met.

 

The 2014 Legislature provided funds to supplement federal revenue for reduced price lunches, which are now provided free of charge to students who qualify for them.

 

The board also passed a resolution to approve the Becker Teacher Evaluation Plan, which had been created by a committee of 12 teachers, six principals, Director of Curriculum Jean Duffy and Malone beginning in 2013.  The plan has the approval of the teacher’s union, and is now official with school board approval.  State law indicates that a state-created plan would be emplaced if the board and union could not agree on a plan.

 

Second readings and approval of Policy 406, Public and Private Personnel data, and Policy 414, Mandated Reporting of Child Neglect or Physical or Sexual Abuse were conducted, and the board held the first reading of Policy 514, Bullying Prohibition, which is required under the 2014 legislation titled the Safe and Supportive Schools Act.  The new policy is directed more at students who are being “materially affected” by bullying, while staff conduct is regulated by new anti-discrimination policies, Malone said.

 

The board approved a resolution establishing candidate filing dates for the three board seats that will be filled in the November election.  Candidates may obtain filing papers at the office of the school clerk in Becker High School beginning on Tue., July 29.  Completed forms, and a two-dollar filing fee, must be received in the clerk’s office no later than 5 p.m. on Tue., Aug. 12.

 

The terms of Jurek, Swanson and Olson will expire at the end of the year.

 

The board approved a number of staff resignations Monday night, which included middle school social studies teacher Justin Hegna, high school English teacher Hannah Miller and counselor Erica Sande.  BHS choir director Gretchen Bordson resigned as musical/orchestra director for the fall musical production at the school, a position she has held since the musical theatre program was reconstituted in 2006. She will continue as the full-time choir director at BHS.

 

At one point, the district had planned for the fall musical to be co-directed by Dennis Whipple from Great Theatre in St. Cloud and Clearview teacher Ruth Johnson, who filled those jobs in the program last fall.  The board approved the hiring of Joseph Rand as the new musical director at the Monday meeting.  Rand directed the three-act play at BHS last spring.