NICOLLET — Nicollet Public School (NPS) board announced filing School Board Election during Wednesday’s school board meeting.

The opportunity to file for the School Board opened on July 16 and will close at 4:00 p.m. on August 13, 2024. The school board elections will take place during the General Election on November 5, 2024.

There are three open positions on the Board. An elected candidate will fill a four-year term. People can stop at the school office to file an Affidavit for Candidacy for a board position. Filing details were posted to the school’s website and published in the New Ulm Journal.

Strategic Planning

Supt. Robin Courier recommended working with Minnesota School Board Association for strategic planning. This year’s cost for strategic planning with MSBA will be $6,750 and would start in September. A different organization’s estimated cost started at $10,000.

“Working with MSBA is a better deal for us,” said Courrier.

The contract will be presented to the Board at their August 2024 meeting.

Staff Changes

The duties of Sue Boddy with facilities management, rentals, and fitness center have been reassigned to current office staff. This allows for the Facilities Management position to be dissolved as part of the budget savings plan.

Superintendent Courrier recommended the following new hires which was later approved by the Board: Sue Schaab, Math Secondary; Randy Muske, Math Secondary; Ciara Flugum, Elementary; Courtney Konakowitz, Secondary Language Arts; and Patrick Karl, Instrumental/Vocal Band teacher.

The only position yet to fill is the Secondary Special Education teacher. An offer was presented, but the school is waiting to hear of the candidate’s decision. Courrier said, “If accepted, this will complete the hiring process after hiring seven new staff for the 2024-25 school year.”

Courrier also recommended, and the Board approved, continuing the K-8 ½ time Principal/READ Act Coordinator/Instructional Improvement Specialist’s one-year contract with Nancy Remmert from Remmert Consultants.

ISD 507 and Nicollet Education Association (NEA) MOU Agreements

Two Memorandums of Understanding between ISD 507 and NEA were presented to and approved by the board.

The first one was for the Compensation for Summer Staff Development. This MOU allows two release days: August 22 and 23, 2024, for current teachers as compensation for 15 hours of staff development work during the summer months. Those two days are part of the 2024-25 calendar, meeting the required 182 teacher days negotiated in the Master Agreement. Teachers exempt are new hires to the district for the 2024-25 school year and current teachers without pre-approval.

The second MOU was for compensation for READ Act training. An agreement was made to compensate individual teachers with a one-time stipend of $1,500 for READ Act training purposes.

Facilities Assessment

The Nicollet Community entered into a five-year operating referendum in 2021 that will expire in 2026.

Superintendent Courrier said, “I recommend investigating and renewing the operating referendum through a Facilities Assessment Study.”

Rob Brown from NEXUS Solutions LLC introduced a facilities assessment plan to the Board. NEXUS provides professional services for architectural, engineering, and construction management with school districts in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

It would be a ten-year plan that would be an extensive report of what needs to be done and will require public input to find priorities and what people are willing to invest in. A Task Force would provide NEXUS recommendations. Legal requirements would need to be done to move toward a referendum. The plan would be reviewed each year to see if NPS should move forward or push back.

“We need to get the community’s involvement. We need their buy-in after seeing the issues so people can understand where things are going,” said School Board Member Jill Martens. The School Board was also excited to see what NEXUS can bring to the table to boost NPS’ academics as well as the facilities. They unanimously approved to get a facility assessment from NEXUS.

Crown Castle

Courrier told the board that Crown Castle, the wireless lease management company who has a tower on the back corner of NPS’ property, has a perpetual lease agreement for the property. They are interested in purchasing the property and offered two options. The first option was to purchase the area of land where the tower is located for a lump sum of $127,934 plus closing costs. The second option was, $149,372 in five annual consecutive payments of $29,874.40 plus closing costs.

After discussion, the school board felt the offers were not enough to sell the property. After reviewing the current lease and what the district could receive if the money would be taken to the bank and put in an investment, the board felt it was not worth the sale.

NECC Dedication/School Open House

The Nicollet Early Childhood Center’s playground dedication will be held at 4:00 p.m. on August 28. The Nicollet Back to School Open House is also on August 28 from 3:00-7:00 p.m.

Resolution for Write-In Vote Counting

The board tabled a resolution regarding the district’s regulation for counting write-in votes for school board members. The decision to table was to give the board more time to gather information.