NICOLLET – The Nicollet Public School Board welcomed new members, Abbi Carleton and Mathew Cabanilla on Wednesday.

Carleton has lived in Nicollet for 21 years. Two of her children have graduated from Nicollet Public School and two are still attending.

Cabanilla lived in rural Nicollet until he moved to Nicollet in 2013. He has a son in the 2nd grade at NPS.

The Board took care of many organizational items. The first item was the election of officers. Elected were Adam Erickson as chair, Scot Osborne as Vice Chair, Ashley Black as Clerk, and Jill Martens as Treasurer.

Superintendent Robin Courrier recommended that the school board designate the regular school board meetings continue on the second Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. The Board approved the recommendation.

The following stipends were approved by the board. They remained the same as they were in 2024. Chairperson $1,000; Clerk $250; Treasurer $100; committee meetings under one hour $25; regular, special and committee meetings over 1 hour $50; all-day meetings/multiple meetings $75. The Federal reimbursement rate for mileage increased from 67 cents for 2024 to 70 cents for 2025.

The board’s eleven committee appointments are as follows: Budget, Osborne, Carleton or Cabanilla (two attend each meeting); Advertising, Erickson and Martens; Buildings and Grounds, Osborne and Cabanilla; Transportation Negotiations, Osborne and Cabanilla; Minnesota State High School League, Carleton; Nicollet County Collaborative, Black; Cert. Negotiations, Grievance and Meet and Confer, Martens and Carleton; Community Education, Martens and Black; Minnesota Valley Education District, Black; Nicollet Early Childhood Center, Erickson; Nicollet Board Policy, Black and Carleton.

The New Ulm Journal was designated as the district’s official newspaper; Kennedy & Graven as the district’s legal counsel; ProGrowth Bank as the district’s depository financial institution, and BerganKDV as the district’s auditor.

The Board authorized Superintendent Courrier and District Business Manager Jim Freihammer to make electronic transfers for the purpose of bond payment and the investment of excess funds. They also authorized the use of facsimile signatures in carrying out district business pursuant to Minnesota Law.

Superintendent Courrier reported that Cabanilla and Carleton will be attending the Early Bird Session of the MSBA conference on January 14-15. All the school board members will attend the conference from January 15-17 except Osborne. Principal Nancy Remmert will attend to take his place.

Courrier presented a tentative schedule to begin the District Strategic Roadmap planning. She requested the Board members to provide 3-5 community member names to invite to join the strategic planning committee.

The auditors will present the 2023-2024 audit at the next Board meeting on Feb. 12.

Ally Bishop will start as the new band teacher on January 20.

“She graduated from Winona State in 2021 and comes with some engineering background and computer science. She is also interested in a Jazz Band for NPS,” Courrier said.