New board member Dan Shirley
The I.S.D. 166 school board met on Tuesday, January 16 to conduct its yearly organizational meeting before its regularly scheduled board meeting.
Following the Oath of Office read by school board chair Sissy Lunde, new school board member Dan Shirley was sworn in.
Nominations were taken for the office of the board chair, and Sissy Lunde was nominated by Deb White. There being no further nominations, no vote was necessary, and Lunde will once again chair the school board for the coming year.
Next, the current school board clerk Deb White nominated Carrie Jansen to fill her role. There being no further nominations, Jansen will now serve as the clerk for the next year.
When asked, current school board treasurer Chris Goettl agreed to accept the position for the treasurer this coming year. Again, with no other nominations, no vote was necessary.
Superintendent Dr. William Crandall and business manager Lori Backlund were chosen to be the school board fiscal agents for 2018 and Backlund was approved to conduct electronic funds transfers.
Last year, and according to White it’s been the previous seven years, school board members were paid $2,300 to cover all regular board meeting and work sessions, with the board chair receiving an additional $700. After a short discussion, the board agreed to stay with the current pay.
The board also kept the pay at $35 per meeting for school board members who take part in contract negotiations for the Cook County Education Association (CCEA), Teamsters, confidential employees, K-5 principal, 6-12 principal, etc.
Also approved was the current (54.5 cents per mile) IRS rate for meetings, as submitted, in and out of the district. . The board elected to keep its agreement with financial institutions intact. Grand Marais State Bank will handle general banking, direct payroll deposit, and activity accounts. The Minnesota Trust with PMA will get investments and payments from the Minnesota Department of Education. The North Shore Federal Credit Union has the scholarship account, and the Minnesota School District Liquid Asset Fund (MSDLAF) will still receive the payments for the school sent from the Cook County auditor. . The Cook County News-Herald was approved as the official newspaper for 2018. . Mitch Dorr was officially hired to be the principal for grades K-6. . The board set the third Thursday of every month at 5 p.m. in the Mianowski Center to be the board’s regular time and place for school board meetings for the coming year, with two exceptions. The October 2018 meeting will be held October 25, and the December meeting will meet the second Thursday, Dec. 13. . White asked the school board to consider attending a Local Indian Education Committee meeting in Grand Portage. Everyone is welcome to participate in these meetings, and White said it would be a good chance for the board to meet the people on the LIEC and exchange ideas with them. The school board has done this in the past, said White, with positive results. Several dates were discussed, and the board agreed to attend a LIEC meeting, making sure, said Lunde, to give enough public notice so the board wouldn’t be breaking the open meeting laws.
If necessary, school board meetings can be changed with three days notification to the public. . Committee assignments were divvied up, with new school board member Dan Shirley taking some of former school board member Jeanne Anderson’s appointments.
Leave a Reply