The Cook County I.S.D. 166 School Board held its annual organization meeting on Thursday, January 3.
During the meeting, Board Chair Sissy Lunde administrated the oath of office to newly elected board member Rena Rogers. Rogers replaces Chris Goettl, who chose not to run again.
Serving on the I.S.D. 166 school board are Sissy Lunde, Carrie Jansen, Debra White, Dan Shirley and Rena Rogers.
After the administration of the oath, the Board took nominations to select the 2019 board chair, clerk and treasurer.
White nominated Shirley for board chair but he declined, saying, “I’m not ready.”
Shirley then nominated Lunde, who accepted. Next White nominated Jansen, who accepted. When the vote was called, Lunde received three votes, enough to win, and will again serve as the board chair.
During the process White said she thought Lunde had been doing a good job, but added that she thought the board should have some choices to consider when selecting a board chair.
Rena Rogers was voted in to serve as the clerk and Shirley accepted the treasurer position.
I.S.D. 166 business manager Lori Backlund and superintendent Dr. William Crandall were approved to serve as school board fiscal agents. Backlund was also approved to conduct electronic funds transfers.
The annual stipend was set at $2,400 for all school board members to cover all regular meetings, special meeting and work sessions. The board chair will receive an additional $700 stipend.
Once again the mileage rate will be paid at the current IRS rate (58 cents per mile), as submitted (in and out of the District), for all meetings.
Committee assignments were split up among board members.
Deb White will once again serve on the Local Indian Education Committee (LIEC). The LIEC meets approximately six times a year and focuses on issues impacting the success of American Indian students.
Carrie Jansen will serve as contract negotiator for the Cook County Education Advisory Committee.
Shirley and Jansen also agreed to serve as board representatives on the Meet and Confer board. Monthly meetings are held between two school board members, the superintendent, and teachers’ union to discuss non-contractual issues.
Serving on the Negotiators-Agency Agreement committee are Rena Rogers and Sissy Lunde.
Two school board members will meet monthly with representatives from the Grand Marais Playhouse and North Shore Music Association to update user agreements with the district.
Jansen and Shirley will serve on the Negotiators- Cook County Education Association committee. This negotiation team focuses strictly on negotiations with the faculty.
Negotiation Confidential Employees school board representatives for 2019 are Jansen and White, who will meet with all non-union, non-community education district employees. These include the district office/ community education administrative assistant, food services specialist, media specialist, data specialist, preschool teachers, business manager, and facility/ transportation supervisor.
Jansen and White will handle negotiations with the Teamsters union. They will meet with paraprofessionals, bus drivers, custodians and office support staff.
Shirley agreed to remain as the board’s representative on the North Shore Collaborative which meets every other month with various agencies from Cook and Lake counties, focus on mental health, poverty, and other issues that impact students and families.
Lunde asked to remain as the board’s representative on the Quality and Oversight Committee because the committee’s year starts in July and it’s very hard to catch up by starting on the board mid-year. Monthly meetings are held to provide oversight and planning for the district’s Q-comp program.
Lunde said she would bring up the position in July to see if anyone wanted to be on it at that time.
As the board chair Lunde will remain on the YMCA Advisory Council: The YMCA Advisory council meets once a month to discuss YMCA programming, finances and cooperation with the school and county.
The board chair also is committed to serving on the YSAT committee. The YMCA administration and school board chair will meet monthly to discuss the school and YMCA cooperative programming.
The Communication and Collaboration Committee: The administration has formed a committee that meets regularly to discuss communication.
The school board calendar for 2019 will remain much the same as it has been with monthly meetings held in the Jane Mianowski room every third Thursday starting at 5 p.m.
Once a year the school board travels to Grand Portage to meet with the LIEC and White suggested the board look at holding a meeting in the west end of the county as has been done in previous years, but not done lately.
After some discussion Shirley was given the task to see if there was any interest in having the board meet in one of the three west end townships during the next year.
Also approved were the school district’s financial institutions, legal newspaper, and legal representation, which remained the same as last year.
Regular meeting
Following the organizational meeting the board’s regular meeting was held.
The school board once again discussed having a student representative on the board. Between 2-5 students will be interviewed for the position with a student selected to begin at the board’s Feb. meeting. The student council is helping with the selections that will be interviewed.
Assistant principal PK-12 Mitch Dorr gave an update about the school’s new cell phone policy that was implemented at the beginning of the school year.
Under the new policy the kids are expected to leave their phones in their lockers at the beginning of the school day.
So far, said Dorr, “The difference has been night and day,” from last year. Enforcing the policy has been “way less work than I thought it would be,” he added.
“This doesn’t mean we never see a kid with a phone, or using a phone,” he said. “But many kids have really bought in to the policy.”
Dorr added that anxiety has risen among teens at the same rate as the use of social media has risen.
Jansen said some students have told her that getting cell phones out of the school has been “freeing” with no one taking pictures of them. Shirley said he has also heard positive comments about the policy as well.
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