The School Board of Sanborn Central School District 55-5 met in regular session on Monday, March 9, 2020, at 7:05 p.m. in the Sanborn Central Guidance Counselor’s room with the following present: Curtis Adams, Clayton Dean, Justin Enfield, and Brenda Schmit. Others present were Superintendent Justin Siemsen, Elementary/Middle School Principal Connie Vermeulen, and Business Manager Gayle Bechen. Gary Spelbring arrived at 7:20 p.m.

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Visitors to Board Meeting: Elementary School Teachers – Kim Sevareid, Cheryl Schmit, Jennifer Larson, Krista Moore, Elementary Aide Ashly Uecker, Title 1 Teacher Kayla Vetter, USD Student Abby Vermeulen

Motion by Adams, seconded by Spelbring, all aye, to approve the agenda as printed.  

Motion by Enfield, seconded by Schmit, all aye, to approve the minutes of the regular board meeting February 10, 2020, as printed. 

Motion by Schmit, seconded by Enfield, all aye, to approve the Financial Statement and bills. The district is transferring $50,000 from capital outlay fund into a CD at the bank. The hope is that the interest accumulated will help off-set any interest accrued on a loan for the purchase of a big ticket item, such as a skid loader or a suburban.   

General Fund balance, February 1, 2020: $414,563.21. Receipts: taxes $66,696.37, penalties/interest $39.87, interest $76.23, other pupil $35.00, other $2.55, state fines $675.23, state aid $44,750.00, administration $1,167.00, booster donation $429.36, SPL apportionment $15,742.01, bank franchise $5,416.32. Expenditures: $154,869.99 manual journal entry $20.00. Balance, February 29, 2020: $394,703.16. CorTrust Savings balance, February 1, 2020: $50,387.11. Receipts: interest $0.00. Expenditures: $0.00.  Balance, February 29, 2020:  $50,387.11. 

Capital Outlay Fund balance, February 1, 2020: $851,534.29. Receipts: taxes $5,145.52, penalties/interest $2.12, interest $168.79. Expenditures: $1,093.03. Balance, February 29, 2020: $855,757.69.

Special Education Fund balance, February 1, 2020: $136,579.49. Receipts: taxes $15,430.09, penalties/interest $6.39, interest $27.22. Expenditures: $17,652.32. Balance, February 29, 2020: $134,390.87. 

Food Service Fund balance, February 1, 2020: $7,136.79. Receipts: student meals $4,393.75, adult meals $615.75, ala carte $3,223.75, meal certification $165.20, January federal reimbursement $4,374.88, January online payment $100.00. Expenditures: $12,781.56, manual journal entry $49.80. Balance, February 29, 2020: $7,178.76.

Enterprise Fund balance, February 1, 2020: $(5,265.90). Receipts: preschool tuition $3,000.00. Expenditures: $3,762.53. Balance, February 29, 2020:  $(6,028.43).

Trust and Agency Funds balance, February 1, 2020:  $78,172.11 Receipts: $4,414.52. Expenditures: $3,456.43. Balance, February 29, 2020: $79,130.20.

Scholarship Fund balance, February 1, 2020: $10,712.27. Receipts: interest $0.80, contributions $0.00. Expenditures: $0.00. Balance, February 29, 2020:   $10,713.07. Peters Scholarship balance: $10,713.07; Nelson Scholarship balance: $0.00.

Salaries and benefits for the month of March 2020 were as follows:

General Fund: $140,460.74; 

Special Education: $17,049.98; 

Food Service: $7,855.00;

Enterprise: $3,291.98.

Claims approved: GENERAL FUND – A-Ox Welding, cylinder rent $34.78; Brooks Oil Company, LP $902.00, #1 diesel $2,608.50, gas $1,124.55; Burnison Plumbing, water heater supply $615.10; Carquest, bus supply $13.58, atv battery $104.99; CBH Conference, 2019-20 dues $100.00; Central Electric, January electricity $3,575.67, February electricity $3,272.03; Clayton’s Repair, bus maintenance $143.50; Conrad Repair, plumbing repair $65.00; CorTrust, air cards $120.03, SPED conference registration – Siemsen $175.00, projector bulbs $60.29, ag shop supplies $358.46; Dawson Construction, 6-yard dumpster $115.00; Days Inn, legislative days room $154.00; Goodwill of the Great Plains, paper shredding $39.00; Guitar Center, drum heads $97.94; Heartland Paper Co., janitor supply $2,475.76, elementary supply $27.34, middle school supply $27.34, high school supply $27.34;

[IMPREST FUND: Corey Baruth, junior varsity doubleheader basketball referee $70.00; Shawna Baysinger, junior varsity doubleheader basketball shot clock $30.00, varsity doubleheader basketball shot clock $60.00; Tate Deinert, junior high girls basketball referee (3) $75.00, junior high boys basketball referee (4) $100.00, junior varsity doubleheader basketball referee $70.00; Corey Flatten, junior varsity basketball clock (3) $45.00, varsity basketball clock (3) $90.00; Jordan Gau, junior varsity/varsity girls basketball referee $100.00; Charley Larson, junior high girls basketball referee $25.00, junior varsity/varsity girls basketball shot clock $45.00; Tim McCain, junior high girls basketball referee (2) $50.00, junior high boys basketball referee (4) $100.00; Jordan Opp, doubleheader basketball referee $115.00; Joel Osborn, doubleheader basketball referee $115.00; Joe Schroeder, girls basketball junior varsity/varsity referee $100.00; Scott Sonne, girls basketball junior varsity/varsity referee/mileage $137.80; Greg Stroh, doubleheader basketball referee/mileage $178.84]; 

Jostens, middle school certificate/cover $146.63; K&D Busing, shared busing $1,425.12; Menards, high school ag supply $27.96, janitor supply $175.04, bus barn supply $8.97; Mid-Dakota Technologies, March tech support $150.00; Plank Road Publishing, 2020-20 renewal $119.45; Popplers Music, music $124.98; Principals Conference, Elementary/Middle School conference registration $150.00; Public Health Lab, water test $15.00; Region Music Contest, registration $75.00; Running’s Supply, car supply $1.99, janitor supply $62.45; Sanborn Weekly Journal, board proceedings $185.57, notice of audit $29.81; Santel Communications, February phone $218.58; South Dakota Interscholastic Athletic Administrative Association, Conference registration $50.00, membership $130.00, South Dakota High School Coaches Association membership $50.00; Southeast Area Cooperative, Kindergarten/primary academy registration $370.00; Sturdevant’s Auto Parts, bus supply $42.12; Mark Van Overschelde, water sample postage $26.35; Connie Vermeulen, middle school coronation food $37.28; Walmart, middle school coronation supply $50.80; Janae West, drum supply $49.17.  

CAPITAL OUTLAY Fund — A&B Business, February copier rent $936.67; CorTrust Bank, c.o. cd $50,000.00; Hauff Mid-America sports, track equip $304.65;

[IMPREST FUND: Dean/Edwards Assoc, ice machine $205.00];

Local Lumber, storage unit lumber $792.31; Menards, jig system $139.00.   

SPECIAL EDUCATION Fund – None. 

FOOD SERVICE Fund – Card Services, food $5.19; Child/Adult Nutrition Services, processed commodity $1,122.43; Dean Foods, milk $486.04; Earthgrains, bread $106.85; Heartland Paper, supply $80.06; Reinhart Foods, food $2,742.72, supply $215.24; Running’s Supply, supply $4.99. 

ENTERPRISE Fund – Kindergarten Academy registration $185.00.

Mr. Siemsen reported on the following:

•Legislative update – as of Monday, it looks like a two percent increase to state funding will be passed.

•Spring Activities are ramping up with band and chorus concerts, AG CDE’s, golf, and track set to begin this month.  Congratulations to the boys and girls basketball teams for the successful seasons. 

•Third quarter ended on March 6th. 

•No school on March 13th and 20th. 

•Northern Plains Insurance Group meeting is scheduled for March 18th. Gayle Bechen will attend. 

•The SPED conference will be held on March 17th-18th.  Mrs. Sanderson, Ms. McClane and  Siemsen will attend.

•Senior Experience presentations will be held on March 27th. 

•The gas holding tank has been cleaned and filtered.

•A rate for contracting out our bus routes was provided to the district ($20,800 per month for 10-month contract). It was discussed and decided that the district will not seek this avenue at this time, knowing that it may become an option in the future.

•The high school staff presented an alternative schedule plan for adding more course options and offerings in the high school, which will be further discussed and implemented in the 2020-2021 school year. 

Mrs. Vermeulen reported on the following:

•The middle school lock-in and coronation was a success.  Only three students did not attend. Congratulations to Princess Kara Wormstadt and Prince Cody Slykhuis. 

•The student body enjoyed a week of FFA Events: February 17-21. 

•The elementary students acknowledged Read Across America and Dr. Seuss from March 2-6. 

•American Legion poems and essays have been completed and delivered to both the Artesian and Letcher Posts.

•The counselor, Mica Foxley, returned to school on March 5. Mrs. Harmdierks did a fine job as a substitute.

•Diane Bechen has started visiting with grades fifth and sixth completing Kids Quest activities.  She will be at Sanborn Central for four Mondays. 

•No School on March 13 and 20. 

•Summative ELA and Math testing window opened March 4. 

•The elementary staff will be hosting a Family Literacy Night on March 26. Lowell Perman will perform some story telling activities. The board hopes to send home some make and take activities and parent reading ideas. It will run from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m., with some door prizes being raffled.

Discussion Items: 

•Preschool: The purpose of the elementary staff’s presence at the meeting was to present some thoughts and ideas pertaining to potential changes to the structure of Sanborn Central preschool. There were several ideas presented, including age admittance changes, splitting up the group into separate classes (new to preschool in one and repeat students in another) with a separate teacher, and other ways to continue improving the program.  The board and administration had some questions, which led to a constructive discussion.  This will be explored further with no decisions made at this time.

•4-H building: The Board continued discussion regarding the district’s interest in utilizing the proposed expansion to the 4-H building in Forestburg.

•Potential Projects: Items such as students constructing storage units within a class (possibly a joint venture with industrial tech in Woonsocket) were discussed.

•Handling of potential hazards: In light of the current state of the region, regarding potential flooding issues as well as the potential threat of infectious disease, the school district needs to be proactive and develop a plan to address the potential for a long-term outage of in-school time. The biggest areas of concern are in the elementary school and at the colony school. The high school and middle school students would be able to utilize devices to continue their courses via the internet, namely Google classroom. However, the colony school does not permit the use of computers with internet, and the elementary school would have a difficult time conducting their classes online, as this is not a large part of what they currently do. This portion of a plan will be fluid, with input being sought by the state and making inquisitions of other districts’ thoughts and ideas. Along with plans, the district will be posting information, as it is obtained, regarding how to make the school and the environment of the students as safe as possible.

Old Business: None.

New Business: 

Motion by Enfield, seconded by Spelbring, all aye, to approve authorization of purchasing a skid loader with capital outlay funds.

Motion by Schmit, seconded by Spelbring, all aye, to approve the 2020-2021 academic calendar.

Motion by Adams, seconded by Enfield, all aye, to acknowledge the letter received from the SCEA to enter into negotiations. The date for negotiations will be April 14th in conjunction with the regularly scheduled board meeting.

Motion by Schmit, seconded by Spelbring, all aye, to approve the certified and classified contracts for the 2020-2021 school year with the understanding that some reassignments and letters of intent to not rehire may be necessary.

Motion by Adams, seconded by Schmit, all aye, to approve the district’s food service procurement policy.

Motion by Adams, seconded by Spelbring, all aye, to approve the district’s food service code of conduct policy.

Motion by Adams, seconded by Enfield, all aye, to go into executive session SDCL 1-25-2(1) to discuss personnel items with possible motions to follow (personnel items) at 8:54 p.m. Regular session resumed at 9:40 p.m. 

Motion by Enfield, seconded by Spelbring, aye 4, nay 1, to discontinue the participation in a shared services association with instructional coach Roxane Dyk.

The next regular board meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 14, 2020, at 5:00 p.m. in the Sanborn Central School Conference Room. 

Motion by Enfield, seconded by Adams, all aye, to adjourn the meeting at 9:43 p.m.

Gayle Bechen

Business Manager

Clayton Dean

Board Chair