The Albert Lea school board approved the sale of alternative facilities bonds and Qualified Zone Academy Bonds for the mechanical systems upgrades within the district at a special school board meeting Monday evening.

The project has an anticipated budget of $15 million, and Lori Volz, the district’s finance director, presented three bonds to the board Monday. In the bond resolution it stated the total amount of the district’s indebtedness on Sept. 1 was more than $24 million, and if the three bonds were issued the district’s indebtedness would be more than $38 million.

Six buildings in the district, Hawthorne, Sibley, Halverson and Lakeview elementaries, Brookside Education Center and Southwest Middle School all will receive upgrades to heating and ventilation systems during the summer months of 2012, 2013 and 2014.

The board also heard an update from Superintendent Mike Funk about enrollment numbers and how the first week of school went. Enrollment presented by Funk indicated the following:

• Kindergarten through fifth-grade: 1,480

• Middle school: 439

• High school: 1,155

• Early childhood: 104

• ALC: 79

• Total: 3,307

Funk told the board that the numbers may change, but that there has been an increase in grades kindergarten through sixth-grade since last year.

“It’s a positive start for the school year as far as enrollment,” Funk said.

He mentioned there have been some changes at Albert Lea High School as the students and staff work out the kinks of having five grades in the school. More than 100 students were moved from the second lunch period to the third after there was some overcrowding, and the lunch staff is working on preparing more pizza and sandwich selections, which are among the most popular items and were not always available during the first week.

“That’s a beginning of the year type of thing,” ALHS Principal Al Root said.

Root said parents are also getting used to how to pick up and drop off children near the commons door, which is a change. He said there have been more staff outside, and that the routine has gotten better each day.

Funk also reported on staff development and said it’s the best he’s seen in his more than 20 years of education.

“I think the key to our success is how well our teachers interact in these professional learning communities,” Funk said. “The special education staff had some outstanding training as well.”

Funk said the district has a new Facebook page called Albert Lea Area Schools, which he hopes will be another method of communication with the public.

Regarding the student management software the district has been working on, Funk said the new system, Genesis, will be up and running in about four weeks. Parents and teachers had been used to Edline, and currently there is no way for parents to access grades while staff learn to use the new system. Funk said the company recommended that staff get acquainted with the software to make sure all information is accurate before opening it up to parents.

Class sizes were another topic brought up by Funk at the meeting. He said in the elementaries the average is about 23 per class, while the middle school has around 31 per class. The high school is experiencing some large class sizes, and Root said he’s looking at way to reduce the number of students per class.

In other action the board:

• Heard from Principals Eric Hudspith, Jean Jordan and Root about changes to student handbooks.

Hudspith, principal at Lakeview, said there have been some minimal changes to elementary handbooks including changing some conference dates, updating lunch prices and no longer restricting the age a child can ride a bicycle to school. Previously the handbook had stated no student could ride a bike to school before third grade.

Jordan spoke about how students created their own school rules for Southwest on the first day of school. She also said she’s seen success at middle schools with longer periods, which is why middle-schoolers have a six-period day with each period about an hour long.

Root said the high school’s policy has changed regarding absences affecting student grades. In previous years if a student was absent more than four times, each absence thereafter would result in a letter grade reduction. Now, students who are absent more than four times will receive a half-step letter grade reduction, for example a B to a B-, but cannot fail from being absent, resulting in the lowest grade possible, a D-. Root also said the high school will be a bit more lenient with cell phones, so that students can use them in the hallways, locker rooms and commons and only in the classroom if a teacher allows.

All three principals said the handbooks are on the school website or will be soon for viewing.

• Heard from the district’s new director of facilities and transportation, Steve Anderson, about the district’s ice rental agreement with the City of Albert Lea. The district has paid the city $50,000 per year since 1998 for unlimited use of the rinks, and this year the city asked the district for a 10 percent increase, or $55,000.

Anderson contacted other schools in the Big 9 conference to see what they pay for ice rental. The average was $47,050. Austin pays about $63,000 for the use of two different arenas, Mankato high schools each pay around $31,000. Anderson said he may talk to the City Council about the increase.