Chairman asks to wait for vote with full board

The Albert Lea School Board did not vote on a calendar at Tuesday’s board meeting due to the absence of one board member.

Dave Klatt, the newest school board member, was absent from the meeting as he was sick. Chairman Mark Ciota said it wouldn’t be fair to vote without a full board, so he changed the vote on the calendar to discussion.

On Thursday, a new 2015-16 calendar was released. Ciota said it is a traditional calendar with an earlier start date. The calendar that is on the table would start Aug. 24 and end May 19, 2016.

In the public forum before the meeting, the board looked at three points brought up by speakers.

Angie Hanson, who is a special education teacher in the Southland School District and has a second grade son at Halverson Elementary School, wanted to make sure that the board is being completely transparent about the new calendar, stressing that she hoped it isn’t an “elaborate ruse” to get the former proposed calendar in.

Hanson also brought up concerns about ending the first semester before winter break, which is the reason next year’s proposed calendar starts earlier than normal. She said it could be a possible positive change, but she wanted to know where the recommendation was coming from.

Mike Lee, chairman of the Freeborn County Board of Commissioners, brought up that students who are in 4-H or FFA would miss eight days of school with the proposed calendar due to being at the Minnesota State Fair.

The board members discussed some of their thoughts and concerns in place of voting.

Board member Julie Johnson said a big pro is ending the first semester before winter break, but she is curious if the benefit is worth it. She also said she was considering the fact that 4-H and FFA students would be missing over a week of school at the beginning of the year.

Board member Jill Marin said she is weighing the benefits and costs as well and looked at the issue from both an academic and social side.

On the academic side, she said it makes sense to end classes before winter break, but she’s not sure if it is a benefit worth the cost. Marin said not all classes require comprehensive finals, so it may be a moot point for some classes or students.

She also brought up that the first and second semesters on the proposed calendar are uneven. The first semester is 81 days and the second is 90.

On the social side, Marin said one plus might be that students would have less stress over winter break and that students would have time with their families in June. However, she said the positioning of spring break might not work well with some families.

She also brought up that Good Friday isn’t a day off from school for students.

Student school board member Gabe Minear said finishing the first semester before winter break would have been a huge plus for him this year. He recalled stressing out about finals after the break and said a lot of his friends forgot some of the information they had learned even over the short break.

“I don’t know if it’s the best solution,” he said. “I’m only 17.”

Ciota stressed the transparency by explaining the calendar on the table was one of his creation that was modified by two groups, the cabinet, made up of high school principals and administrators, and the calendar committee, which is made up of bargaining units in the schools.

He said he wanted to avoid the two-week breaks in the middle of October and March and wanted to give students a full 12 weeks of summer, as he took from the former proposed calendar hearings that community members didn’t like those changes.

Ciota said he doesn’t like that the semesters are not balanced, but noted that in the spring there are many state-mandated testing dates that would help equalize the semester lengths.

He said, above all, he was glad everything was discussed in a respectful manner.

Both Ciota and Superintendent Mike Funk said they are interested in seeing how FFA and 4-H students will be impacted in other schools that have applied for an early start waiver, some of which are in agricultural areas.

In other news, the board:

Celebrated student success. Four Albert Lea High School students were nominated for Minnesota State High School League awards. Seniors Solveig Lange and Sam Thompson were recipients of the Triple A Award, for academics, arts and athletics. Juniors Hannah Savelkoul and Alex Syverson were recipients of the ExCEL Award, for excellence in community, education and leadership. Activities Director Afton Wacholz presented the students with their awards at the board meeting.

Listened to the superintendent’s report. Funk said he spoke with District 27A Rep. Peggy Bennett, who is the vice chairwoman of the House Education Innovation Policy committee. Her focus is House File 2, which has three implications for school districts: it modifies a district’s ability to hire community experts in hard-to-fill teaching areas, simplifies the process for career tech instruction certification and ends teacher seniority as sole determination for reducing staff.

Funk also brought up the Lakeview Boulevard reconstruction project slated for this summer, and in speaking with the bus company the worst case scenario is a five-minute change to the applicable bus routes.

Listened to the student school board member report. Minear said he and Quinn Petersen talked to Wacholz about the social media guidelines task force, and decided to involve four community members, a student from each grade at the high school, themselves, Wacholz and principal Mark Grossklaus. Minear said he and Petersen decided not to include parents in the task force as community members because they felt parents might be too biased.

Passed a motion to approve the academy learning track for eighth- and ninth-grade students at the high school.

Looked at a first reading for three policy reviews. The family and medical leave policy, harassment and violence policy and mandated reporting of child neglect policy were all slightly changed to update definitions.