Activities like mock trial and marching band will be reinstated under a new approach reviewed at Monday night’s school board meeting, but students would need to pay a fee in order to participate.

Tuesday, April 02, 2002

Activities like mock trial and marching band will be reinstated under a new approach reviewed at Monday night’s school board meeting, but students would need to pay a fee in order to participate.

The fee is $25 for each activity at the high school and $15 for those at the middle school. Students would pay that amount for each activity they participate in, except for intramurals at the high school, which would only require a single $25 fee for the whole year.

The goal is to continue to offer as many activities as possible, but with minimal impact on the general fund, said district officials and board members. They are striving to maintain a balance between keeping extra activities for students and spending less of the general fund on them.

&uot;Without these fees the activities will not happen,&uot; said David Prescott, district superintendent.

The fees would allow the district to reinstate most of the activities eliminated by last year’s budget cuts. The district estimated the income from the proposed fees based on the number of students participating last year.

&uot;This is simply as fair a way as we can find today,&uot; said Ken Peterson, board chairman.

Despite their acknowledged necessity, the proposed fees don’t sit well with all the board members.

&uot;I still don’t like that we’re starting to charge for every little thing we do. It’s a slippery slope,&uot; said Tom Eaton, board member.

&uot;But no matter what system you come up with, there are going to be inequities,&uot; responded board member Bill Leland.

The proposed fees would be in place at these levels only for the 2002-2003 school year, and may change depending on how K-12 education funding levels are set by the legislature during the next biennium. The district will also need to account for the impact of a possible excess-levy referendum.

At this point district officials are pessimistic about the chance of any increase in funding from the state. They feel they will be lucky to hold on to current levels, and not have to take a cut in funding, said Mark Stotts, director of finance and operations. And they aren’t willing to start the process of authorizing a levy referendum until they have a better idea about numbers for next year’s budget, including the outcome of the ongoing contract negotiations with teachers.

The activities that will require a participation fee starting in 2002-2003 include the following at both the high school and the middle school:

High school

— One act and three act plays

— Musical

— Math team

— Show choir

— Strings

— Speech

— Mock trial

— FFA

— Jazz band

— Marching band

— Intramurals ($25 annual fee)

Middle school

— Math league

— Show choir

— Jazz band

According to Prescott, the new policy will be included in the Student Handbook for 2002-2003.

In other business, the board:

— Approved a salary and benefits contract with the food service staff, which provides the same increases and other benefits as the previous contracts with custodial and support staff. The board also passed the required structural balance report required by the state with each salary settlement. The employees will get raises of 2.5 percent the first year of the contract and 1.5 percent in the second year.

— Heard that a tentative contract agreement has been reached with the paraprofessionals. They did not meet to vote because of last week’s break, but the board will know whether the contract offer has been accepted by the next school board meeting.

— Approved a request from the Freeborn County Family Services Collaborative to extend a sunset clause by one more year, until June 30, 2003. The clause provides for the dissolution of the collaborative unless it is extended by each of the parties in the joint powers agreement creating the collaborative. The other parties involved are the City of Albert Lea, Freeborn County, the Alden-Conger School District and the Glenville-Emmons School District.