The Albert Lea School Board got three pieces of good financial news Monday.

Tuesday, February 05, 2002

The Albert Lea School Board got three pieces of good financial news Monday.

First, the district is part of a group of schools that received a $150,000 technology grant from the Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning. Second, Albert Lea Medical Center will pay for an athletic trainer for district sports programs next year. And third, the district has settled with one of its unions.

Judy Knudtson, district curriculum coordinator, announced that Albert Lea was one of three schools that would be sharing the grant; the other two school districts are Faribault and Northfield. Faribault will serve as the grant administrator. Albert Lea’s share of the hardware, software and staff training will be worth approximately $50,000.

The grant will pay for the development of online instruction at the high school level, with four teachers being trained this spring and programs available to students by early summer. The grant runs through December 2002.

&uot;After the grant runs out, we’ll have to decide how to continue these programs on our own,&uot; said Knudtson.

The other good news involved the status of the district’s sports medicine program for the 2002-2003 school year. Albert Lea Medical Center contacted the school board to offer to pay the $3,000 subsidy the district was contributing toward the salary for the athletic trainer, a position currently held by Lynn Scheevel.

ALMC cited the safety and health of student athletes as the reason for their decision. The board accepted the offer.

Finally, the board approved a contract with support staff – secretaries, clerks and other non-instructional staff not included in another bargaining unit. The contract provides more health insurance coverage and raises the salary package by 2.5 percent in the first year of the contract, and 1.5 percent in the second year. Mark Stotts, district finance and operations director, reported that negotiations with support staff had gone smoothly from the beginning and he was glad that at least one of the contracts is now approved.

The board also heard about the status of labor negotiations with the other three bargaining units. Stotts reported that teachers and the district will be going to mediation. A date has not been set for that meeting, he said. Negotiations with the other two, representing custodians and food service employees, are still ongoing with little or no progress to report, said Stotts.

At Monday’s meeting the board also:

– Recognized students Julianna Peterson and Matthew Olsen for having been honored with the Excel Award, which is granted to 40 high school juniors from around the state each year. Peterson and Olsen won the award on the basis of their academic record, extracurricular activities and participation in the life of the community. They will be featured in televised interviews during the state hockey and basketball tournaments.

– Accepted a bid from Motor Inn for the purchase of a new eight-passenger GMC Safari for $20,300. The van will be a replacement vehicle for one of the district’s Suburbans. Two of the Suburbans will be ten years old this year and will lose their certification for the transportation of students.

There is a possibility that a grant may be available to purchase another van to replace the other Suburban for the use of the Special Education program, said Bruce Olson, district facilities director.

– Approved student internship agreements with Minnesota State University-Mankato and the University of Iowa. MSU’s agreement is for student teachers. The Iowa agreement is new and is for the placement of student nurses interested in doing a school nurse internship.