by Theodore Tollefson

The Hastings School Board will convene for their monthly meeting on Wednesday, September 22 and have many items on their agenda for the meeting.

To start for discussion, the board will review policies such as the current Equal Education Opportunity policy and work on approving revisions to this policy. These revisions are to update the current general statement policy with current state laws and updating outdated language from when the policy was first adopted in February of 2008.

Following discussion and updates to the Equal Education Opportunity Policy, the board will move into approving the new school board subcommittees which will have new members appointed to the committees following the results of the newly elected members to the school board after the election in November. These school board committees are for facilities, finance, community engagement and policies.

The student disability nondiscrimination policy will also be under discussion for updates under who qualifies as being protected under the policy. The qualifications currently listed on the policy are a learner who has physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of such a person’s major life activities; or has a record of such an impairment; or is regarded as having such an impairment.

With the administrative reports, the superintendent will share how many students were enrolled in District 200 this September and last September. This September there are currently 4,089 students enrolled in Hastings Public Schools. This number is down from September 2020 when there were 4,165 students enrolled at the start of the school year.

The board will also put the changes order with Bituminous Roadways Inc. of Mendota Heights for revisions made to the 2021 construction plan for Hastings High School. These changes are revisions to the concrete pad size and additional court striping that will cost the district a total of $8,011.60.

Other items that the board will be voting on for Wednesday night’s meeting are the bills payable for August, new personal hired prior to the month of September, the administrator contract plan for the 202022 biannual revisions, the supervisors contract plan for the 2020-22 biannual revisions, an approval for the proposed maximum levy limitations and certification of the 2021 and payable 2022 levy. The budget and levy will be discussed at the board meeting scheduled for December 8, 2021 and adopted at that meeting.

Finally, the board will vote to approve election judges for the 2021 school board election and which location they will be serving at. There are currently five voting locations set for the 2021 school board election, those locations for voters being, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, St Phillips Lutheran Church, St John’s Lutheran Church, Hope Lutheran Church, and United Methodist Church.

The Hastings School Board meeting begins at 6 p.m.