Hastings School Board Chair Lisa Hedin opened the July 27 meeting and proceeded to thank everyone in attendance, physically and virtually, for taking the time to participate in the governance and …
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Hastings School Board Chair Lisa Hedin opened the July 27 meeting and proceeded to thank everyone in attendance, physically and virtually, for taking the time to participate in the governance and management of the school district.
She remarked, “Everyone’s contribution is valuable.”
Superintendent Dr. Tammy Champa thanked everyone for the warm welcome she has received in the community, and further mentioned the many plans in place to visit other organizations and clubs in the community.
“It’s been an incredible warm welcome,” she said and mentioned that back to school workshops are being planned for the staff with the upcoming start of school. “I’ve been doing this work for quite some time, and I just really think there is no greater gift than being able to positively impact our kids.”
She shared her excitement to meet the staff as they return for the 2023-2024 school year.
“I continue to hear from all of you and our community, we just have a really great staff. I’m anxious to meet all of them as we put our work together to welcome back our students,” Champa said.
Director Carrie Tate announced they will only be renewing their membership this year with AMSD, or the Association of Metropolitan School Districts, and as opposed to another organization as in previous years. Champa voiced her agreement and reiterated that the recommendation this year will be to go with ASMD. She said she attended a meeting with ASMD and is excited as she has heard wonderful things about it. According to their website, ASMD advocates for metropolitan school districts and makes it possible for them to improve student achievement.
Tate also requested clarification on school policy regarding school issued devices and filters as she felt there were conflicting statements in the same policy. It was meticulously explained that it’s important to read the wording as a whole. While the school will not monitor the activity of students on their devices, they will put filters in place to hinder students or other adults from viewing inappropriate items on school-issued devices.
Tate was the sole voice of opposition regarding the facility naming policy. While the board agreed to approve Policy 905 Facility Naming Policy, Tate felt the option should be left in the naming policy to name it after a person.
“I think that there may be very special instances where it would be reasonable to do. I don’t agree with taking it completely off the table for any future consideration,” she explained.
Clerk Becky Beissel introduced the Donation Acceptance resolution and moved for its adoption. School Board Policy 706 establishes guidelines for the acceptance of gifts and donations to the district. Minnesota Statute Section 465.03 states that the school board may accept a gift, grant, or device of real or personal property in accordance with the terms prescribed by the donor only by the adoption of a resolution approved by two-thirds of its members.
It was unanimously resolved by the board to gratefully accept the gifts referenced in the District 200 Donations Report from April 2023 to June 2023.
Hedin spoke about the generosity of the donations.
“We do not underestimate the generosity of our community,” Hedin said. “The donations in the fourth quarter of this school year were over $215,000. That is not a donation that is lightly made and it’s not a donation that’s lightly accepted. We thank you deeply and we appreciate the trust that the community as a whole and as individual members demonstrates in our school district.”
The school board will also be using the Minnesota School Boards Association for a facilitated self-evaluation with a cost of less than $2,000.
“We’re undertaking this work and we’re undertaking it seriously,” Hedin described. “This will be the first time we’re using this tool from MSBA so this will be a benchmark. The board as a whole has demonstrated a commitment to establishing a discipline practice, a self-evaluation.”
Building project updates
Director Jennifer Seubert said the building construction funds from the bond in 2018 are currently being spent. These funds have to be used for certain projects that relate to building improvements and some technology stipulations. The District Office Renovations Project has completely closed and the Gymnastics Project, moving gymnastics to the Hastings Middle School gym, is in process to be completed this month. There are currently $67,000 contingency dollars.
