The school board met on August 7, 2023 for a four-hour retreat at The Learning Zone and again on August 14, 2023 for our monthly work session at the district office.
The retreat was led by Dr. Ray Queener from TeamWorks (https://teamworks4ed.com/). We engaged in a team building exercise and Ray led us in discussions about governance and how that differs from operations management. I’m taught that school board members are the only elected board that does not work in details of day-to-day functions and management. Our role as a school board is overall governance and policy. The MN Statute 123B.09 Boards of Independent School Districts Subd 8 reports, “Duties. The board must superintend and manage the schools of the district; adopt rules for their organizations, government, and instruction; keep registers; and prescribe textbooks and courses of study. The board may enter into an agreement with a postsecondary institution for secondary or postsecondary nonsectarian courses to be taught at a secondary school, nonsectarian postsecondary institution, or another location.” This is still a bit confusing to me.
We briefly reviewed and discussed the 3-year governance plan for our district and agreed to review this again in the near future. Ray led us in an example discussion that will help future decisions when we have multiple viewpoints in the community and need to come to a consensus for what’s best for most students and the district as a whole. The meeting concluded with board forum comments and adjournment.
Monday’s work session had two main presentations. First Bob Olson talked about school safety, and secondly, the district cabinet members gave planning updates for the new school year.
Mr. Olson focused his school safety discussion on districtwide security measures and then site security measures. The presentation was kept generalized for discretion, to protect the details of emergency responses in the event of a planned attack by an intruder or outside source. Each building has an Emergency Response Guide and an Emergency Alert System. Staff attend Active Intruder Response Training. Each school has video surveillance cameras, with the new high school having many more than previously at the old high school. Each school has secured entrances and a visitor management system. We have 2 school resource officers (SROs), Derrik Quinlan and Brady Vaith. These are full time police officers that have offices in our schools and are available to go to any of our schools as needed.
Each building has a Building Response Team to handle situations or incidents as needed. Mr. Elstad noted that most incidents are related to classroom disruptions and fights. However, we have had an increased need in the elementary schools for officer presence due to aggressive or unpredictable parental behaviors, often related to children’s custody issues. Because of this, there are discussions regarding hiring a third School Resource Officer, but no formal request is presented at this time. Mr. Elstad notes that all incident reports have to be signed off by him and are sent to the Minnesota Department of Education for tracking. Only administrative staff have access to incident reports. Parents of the involved students are notified. All parents of the students in a school will be notified of an incident if an emergency response is needed. There could be a community wide notification if outside law enforcement is needed. To clarify, the SROs are in schools daily for safety and security only. The school district is responsible for discipline as needed. Outside law enforcement is only called if absolutely needed.
Mr. Elstad reminded us that during school hours, the schools are “in loco parentis.” He notes that safety is our first priority. From Cornell Law School https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/in_loco_parentis: In loco parentis is a Latin term meaning “in [the] place of a parent” or “instead of a parent.” The term refers to a common law doctrine which denotes the legal responsibility of some person or organization to perform some of the functions or responsibilities of a parent.
Next, each of our district cabinet members gave a planning update for the new year. Chris Picha, our director of human resources, commented on staffing shortages in many MN school districts, including Owatonna. Hiring is often limited due to licensures required for some positions and this will most likely have the biggest impact in our Special Education Department. The district will also have to absorb costs for unfunded mandates by the MN Legislature including costs for increased unemployment and sick leave and extended FMLA time for its employees.
Sarah Knudson, our director of special services who began working in her new role as of July 1, 2023, reiterated that teacher and para shortages often coincide with a “related-services crisis.” To maintain federally mandated requirements for public schools, we will likely be contracting with virtual services for things such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.
Lori Volz, our director of finance and operations, discussed levy and grant applications and the growing online enrollment. They are still in negotiations for teacher and custodian contracts. Of importance at this time, she noted that despite breakfast and lunches being free for all students this year, we still need families to fill out an application for free and reduced lunches. This is because of the correlation of this number of students with government funding, scholarships for activity fees, and the new Owatonna Scholarship.
Julie Sullivan, our new director of teaching and learning, added that she is working with Lori Volz regarding Title funds and also noted that online enrollment has exceeded 100 students to date. With new and recent legislation regarding the READ act, she notes that there are 3 staff developement tools required and in January 2024 the curriculum options will be announced. Also, the official change of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day will require schools to spend 1 hour of dedicated education on that topic for the day. There were also changes from the legislature regarding topics in Ethnic Studies, Personal Finance and Social Studies. We are still waiting for the details on Ethnic Studies requirements and there are open State committees that help with this development at the state level.
Bob Olson, our director of facilities, infrastructure, and security, noted that his custodial team continues to be short-staffed. However, they have all been working hard to not only take care of their own building, but also now helping a significant amount at the new high school. There will be 3 online auctions through Grafe Auction https://www.grafeauction.com/ for anyone to bid on items from the old high school. There will be tours of each building section before the auctions. Even things such as doors can be auctioned. The purchaser will be responsible for coming into the building to dismantle and remove any item bought through auction. As the old building comes down, they will move the bricks to a fenced section so anyone can take and save a brick if desired. In addition to the old coming down, there will be 4 new playgrounds installed soon. This is due to the inability to repair the old playgrounds.
Deb McDermott-Johnson, our director of community education, was not able to be present tonight but Mr. Elstad made a few comments in her absence. Our School Age Care program continues to struggle for staffing. At this time, 2 of the usual 4 programs will be open, at Lincoln and Washington schools. Elementary students from the other schools will be transported to those schools as needed. Our Adult Education program is growing and Brian Coleman has been a significant benefit to that program.
Our meeting concluded with board forum, with comments focused on the retreat and also the tours that occurred today of the new high school. Many positive comments! I’m so eager to see the new school and all the amazing details that I’ve been hearing about! Also noted, applications are open to the public until the end of August for the District Curriculum Advisory Committee. This is a one year commitment. Please consider joining this important committee!
SAVE THE DATES!
August 22: parent and student open house
September 1: first home football game at the Federated Football Stadium
September 23: New Owatonna High School open house with self-guided tours 11:30-2:30pm
October 14: Governor and media tour of the new high school
Enjoy the last few weeks of summer vacation and please be safe at the fair this week! Soli Deo Gloria!
Elizabeth for Owatonna Schools 
Elizabeth, thank you for keeping us up to date on the goings on in the school district. I’ve never seen such transparency in the district and , as grandparents, we really appreciate the information. It helps to reduce our fears of safety, and we now think our precious grandchildren, our neighbors, teachers and staff are in a good place.
LikeLike