Progress continues in the process of hiring a new high school principal at United South Central Schools to replace the retiring Kelly Schlaak.

“We had 11 applicants for the position,” superintendent Keith Fleming told USC School Board members at their Tuesday, July 21, meeting. “We have narrowed the list down to five candidates and are interviewing them tomorrow (Wednesday, July 22).”

The five candidates being interviewed are: Craig Albers, a teacher at Jordan ?Public Schools; John Stapleton, a teacher at Pine Island Public Schools; Julie Stauber, a principal at Mesabi East Schools; Chad Peterson, an instructional facilitator at Cass Lake-Bena Schools; and Dan Blankenship, a teacher at Fulda Public Schools.

Elementary principal Nick Jurrens provided the projected 2020-2021 enrollment numbers for grades K-6 during the meeting.

“There are a total of 353 projected students for the elementary grades,” Jurrens reported. “The largest class is the sixth grade with 62 projected students and the smallest is first grade with 40 students.”

Schlaak provided the enrollment numbers for grades 7-12.

“Current enrollment numbers put us at 328 students for the six high school grades,” Schlaak says. “Eighth grade has the largest enrollment with 63 students while the 10th grade is the smallest class with 48 students.”

A report from Rita Vondracek and Matt Bird regarding the sale of 104 Apple computers was reviewed by the board.

These computers are considered surplus property.

“Seventy four Mac desktops were used in the elementary computer lab and in the high school business lab,” Vondracek explained. “The computers in the elementary were replaced with Chromebooks and changes made in software usage have eliminated the need for the Apple computers.”

There are also 17 MacBook Pros and 13 MacBook Air computers which were staff computers. They have been replaced with newer 13-inch MacBook Airs, according to the report.

Four tech recycling companies submitted bids for the Apple computers and the board voted to award the bid to A-Team Recyclers of Joliet, Illinois. The school will receive $33,455 for the computers with $16,727.50 paid on the pick-up date and the balance paid within 30 days of service date.

The board then moved on to vote on a number of items in preparation for the upcoming school year.

The board:

Approved the USC Principals Master Agreement for 2020-2022.

Voted to participate in the National School Lunch breakfast and lunch programs for the 2020-2021 school year.

Awarded the school milk bid to Prairie Farms (Dean Foods) and the bread bid to Bimbo Bakeries, USA.

Voted to designate South Central News and Shopper as the official paper for the upcoming year.

Voted to retain Rupp, Anderson, Squires and Waldspurger, P.A. as the school’s official attorneys for the upcoming school year.

Approved membership in the Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA) for $3,834.

Approved renewing the MSBA Policy Services agreement for $715.