Outgoing Blue Earth Area School Board chair Susie Rosenau congratulates Cass Davis after he was sworn in as the BEA student representative on the board, above.

The Blue Earth Area School Board’s January monthly meeting was held a week earlier than usual. Instead of the second Monday of the month it was held on the first Monday, Jan. 3.

The reason for the change was a special community program being held at the school on Monday, Jan. 10 – motivational speaker Joe Beckman.

While the board took care of some first-of-the-year business, there were three items which needed to be postponed, and the board agreed to hold a special meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 19, at 6 p.m., to take care of those items.

One item which was put on the agenda for the special Jan. 19 meeting was to approve a negotiated teacher contract settlement.

“The negotiations committee has reached a tentative agreement on the contract with the teachers union,” superintendent Mandy Fletcher reported. “But, the teachers need time to be presented the contract and vote on it, first.”

The second item is to pass a school district policy dealing with a proposed Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) mandatory requirement that businesses with 100 or more employees require all their employees to have COVID-19 vaccinations, or else be tested regularly.

“The case is before the Supreme Court, but because we have over 100 employees we want to be ready with a policy in place,” Fletcher said. “We received a sample policy from the Minnesota School Boards Association, but it came last Friday and we have not yet had time to get it adjusted to fit our district.”

The third item for the Jan. 19 special meeting will be the annual performance review of the superintendent and a review of her goals.

Also at last Monday night’s meeting, the BEA School Board:

• Elected new board officers. They are board chair – Sara Hauskins, board vice-chair – Kyle Zierke, board clerk – Staci Beyer, board treasurer – Jeff Eckles.

None of the positions were contested. Last year’s board chair, Susie Rosenau, passed the gavel over to Hauskins who led the rest of the meeting.

BEA student Cass Davis was also officially sworn in as a student representative on the board.

• Heard an update from superintendent Fletcher on the COVID-19 current situation.

“We expected an uptick in active cases after the holiday break when students and staff return,” Fletcher said. “As of today we have seven staff members out and five student cases, but some of those are related.”

Fletcher also reported on what changes to the district COVID policy will need to be done in view of the OSHA requirements.

• Heard a report on one part of the Q-Comp program, called Individual SMAART (Specific Measurable, Attainable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely) Goals, from school staff members Brenda Smith and Kay Sonnicksen.

They presented a detailed outline and progress report of all the student goals by grade. They also answered several questions from board members as to how the individual student progress is monitored.

• Heard an update from Fletcher about the revised Buccaneer mascot contest.

There are three mascot logos to choose from and voting is being done via the school’s website. Voting ends on Friday, Jan. 7.

“We have had 443 responses as of today,” Fletcher said. “There were 380 in one day.”

The new mascot logo will be announced soon.

Fletcher also reported the Calendar Committee has been meeting to develop next school year’s calendar.

“It has not been quick and easy,” Fletcher reported. “They are looking at some suggestions which would change things up, if they are adopted.”

One change would be to have a week long spring break.

Fletcher said the proposed school calendar should be ready for the board to look over at their February meeting.

• Approved a list of board member assignments to committees. The list is the same as last year, with one addition of Susie Rosenau to the Q-Comp Oversight Committee.