United South Central School Board members met twice on Tuesday, April 19. In addition to their regular meeting at 5:30 p.m., board members held a work session beginning an hour earlier.

The main purpose of the work session was to discuss how to proceed with finding a replacement for superintendent Keith Fleming, who will be retiring at the end of the 2022-2023 school year.

“The big decision we have to make is whether the board hires someone for a full-time or a part-time position,” board member Jon Feist commented. “Also, can the job be combined with other duties?”

Fleming offered his thoughts on the matter.

“I think the current administrative structure is set up for a full-time job,” he said. “Going for a combination job, such as a superintendent/elementary principal limits your candidates.”

Feist agreed and offered his support for pursuing a full-time superintendent.

“If you look at all of the schools around us, I believe you will find they all have full-time superintendents,” chairman Mike Schroeder stated.

“And when we have studied the possibility of a part-time superintendent in the past, we found we did not save very much money,” board member Tom Legred added.

The board had previously decided to work with South Central Service Cooperative (SCSC) in the search for a new superintendent.

“SCSC will come in June to go over the process with the board,” board member Dale Stevermer said. “Then, they will come back in November to gather input from the board and the community. Since we are members of the cooperative, the cost of their service is only $150.”

During the regular meeting, elementary principal Jennifer Taylor reported enrollment for grades K-6 was 358 students.

“Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment testing is in full swing in our elementary grades,” she shared. “Kindergarten round-up was last Thursday and we had three full sessions.”

She also said the kids and teachers were hoping for some warmer weather.

“Everybody would like to get outside,” she mentioned. “We are hoping to be able to take some field trips when the weather gets nicer.”

Taylor also told board members that $20,000 was raised through the Book Blast Initiative.

“We thought we would try something new at the elementary level,” Taylor explained. “It was part of the Books are Fun program. The end result was our kids and the school all received books and had a lot of fun.”

High school principal Julie Stauber shared the enrollment for grades 7-12 stood at 318 students, which was one more than last month.

“The end of the school year is approaching and graduation plans are in full-swing,” she said. “We have stayed busy reviewing scholarship applications.

She noted attendance for the parent-teacher conferences held in March were not as well attended as when virtual conferences were also offered as an option.

“The last bit of news to share is that Hannah Meyer is our Renaissance Student of the Month,” Stauber commented.

Student representative Lillian Neubauer also gave a report.

“USC has been busy hosting FFA contests,” she noted. “And I am happy to report we had a number of our students qualify to State.”

Fleming wrapped up the reports, saying it was nice to see things returning to normal.

“We are going to have our Price is Right fundraiser for the first time in two years. We had kindergarten round-up for the first time in two years and we will have the Lions Athletic Banquet for the first time in two years,” Fleming shared, and then he switched his thoughts to St. Paul. “The legislators are back after their Easter break. Reports are things will probably end in deadlock.”

In other business, the board:

– Approved a LTFM (Long-Term Facility Maintenance) budget agreement with Southern Plains Education Cooperative.

– Adopted the proposed 2022-2023 Capital Outlay Budget.

– Accepted the resignations of English Language Learner teacher Erin Hansen, bus driver Neal McClurg, Early Childhood Special Education teacher Roselyn Pavel and curriculum advisor Edna Husman.