It is possible that some Blue Earth Area High School students might be studying science in a very different location than Blue Earth, Minnesota.

The Bahamas.

BEA science teacher Julie Ackerman gave a presentation to the BEA School Board on Monday night during their regular meeting, about a field course in tropical geology she is interested in pursuing.

One place she went to for a week was Hilo, Hawaii back in April.

“I learned a ton there,” she says. “I also learned how to do science lesson plans and facilitate learning.

Basically, she told the board, it is to not just tell facts to the kids, but to have them find the answers to questions themselves.

But, it was on another trip that she found a place she would like to take some students.

Ackerman spent the last week of June and first week of July on San Salvador Island in the Bahamas at a field station. There she learned about the study of the natural sciences going on at the station.

“Ideally I would like to create a field course, and take students, mainly juniors, to the field station,” she told the board. “It would be ideally a max of eight students.”

There would be an application process and the cost associated with the trip would be $2,100 per student, she explained. That would cover the airfare, and the stay for the week.

She also is working with another teacher, a male, on the East Coast, to bring eight students on the trip.

“That way I would be the female teacher chaperone and he would be the male chaperone,” she explained. “We would have up to 16 students, boys and girls, on the trip.

BEA superintendent Mandy Fletcher said they have been looking at ways to get the word out to families about this possibility.

“It is very exciting to me, to be able to get these kids out there at the field station,” Ackerman said. “I think it will be a super experience.”

She said her time spent there was to be trained on how to teach the students about how the field work at the station is done.

Board members had a few questions about the possible field course project, and did not take an actual vote on it at this time.

In other business at the meeting, the board also released the results of the evaluation of superintendent Fletcher, which was completed at a work session before the regular meeting.

Fletcher received a 3.5 out of 4 in one area dealing with providing leadership to create district structure that focuses on student achievement data and curriculum, 3.0 out of 4 in a second area of providing leadership to create and strengthen school, family and community relationships and a 3.7 out of 4 in the third area of visibility and approachability by the community and staff.

In her report, Fletcher noted that they would be having a therapy dog at Blue Earth Area Schools this fall. This discussion started at the previous month’s meeting.

“Sara Albrecht and her dog Frankie successfully completed the therapy dog training,” Fletcher reported. “Frankie will be coming to school a couple of days a week, and mainly be in Sara’s classroom this first year.”

After the dog and students have been together at the school for some time, the program will still expand into having Frankie visit other classrooms and attend various school activities and events.

Fletcher also noted that federal funding for having free meals for all students, which started during the pandemic, has come to an end, so families interested in the free and reduced lunch program need to fill out the proper forms to qualify for that program again.

The board also took care of quite a few personnel matters, including:

Approval of new hire Joselynn Moore (special education teacher); approved resignations of Sara Fredrickson (K-7 Media Center paraprofessional), Stacy Haase (K-7 Media Center paraprofessional), Sarah Ferguson (middle school administrative assistant), Morgan Beyer (math teacher), Luke Beyer (elementary teacher) and Robyn Johnson (K-7 paraprofessional); approved contracts for Sara Fredrickson (Library Media specialist/ Media Center Department head) and Brenda Millmann (Community Engagement coordinator); approved retirement for Charlene Thompson (K-7 paraprofessional).

In other business at the meeting, the BEA School Board:

• Heard a reminder that School Board elections are this fall and that four BEA board seats are up for election. Filing period is Aug. 2 to Aug. 16.

• Approved reimbursement rates for board members. That includes $600 annual pay for the chairman and the clerk, $50 per meeting up to half day and $150 for full day meeting.

• Approved the Minnesota School Board Association membership for 2022-23. Approved the activity and meal rates for 2022-23. The activity rates mainly stay the same and the school lunch rate is set by the state. Also approved annual bids for fuel oil, softener salt, waste removal and snow removal.

• Approved a contract with Kim Gibbons, consultant for MTSS, for the two day ‘boot camp’ for all teachers in August. The fee is $20,000.

• Had the first reading on 15 school policies, most of which involved small changes in the current school policies.

• Heard from superintendent Fletcher that the district will be having a booth at the Faribault County Fair.