It was the last USC School Board meeting for three board members, who are retiring from their positions. Left to right are: Dale Stevermer, who has been on the board for 10 years, Jon Feist, who has been on the board 12 years, and Tom Legred, who has served on the board for eight years.

The United South Central School Board is going to have a busy January, as they search for a new superintendent.

At their board meeting on Tuesday evening, Dec. 20, Harold Remme of the South Central Service Cooperative, gave an update on the search for a replacement for current superintendent Keith Fleming, who is retiring.

Remme had a list of meetings in January which the board will be holding, mainly for interviews of candidates for the position.

On Jan. 3, Remme said board members can schedule an appointment at the district office to look over all the applications, if they so desire.

“On Jan. 5, the consultants will be presenting a list of the proposed candidates to be considered for doing interviews of,” Remme said. “There will be no names, just candidates listed by A, B, C, or D, for privacy concerns. When the final candidates to be interviewed are chosen, the names will be announced.”

The first round of interviews will be on Jan. 10, and will be done by the board and by a citizens’ committee Remme said. On Jan. 18 and 19, a second round of interviews of the candidates chosen as finalists will be held.

“We expect that by the end of the day on Jan. 19, the board will have chosen a final candidate,” Remme added.

Remme also presented a detailed plan for creating a profile of the attributes the board, staff and community would be looking for in their next superintendent.

Also at the meeting, the USC School Board held their annual Truth in Taxation Hearing, and afterwards set the property tax levy for next year.

Finance manager Stacie Whiteside presented all the budget and tax levy information at the hearing.

The property tax levy total set Tuesday night was $3,791,503.87, which is a 7.14 percent increase over the current year.

Whiteside pointed out that the property tax levy is just 14 percent of the General Fund revenue, with State Aid covering 74 percent.

The overall budget for the 2022-2023 year has expenditures of $13,713,198 according to the report.

In other business during the Tuesday meeting, the USC Board:

• Heard and approved the audit report for the previous year. Greg Larson, of Feldmann & Co., CPAs, gave the report and said the auditors gave a clean opinion.

• Approved an agreement with the city of Wells for a School Resource Officer (SRO) and agreed to the hiring of D.J. Bullerman to fill the SRO position. Bullerman has been the SRO at Blue Earth Area School District.

USC will pay 75 percent of the cost of the SRO, with the city of Wells paying 25 percent.

• Voted to approve the quote for the purchase of 15 new Chromebooks and cases at a cost of $525.90.

• Approved the creation of a full-time elementary DCD special education teaching position.

Also approved the resignations of special education teacher Rachael Korman and behavior interventionist Courtney Waters, as well as contracts for Lexi Elmer (custodian), Donald Larson (custodian), Brenan Magnuson (transportation director), and Beth Williams (cook’s helper).

• Passed a resolution establishing combined polling places for multiple precincts and designating hours for them, should school district elections not be held on a statewide election day.

• Passed a resolution directing the administration to make recommendations for reduction in programs and positions for 2023-2024 if needed.

• Heard reports from principals that included current enrollment numbers, with the high school at 327 students, same as last month, and the elementary at 374, down three from last month.

• Held a discussion of whether to hold remote virtual schooling on Thursday, Dec. 22, if school is closed due to a winter storm. Since it is the last day before winter break, they decided not to.

• Thanked the three board members who are retiring from the board, Dale Stevermer, Tom Legred and Jon Feist, for their years of service on the board.