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Tennis court plan back to committee

BEA Board not happy with the latest BE city cost share proposal

By Chuck Hunt - Editor | Mar 19, 2023

Members of both the boys and girls BEA tennis teams were at the School Board meeting to express their concerns and need for new courts.

The Blue Earth Area School Board did not specifically have the proposed new tennis courts on their agenda at their meeting last Monday night, March 13. But the tennis courts issue came up nonetheless.

First, during the public comment section of the meeting early on, members of both the boys and girls tennis teams at BEA came forward to speak to the board about the tennis court issue.

They described the current condition of the courts at Putnam Park and wondered if all of their home matches in the near future would have to be moved to either United South Central in Wells, or to Fairmont.

They also gave their full support to the proposed new eight court setup at the school. Those courts, estimated to cost $1.2 million, have been under discussion between the city of Blue Earth and the School District for some time.

The City Council had recently passed a motion to pay $330,000 towards the cost of courts at the school, instead of doing a percentage of the cost. The city would also still cover all the cost for construction with the School District paying them back through lease payments for their share.

During the time for committee reports at the board meeting, the issue of sharing the cost of the courts with the city came up.

School Board member Ted Armon was not pleased with the new proposal from the city.

“I thought we had agreed to a 60/40 split of the costs,” Armon said. “Then they wanted to change it to 70/30. Now, it’s going to a $330,000 cost share from the city, which is just 27.5 percent of the estimated $1.2 million cost.”

Armon called the change in the amount the city would pay “in poor form” and wondered about having trust in the proposals.

A concern was also expressed about getting some decisions made in order to get the project underway as soon as possible. Another question was raised about doing a temporary resurfacing of the current courts, but that was felt not possible as the city has plans for that area.

After more discussion, the board decided to send the entire matter back to the joint powers committee for more negotiations, although no formal motion was made.

Fletcher said she would also schedule a meeting with city administrator Mary Kennedy, to further review the project.

In other business at the meeting, the board made a decision to increase some staff positions for the next school year.

After hearing a revised budget update during their meeting last Monday night, the board decided it could be possible to add some staff.

The budget update, given by fiscal services coordinator Alan Wilhelmi, showed that the district is in good financial shape, in most areas, for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, which ends on June 30.

Superintendent Mandy Fletcher had already been working on a proposal to increase staffing in certain areas for this next school year, 2023-2024.

Those areas included adding another section (class) for second and third grades, adding an ELA (English Language Arts) instructor for sixth grade and one in the high school, and an assistant principal/behavior specialist.

When questioned by board members, Fletcher said she estimates the overall cost of adding the new staff for the next school year would be approximately $450,000.

After discussion, the board voted in favor of adding the proposed new staff members for the next year, but just on a one year trial basis.

After the meeting, Fletcher said she felt that adding these staff positions for even one year will be very helpful with dealing with the learning loss that occurred during the pandemic.

The board also voted during the personnel section of the meeting to add a new chemistry/physical science teacher for next year. They voted to hire Brittany Eckhardt to fill the position.

In other business at the meeting, the School Board:

• Heard an update from BEA music teachers Peter Koenig and Paul Johnson about the overall music program.

March is Music in Our Schools Month, they said, and they described all the different music opportunities for students in grades kindergarten through 12.

The two music teachers reported that there are 122 students in band from grades five through 12, 77 students in orchestra in grades six through 12 and 189 students in choir from grades 6 through 12.

They also gave an update on upcoming events and concerts to celebrate Music in Our Schools Month, as well as some information on why music in schools matters.

• Heard an update from Emily Davis, the BEA Workforce Coordinator, on activities for students to explore career opportunities.

Those have included field trips, industry partnerships, tours of manufacturing plants and an Ag Day at South Central College.

• Also heard an update from technology coordinator Stacy Haase which included information on a Chromebook refresher program, revamping the school website and facts about social media.

• Approved the spring sports coaches list, the 2022-2023 revised budget and donations to the BUCC-Y Backpack Program.