Snow days, finances top board agenda

Flandreau Public School students and teachers will spend fewer days in class this year than planned after a divided school board approved May 17 as the students’ last day instead of going longer for missed snow days.

Teachers will return to their classrooms the following day, and graduation is May 19.

The board decided on a 4-2 vote to waive the two snow days for students and one for staff, making the school year 174 days instead of 175. Board members Matt Lacey and Tom Stenger voted against cutting the year short.

Flandreau also hosts the region track meet the last day of school.

In other business,

• Board members heard Superintendent Rick Weber’s report on the district’s application for Impact Aid, which is given to schools that have non-taxable federal land in the district as a way to compensate for the lack of that tax base. The money comes from the U.S. Department of Education, and the money the district receives goes into its general fund, Weber said.

Each year, the district has to count students who are in various categories: children with disabilities who live on federal land, children who live on eligible Indian lands, and children who do not live on federal property but have a parent who works on federal property.

The report showed that 17 students have disabilities and live on tribal land, 70 live on tribal land, and 125 do not live on tribal land but have a parent who works at either the Royal River Casino (54 students), the Flandreau Indian School (41 students) or the Flandreau Tribal Headquarters (30). Children are only counted in one category, Weber said.

Weber said the district will receive about $260,000 this year.

• A preliminary look at next year’s $5.1 million budget shows a slight deficit of about $9,000. Revenues are projected to be $5.063 million, while expenses are projected to be $5.072 million.

Weber said the look at the budget is very early in the process.

• After an executive session, board members voted unanimously to not renew the contract of Jeremy Haugen, high school chemistry and physics teacher. The board then renewed the contracts of all others.

Two days later, the board rescinded the motion to terminate Haugen. Weber said the action was not needed.

In addition, the board accepted the resignations of Anna Hansen, middle school special education teacher; Brooke Albertson, assistant girls’ basketball coach; Mary Payer, middle and high school counselor; and Lynn Soyland, who is retiring from teaching speech therapy.

• The board waived the $100 fee charged for use of the elementary commons by the National Corn Picking contest next October.