歪歪漫画

Laporte Superintendent AJ Dombeck answered a community member鈥檚 pointed questions about bullying at the school.

The conversation arose during the public portion of the Tuesday, Nov. 12 school board meeting.

TJ Tisland asked, 鈥淲hy is bullying still going on at the school?鈥�

Dombeck replied that administration can鈥檛 control everything students do. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 like it when it happens either,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 definitely always going to be issues. We try to address them when they come up.鈥�

Tisland said, 鈥淎 lot of kids are afraid of coming to school because of the bullying on the playground. It鈥檚 verbal, physical and sometimes sexual.鈥�

Dombeck said they are only aware of issues that have been brought to the administration. 鈥淭he last time we had a meeting, there were a lot of issues we had not heard about,鈥� he said. Dombeck said the district will address problems when they are notified.

Tisland mentioned that kindergartners through third graders cannot be expelled, but asked if the bully could be sent home for the day.

Actually, Dombeck said, a young student can be expelled, but not suspended for more than a full day.

鈥淚鈥檓 just wondering why it keeps going on, why nothing is being done,鈥� Tisland said.

鈥淚t may feel like nothing is being done when things don鈥檛 change right away,鈥� Dombeck replied.

Later in the meeting, school board member John Seegmiller asked if a child who is bullying could be given an e-learning day.

Dombeck replied, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a bad idea, but the answer is 鈥榥o,鈥� legally.鈥�

The district received a 鈥渃lean,鈥� or unmodified opinion of its fiscal year 2024 audited financial statements.

Amanda Scanson, a certified public accountant with Brady, Martz and Associates in Grand Forks, N.D., noted there doesn鈥檛 appear to be an approval process for journal entries. 鈥淣ormally, we like to see a signature of some kind,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just a nice control for you guys to have.鈥�

She recommended 15% to 20% of expenditures as a healthy, unassigned general fund balance. 鈥淩ight now, you鈥檙e slightly above our general target area at 22%,鈥� Scanson noted.

At $6.3 million, the cash position is 鈥渦p quite a bit from last year,鈥� she said, primarily due to the bond proceeds received by the district.

General fund revenues rose by $700,000. Factors were more students, which generated more income, as well as increased state aid, she said.

Dombeck added the district received more special education funding than expected.

鈥淵our expenditures were also up about $230,000. A lot of that was increases in payroll.鈥�

Food service, overall, had a positive income of $9,000. 鈥淭his year is state paid. Last year was parent paid. The year before that, it was federally funded, so there鈥檚 been lots of changes,鈥� Scanson said.

Community service also had a positive fund balance change of $1,500, 鈥渨hich is great to see. A lot of community services funds run in a deficit.鈥�

Scanson pointed to one 鈥渟ignificant deficiency鈥� regarding separation of duties.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very hard in a school district, really in our area, to have many staff, so that does result in a finding in your financial statements; however, you do have some controls in place to mitigate some risk, which means we鈥檙e able to give it a 鈥榮ignificant deficiency鈥� rather than a 鈥榤aterial weakness,鈥� she explained.

The report further found that two out of 25 sampled bills were paid outside of a 30-day window required by the state.

Dombeck took responsibility for one of the late bills and the other situation has been "rectified."

In other business, the school board did this:

• Received an inquiry from school board member-elect Stacie Shuster whether Principal Lee Pederson鈥檚 licensure was up to date. Dombeck said he would look into it. Seegmiller called Shuster鈥檚 question 鈥渞ude,鈥� advising future school board members to bring up such a concern in the privacy of the administration office instead of at a public meeting. Shuster said she asked the question on behalf of someone else.
• Approved FMLA requests from Danielle Ausk, beginning Oct. 24; Ashley Raschke, beginning Nov. 29; and Lisa Moss, beginning Nov. 11. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e experiencing some staffing shortages, at the moment,鈥� Dombeck said. 鈥淭here are some families and staff members who are understandably frustrated with the coverage that鈥檚 happening or not happening while people are gone. We鈥檙e doing the best with the people we have, and I think we鈥檙e going all avenues.鈥� He noted Pederson called universities to find teaching graduates.

• Accepted Stephanie McSharry's resignation, effective Dec. 11.
• Canvassed the election votes and certified the results.
• Approved the district鈥檚 e-learning plan, which has the option of up to five days per school year if inclement weather prevents in-person attendance. The district has mobile hot spots for homes without internet access.
• Authorized two grant applications to the Minnesota State High 歪歪漫画 League. Dombeck said one would offset costs of medical supplies and the other transportation.
• Approved posting the budget in the Walker Pilot-Independent.