歪歪漫画

The Laporte 歪歪漫画 Board awarded the sale of $5.75-million general obligation building bonds to Baird Allen of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There were seven bids.

Jen Chapman, a financial specialist with Ehlers, Inc., reported that the interest rate is 3.721%. Ehlers had anticipated a 4.1% interest rate.

鈥淎s a result, the principal and interest payments on the bond are approximately $875,000 less than what was estimated at your pre-election time. The premium bid and these favorable interest rates provided the district with about $650,000 more for your project costs, which is just awesome when you see that happen,鈥� Chapman said.

The sale closes on May 2. 鈥淭hat is when the bond proceeds are available to the district,鈥� she explained. 鈥淓hlers is working with your district to invest these bonds.鈥�

An opportunity to refinance the bonds will occur on Feb. 1, 2032.

The board heard the first reading of a revised public participation policy.

Only students, staff and parents would be allowed time during the public comment portion of the school board meeting, if approved.

Superintendent AJ Dombeck said it鈥檚 a recommendation from the Brainerd 歪歪漫画 Board. He anticipates the Minnesota 歪歪漫画 Board Association (MSBA) will propose similar language, and the district can adopt MSBA鈥檚 model policy once it is available.

鈥淭hat being said, you don鈥檛 have to enforce that,鈥� Dombeck said. 鈥淚f somebody comes and they want to talk and you want to hear it, you can.鈥�

The new policy is the result of Brainerd 鈥済etting beat up with book challenges,鈥� he explained. 鈥淣one of the people who are bringing them are connected to their school in any way. They鈥檙e just community members.鈥�

Dombeck said the books being challenged frequently aren鈥檛 even in the Brainerd school library.

Board member Joe Jarland said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 been pretty peaceable here.鈥�

鈥淚t has,鈥� agreed Dombeck. 鈥淭hey said do this before you have problems.鈥�

In other business, the board did this:

• Approved termination and nonrenewal of contracts for Emily Draper, Kathryn Homstad, Lewis Sjodin and Kyle Huepenbecker.
• Hired Tyler Lindow as high school math teacher, Rebecca Ewert as elementary special education teacher and Brett Paul Trapier II as a secondary special education teacher.
• Rehired Mitchell Howe as a paraprofessional.
• Extended the addition of a middle school math teacher position and approved the creation of an additional high school English teacher position. Dombeck said the new positions will allow for smaller class sizes and extra electives.
• Approved Lexia鈥檚 Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) training program, a requirement of Minnesota鈥檚 Reading to Ensure Academic Development Act. Principal Lee Pederson said LETRS is twice as expensive as the two other options, but it鈥檚 more rigorous and has a longer track record.
• Accepted resignations by Stacy Ofstedal as elementary special education teacher and Tina Kaney as garden club advisor. 
• Approved weather-related closings on March 25-26 as 鈥渇loating training days for all certified staff鈥� and forgave them as student contact days.
• Approved the pay equity implementation report for 2024.
• Approved an Online College in the High 歪歪漫画 agreement for the 2024-25 school year.