歪歪漫画

BEMIDJI 鈥� The Bemidji Area 歪歪漫画s Board of Education will be complete once again following the appointment of Paul Bunyan Broadcasting's Todd Haugen at Monday鈥檚 regular board meeting.

After nominations, the board unanimously approved Haugen鈥檚 appointment from the pool of 12 applications received prior to a Feb. 18 application deadline.

Becoming an official member on April 21, Haugen will serve on the board temporarily until January 2023. This will follow the next general election that takes place in November, where three four-year terms will be on the ballot along with one two-year term.

The two-year term would fulfill the remainder of former board member Jeff Haack鈥檚 position following his Nov. 15, 2021, resignation .

Haack had been on the school board since 2012 and most recently won reelection in November 2020 when he received 9,758 votes -- 28% of the total.

With one position squared away, the current superintendent search process also received some attention with several upcoming events on the docket.

Following Superintendent Tim Lutz鈥檚 Jan. 24 retirement announcement , the board employed the Minnesota 歪歪漫画 Boards Association to launch the search process.

The board gathered public feedback regarding the next superintendent through a public survey as well as a virtual question-and-answer session in early March to disseminate accurate information regarding the process and expectations.

With this information gathered, the board will meet at 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 24, for interview training and to discuss the stakeholder feedback, interview questions and procedures.

The board will meet again at 5 p.m. on Monday, April 4, to determine finalists, after which the first round of interviews will be conducted at 4 p.m. on April 11 and 12.

All meetings will take place in the district office board room.

鈥淚鈥檓 extremely thankful to have had the opportunity to make a difference in the work of this school district from cutting-edge initiatives to school safety, emergency management to improvements in school climate, culture and equity,鈥� Lutz said at the January meeting.

Lutz鈥檚 retirement will be effective June 30, 2022, with the next superintendent reporting to work beginning July 1.

Lutz鈥檚 COVID-19 update was the most positive 鈥� with the lowest number of positive COVID cases 鈥� it has been in several months.

鈥淭his past week, we鈥檝e had four students who were positive,鈥� Lutz said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 compared to six cases a couple of weeks ago. A week before that, four students were positive. (Four weeks ago), nine students. Two weeks before that, 45 students. We have dropped precipitously and I鈥檓 very pleased to see those numbers go down.鈥�

Lutz detailed that no students were in quarantine due to being close contacts with someone outside of school, though two students were in quarantine due to being close contacts with a household member exhibiting symptoms.

Continuing with the number of student days lost due to quarantines, Lutz detailed the lowest numbers since the district began tracking the metric.

鈥淟ast week, we only lost 28 student days. Two weeks ago, it was 55,鈥� Lutz added. 鈥淚 remember the time when we were looking at a thousand (days lost) in October. Just six weeks ago, we were over 400. The week before that, 700.鈥�

He also reported that two staff members were COVID-positive last week with no staff in quarantine.

Lutz hopes that the decline in cases will continue as more outdoor activities are made available with warmer days ahead.

The board passed a number of resolutions including the revision of its long-term facilities maintenance plan and $2.5 million facilities maintenance bonds.

The district鈥檚 summer capital project schedule was initially reviewed at the February board meeting where a discussion took place regarding Bemidji High 歪歪漫画鈥檚 roof replacement.

鈥淭he project has become much larger than initially anticipated,鈥� Lutz said. 鈥淲e are now looking at a two-phase project that will span the course of two summers.鈥�

The first phase would repair underlying roofing issues including water damage, and the second phase would replace the roof itself.

The board鈥檚 original cost estimate for the project was $1.8 million, which would鈥檝e been cash flowed from saved capital dollars from the past few years and only included the replacement phase of the project.

Along with inflation, estimated costs now total $3.2 million.

To finance both phases, the board unanimously approved $2.5 million in general obligation facilities maintenance bonds provided by PMA Financial with funds being available to the district by June 8.

The board also approved the district鈥檚 communications plan, a project that鈥檚 been two years in the making.

鈥淚SD 31 has developed the Bemidji Area 歪歪漫画s Communications Plan as a tool and guide for all communications for the district,鈥� Lutz said. 鈥淎s a tool for safety, many of the plan鈥檚 communications templates are also included in the district鈥檚 Emergency Operations Plan.鈥�

The full meeting can be viewed on the .

The next regular board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Monday, April 18, in the district board room.