Board Brief – March 16, 2021 Regular School Board Meeting
Board briefs are a quick look at some of the items addressed at Independent School District 518 board meetings. This includes topics discussed, actions taken, and recognitions of staff, students, community members, and board members. For more information, please refer to the full meeting minutes that are posted to the district website at www.isd518.net/school-board. All regularly scheduled ISD 518 school board meetings are open to the public.
Board Brief – March 16, 2021: Regular School Board Meeting
- The board approved returning to a traditional grading scale (A through F) at Worthington High School and Worthington Middle School beginning in the fourth quarter. This will mark the end of the regular use of “No Credit” and “Passing” grades for students. The fourth quarter of the 2020-2021 school year begins on March 29, 2021.
- The board confirmed the name for the intermediate school currently under construction at the Crailsheim site will be the Intermediate School.
- The board approved the expansion of the budget for a new Community Education facility from $15 million to $17.5 million to accommodate construction of spaces such as an indoor play area and additional preschool space.
- The expanded funding for the increased budget was approved to come from remaining bond funds available from the construction of the intermediate school. The intermediate school has received bids totaling under $4 million of the original projected cost. This means the additional needed funds for construction of the new Community Education facility will not be taken from the district general fund.
- If the funds for the increased Community Education facility budget were taken from the district general fund, over $800,000 dollars from the state of Minnesota for funding the construction of the Intermediate School would have become unavailable. This money is available from the Ag2School tax credit that is available to area agricultural landowners.
- The expanded funding for the increased budget was approved to come from remaining bond funds available from the construction of the intermediate school. The intermediate school has received bids totaling under $4 million of the original projected cost. This means the additional needed funds for construction of the new Community Education facility will not be taken from the district general fund.
- Superintendent John Landgaard reported meeting with the incident management team, a group of local healthcare and government professionals, about the district’s current learning plan. That group approved the continued usage of the current learning plan. The full in-person learning schedule currently in place is planned for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year.