3/30/2005 8:57:00 AM FC Board approves recommended staff changes
By Jade Wangen
News-Record
The Fillmore Central School Board discussed some staffing changes that will be taking place next year and approved the recommendations made by Superintendent Myrna Luehmann.
At the elementary school, a three-hour media position will be eliminated and will be replaced by a six hour a day aide. The district will also have one less paraprofessional at the elementary level.
The current middle school band director, Lane Powell, will now be teaching grades five through 12. High School band director Courtenay Krumlauf will be resigning at the end of this year. Somebody will be hired for additional help with lessons.
Maria Wilson, the choir director at the high school, also resigned and will be going back to school to pursue a career in opera.
Barb Potthoff, an English teacher at the middle school, will be retiring after this year and Jackie Whitacre, now a part-time English teacher at the high school, will be assuming her classes, working half-time at the middle school and half-time at the high school.
Spanish teacher Alicia Cremer will be adding one Spanish class to bring her to a full-time position.
Dennis Petersen will be adding an industrial technology class, bringing him to a 0.5 position.
Jim Taubert, who returned from retirement to teach a class this year, will not be needed next year due to a lack of student numbers.
Michael Elliot in the science department will be adding a chemistry class, bringing him to a full-time position.
Paula Birch, a speech therapist, will be working half-time for Fillmore Central and the other half of her time was purchased by the Root River Education District.
Cal Zutz from the special education department will also be resigning after this school year.
Luehmann stated the changes so far will save the district $82,000.
Tennis courts
David Joerg of Preston approached the School Board to discuss the possible future of the tennis courts in Preston. The land where the tennis courts are located has been sold to the state for the Highway 52 project.
“I just want to talk a little about the history of the courts,” said Joerg. “Twenty-five years ago it was a community project. Everyone kicked in and got it done. The School Board at the time was very helpful and even contributed some money.”
Joerg went on to say that there are many people interested in getting a new tennis court built after the current one is taken down.
“Personally, I think it is an amenity and it will be missed,” said Joerg. “I used it myself until about two years ago when it became unsafe.”
Joerg stated he was just trying to start up a dialog with the Board and come to some sort of fair arrangement, since the school received approximately $79,000 for that area of land.
Chairman Gary Hellickson said the school paid to have the courts resurfaced about six to seven years ago. The Board at that time had decided not to spend any more money on it.
Preston’s city administrator Joe Hoffman was there as well, and told the Board that the City Council has not taken a formal stance on the subject, but he believed they would like to see the investment continue in some form.
Luehmann mentioned that Carl Larson had been interested in using the fencing for batting cages. She and High School Principal Heath Olstad were going to make some calls to find out if they were going to use it, and if they weren’t, the fencing could be used for a new tennis court. Hoffman said the city would definitely be interested in using the lights.
A committee made up of Board members Ron Stevens, Gary Hellickson and Charles Aug was formed to discuss a possible arrangement with the city.
Senior tour
Senior class advisor Joe Stevens spoke to the Board about the upcoming senior tour to Washington, D.C. The class leaves at 5 a.m. Friday, April 1, and returns Sunday, April 10.
“We’ve added a day this year,” noted Stevens. “There’s a new World War II memorial, a Native American exhibit at the Smithsonian, the Botanical Gardens and the Washington Cathedral that we are going to stop at. It’s a rigorous trip, but we thought it was worth a try.”
According to Stevens, there will be 50 seniors on the trip, 33 girls and 17 boys. Chaperones will include Stevens and his wife, Lantha, as well as Carlyn Kraabel from Zimmer Tours, Dacia and Ty Bestor, Rita Fishbaugher and Jill Zmyewski.
“It has been an excellent group to work with,” stated Stevens, “We raised $50,000 this year.”
The seniors will also be visiting Gettysburg, Monticello, Mount Vernon and see a play at Ford’s Theatre, along with many other attractions.
Principal reports
Olstad mentioned in his principal’s report that spring sports have started with approximately 80 to 90 students involved. These sports include boys and girls golf, baseball (with varsity and B squad teams) softball and track.
The National Honor Society banquet was held at Eagle Bluff on March 29. The Tapestry Pops Concert has been changed to May 17. The Fine Arts Awards/Scholarship Night is scheduled for May 16.
Elementary and Middle School Principal Brenda Lentz congratulated the fifth and sixth graders who raised $3,685.15 for the American Heart Association in their Hoops for Heart event. She also congratulated all of the eighth graders who participated in the Regional Science Fair on Friday, March 18.
Lentz mentioned that Community Education would be bringing in Prairie Fire Theatre to produce the play “Pinocchio.” Fillmore Central students, ages 7 and up, will have the chance to audition for the play the week of April 11 to 16.
English department
Gerri Nielsen, an English teacher at Fillmore Central, gave a presentation about her department to the School Board.
Nielsen has taught for Fillmore Central for the past nine years and was the only teacher able to make the meeting. She described several things going on in the department.
Nielsen mentioned that students are required to take four English classes during grades nine to 12. The seniors have a choice between regular senior English or advanced English.
According to Nielsen, there is both literature and writing in each English class. They are hoping to add more writing tests to grade 11 English classes, and teach students to revise rough drafts of their writing. The advanced English for grade 12 has more research and report writing than the other classes.
“We work a lot with grammar skills,” said Nielsen. “We have a really good program.”
There are two other required English classes, Nielsen explained. These are speech and composition, each class a quarter long. The English electives available to students are introduction to theater and myths and legends, each also a quarter long.
“The English department is really involved in a lot of extracurricular activities,” said Nielsen. “We have the radio show, and there are 21 seniors involved in that. That is on every Saturday morning at 9:30 on KFIL AM 1060. We also have contest speech, which quite a few kids are involved in. There is also contest drama with the one-act play, the spring musical, which this year will be ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.’ We have the Falcon Informer, with 35 students that help out. Carryn Christianson and Alison Bunge are the editors this year. And we are now finishing up the yearbook.”
Other business
In other business, the Board discussed and handled the following issues.
• Jolene Nelson was approved as a substitute for Becky Brown-Ferden, who had surgery and will be off work for a while.
• Spring coaches were approved, including Jay Harstad for C squad baseball and Lane Powell for junior high golf.
• The Board will have a meeting with Lanesboro and Mabel-Canton on Wednesday, April 6, at 6:30 p.m. to discuss sports sharing agreements. The meeting will be held at Fillmore Central High School.
• Board members Sue Sikkink, Ron Stevens and Shelly Topness will attend a legal issues seminar on April 14.
• Deb Ristau, Sue Sikkink and Myrna Luehmann will attend an Advanced Negotiations workshop in Owatonna on April 19.
• An open enrollment request was approved for a kindergartner coming from the Canton area.
