At the September 22 Fillmore Central School Board meeting, Superintendent Heath Olstad informed the board that the Minnesota State High School League or MSHSL made the decision to hold the football and volleyball seasons this fall. Practices for both sports started on September 19 and will follow COVID-19 guidelines from the Minnesota Department of Health as will the games. “We just hope that we can stay on the field and on the court,” Olstad said.

With the cancellation of state tournaments during the spring sports season, the MSHSL lost a considerable amount of income. Because of that, payments from its participating districts have increased, with Fillmore Central’s being raised approximately $5,000. There are ongoing discussions from various districts about how to handle the higher costs of being a part of MSHSL. “We’ll see where that goes,” Superintendent Olstad said, explaining that Fillmore Central plans to be a part of the discussion.

Olstad reported that the first few weeks of school have gone well and that the two days of back-to-school conferences at the elementary school were well attended. The high school students will use the Webex program for their distance learning day on Wednesdays. The program was not available for the first few Wednesdays, but has been delivered now and staff were trained on how to use it on September 23. As of now, there are 35 students ranging from kindergarten through 11th grade who have chosen to do full-time distance learning although several at the high school level are considering returning to in-person school.

The fifth/sixth and seventh/eighth grades are holding their annual One and Done fundraiser this year, but rather than in-person sales, the fundraiser is completely online.

“Sarah Holten and Duane Ledin are doing a great job,” Olstad said about the challenges that the high school choir and band have since social distancing and masks have to be utilized during rehearsals. Holten reached out to the Greenfield Lutheran Church and was able to obtain permission to hold choir practices there during the school day. “We appreciate the community support,” Olstad commented.

Ag teacher Megan Brown was present at the meeting to talk about a grant that the department received from the Minnesota Agricultural Education Leadership Council. Brown wrote the grant and received the full amount of $11,000, which will be used for classroom materials for the freshman class, Intro to Agriculture Food and Natural Resources.

Resignations were accepted from One Block at a Time employees Tamera Gorter and Kami Kramer as well as from 3/4 preschool teacher aide Jacque Ryan. Mindy Wolfgram was hired as the 3/4 preschool teacher aide, Tanna Farnsworth as the district’s enrichment coordinator, Alexis Jones as a lead teacher in the daycare, and David Broadwater as a full-time substitute. Meghan Drake, Mackenzie Smith, and Samantha Weigert were hired as SPED paraprofessionals and Tamera Gorter as a Title paraprofessional. Devan Iddings was hired to coach eighth grade volleyball and Kari Berge to coach cheerleading.

The purchase of an AWD 10-passenger 2020 Ford Transit van was approved. Seven requests for graduate credit reimbursements and five requests for salary schedule lane changes from staff were approved.

The board reviewed the proposed 2020 payable 2021 levy and approved the maximum amount. The final number will be decided at the Truth in Taxation meeting in December.

A revised van driving pay scale was approved to fulfill pay equity requirements. Open enrollment requests for two students were accepted.

Gratitude was extended to the SMIF Foundation for a $10,000 grant which will be used for technology purchases and to Aaron Janssen for his work on writing the grant.

The next Fillmore Central School Board meeting will be held in the Preston meeting room at 6:30 p.m. on October 27.