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   Students and staff expressed their appreciation to the school board members for their commitment to the district and community at the Feb. 21 regular board meeting.

The board, staff and students then expressed their appreciation and recognized the school bus drivers for their commitment to safe transportation of students as Feb. 21 was declared School Bus Driver Appreciation Day by the State of Minnesota.

   Jeremy Schwarz, Eagles Head Boys Basketball coach, then requested to be heard regarding two topics. The first topic was a request to consider co-oping boys basketball with Hill City for the 2024-25 season. Schwarz stated that currently there are 14 students on JV and Varsity, with approximately 12 students in Junior High. Out of the 14 students for the upper teams it seems there are two to three students always having to sit out from games due to grades and consistently there is only about seven to eight students showing up for practices on a daily basis. “It is really hard to introduce new plays or even hold a practice with such low numbers” stated Schwarz. It was also noted only two or three players have made it to every practice this season. In order for the team to be competitive and grow, Schwarz feels it is time for the board to consider co-oping with Hill City as this is the only sport that is currently not co-oped. 

   Two current basketball players, along with their parents were in attendance to show support for the request. Schwarz said “I understand all about Eagle Pride and not losing the identity of the school, but I also feel this move would be the best for the students to be competitive.” Board Member Bill Wake mentioned the next Storm co-op meeting will be held Mar. 6 at Northland and suggested coaches and players from both teams attend to show that they are in support of the request to co-op.

   The second request from Schwarz was regarding the scheduling of games. Currently, the school hires an outside person to schedule all games for the teams. There have been times when a game will be scheduled two hours away one night and then the next night there will be a game three hours away. He felt the students are unproductive in both school and games, he stated he means no disrespect to the current scheduler, but feels this position needs to be done in-house and not by a competitive school staff member. Schwarz then volunteered to take over the job of scheduling games. 

   Elementary Principal Janessa Green shared more information with the board before the possible approval of the Math Curriculum Resource purchase. The last time the school purchased a new math curriculum, approximately seven years ago, the high school staff opted not to get new curriculum in order to save money. Therefore, both elementary and high school need new curriculum. Green stated she is currently receiving bids for the two curriculums wanted, with different items placed in each curriculum. The budgeted amount for the new curriculum is $80,000 and currently she has bids for approximately $82,000 - $95,000. Green requested the board motion and approve the purchase with the stipulation if the purchase goes over the budgeted amount she return to the board for approval.

   In other Board action:

   • Accepted donations in the amount of $100 from Jennifer and Blaine Raushel for Prom Committee; $100 from Judy Garland Children’s Museum for Early Childhood to transport students to the museum and $380 from Fraternal Order of Eagles for a second Exacto paper cutter.

   • Certified early graduation for Zoey Ortiz.

   • Accepted bids for the 2024 Multi-Use Court project as follows: WM J Schwartz & Son, Inc. for excavation and site prep in the amount of $23,950; JER’s Concrete for concrete in the amount of $87,360; LP Contracting for court surfacing in the amount of $22,588 and Iron Oaks Fencing for fencing in the amount of $18,896. It was noted the bids came in well below the budgeted amount of $250,000.

   • Accepted the retirement of Dale Pound as custodian, effective June 4.

   • Approved adding a 1.0 full-time employee custodian position, which needs to be done in order to hire and train new personnel before the other custodian retires.

   • Approved the new Mechanic/Transportation Supervisor job description.

   The board has scheduled the following meetings: a Storm co-op meeting, Wed. Mar. 6 at 5:30 p.m.; the regular meeting, Wed., Mar. 20 at 5:30 p.m. and the regular meeting, Wed., Apr. 17 at 5:30 p.m. all meetings are held at Northland High School.

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