Head Start, the preschool program for low-income families, will have to find a new home next year as a result of action by the Annandale School Board at its regular meeting, Tuesday, Dec. 22. Board members decided not to renew a lease with Wright County Community Action, which paid $7,400 annually to lease one classroom for Head Start in Annandale’s community education center. According to Supt. Steve Niklaus, that space will be reserved instead for preschool classes that are now located in Bendix Elementary. "The future of the temporary buildings at Bendix is up in the air. If the board decides it’s not in the school district’s best interest to fix them up, we need a place to house our preschool program," Niklaus said. Last fall mold was found in at least one of four temporary classrooms at Bendix Elementary. Extensive repairs Although the problem was fixed, board members were told that the 12-year-old structures would have to undergo some extensive repairs in the near future if the district wished to keep using them. If the board decided not to spend the money on buildings that weren’t meant to be permanent, it would displace four first-grade classes that would have to be relocated somewhere else in the already full Bendix Elementary. Board members decided to move all of the preschool programs to community education next year to free up more room in case that should happen. Head Start serves income eligible children aged 3 to 5 years old from the Annandale and Maple Lake areas in the community education building. The center was remodeled from the old Red Owl store approximately 15 years ago, Niklaus said. The grant funding that helped support the renovation required the school district to lease space in the building to the Head Start program for 10 years. Those 10 years are now up. Four options WCCA has four options for parents for Head Start services. A 31/2-hour morning or afternoon session is available four days a week in Annandale, Buffalo, Monticello and Howard Lake. Five-hour sessions four days a week are available in Clearwater, Delano, Mound and Otsego, and extended day sessions are available five days a week in Buffalo, Monticello and Montrose. A parent-based option is available for families that wish to have services in the home, according to the WCCA website. It will be up to the WCCA to determine where they will move the program, Niklaus said. In other news the board: – Will start accepting proposals from school or community groups for rights to sell concessions at school events. They must be non-profit groups as defined by the Internal Revenue Service and must be able to take over all of the administration duties of running the stand, including keeping track of the books, Niklaus said. The school board decided to offer rights to the concession stand after leaving it in the hands of the Graduation Party Committee for 19 years. The grad party has been selling concessions since 1991 and using the proceeds to pay for the all-night party for seniors the night of graduation, but lately they have had some trouble getting volunteers to run it. According to Niklaus, the concession stand rights were never meant to belong only to one group. With money tight for all organizations, the board thought it was time to open it up to others, Niklaus said. He recommended the board re-evaluate rights to the stand every two years or so. Board members will make a decision in March or April on what organization will get the rights this year and next. Niklaus said he hopes the Graduation Party Committee will be one of the groups to present a proposal. – Approved a plan to incorporate more science classes at the high school and middle school to align more fully with state graduation standards, but there is a price. The addition of The Nature of Physical Science and Engineering at Annandale Middle School will mean no more seventh-grade engineering technology, formerly Industrial Arts. "Given the current state of education budgets, we cannot add a class without reducing one," AMS principal Tim Prom wrote in his proposal to the board. At the high school, the additional science class will mean ninth-graders will get one less elective. A curriculum study last year revealed that the science department was not meeting all of the state’s standards. Since then teachers and administration in both buildings have been working to find a way to correct that. In 2008, The first Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment in science was given to students in grades five, eight and during the year they take high school biology, which for most AHS students is grade 10. – Said yes to hiring an additional teacher for students with emotional and behavior disorders for the second half of the year at a cost of about $12,500. The addition was necessary as more students with special needs move into the district, Niklaus said. The state recommends a ratio of one EBD teacher to 16 students and Annandale’s ratio is approaching 26 students to one teacher. – Approved an audit by Kern DeWenter Viere Ltd. that found Annandale to be in the black with a $3.2 million fund balance, which is about two months worth of expenditures, business manager Rick Pullen said. The auditors found no material mistakes and discussed how the district’s open enrollment has helped it financially. Over the last five years more students have attended Annandale schools under open enrollment than have left to attend other schools, Pullen said.
