A pay equity study was a primary item of business for the Annandale School Board during its meeting on Monday, Aug. 22, at Annandale Elementary School.
Vice-chair Katie Jones presided over the meeting, as Chair Jeannette Rieger-Borer was unable to attend.
Last March the school district initiated a pay equity study to determine the comparable work value of each class of employees in the school district. Such a study is a requirement through Minnesota law.
"Since our school district had not done an assessment of the work value of varying positions in the district for over two decades, it was time for an updated study," Niklaus said. "This is not something that we chose to do, it is something that we have to do."
The study was conducted by Robert Bjorklund of BCC Consulting.
Employees were expected to receive the results of the study on Tuesday, Aug. 23. Employees have until Wednesday, Aug. 31, to appeal the rating assigned to their position.
"You will be hearing some employees who are disgruntled, unhappy with their rating," Niklaus said. "An appeal can not be based on ‘My job is more important,’ or ‘I work harder than that person."
Niklaus indicated that an appeal must be based on experience and training required for the job, how many employees the position supervises, the amount of time the position comes into contact with the public, and working and environmental conditions.
"By the middle of September all appeals will be responded to and some changes may be seen as a result," Niklaus said. "The results of this study will be a guideline for future employee negotiations."
Recreation park
Niklaus reported that progress is being made on the construction of the new Annandale Rec Park.
"Trees have been removed along the outfield fence of the Annandale High School baseball field, and that will be the access road to the park," Niklaus said. "The road is now being put in."
Niklaus reported that not one change order has been submitted since the beginning of construction.
On Sept. 7, the planning committee for the park will determine what will be included in Phase II of the project, which will begin next May.
"By Oct. 15 work will begin on the preliminary excavation work for the new tennis courts on the area where the current ninth-grade football field is located directly behind the high school," Niklaus said. "We hope to have the tennis courts finished starting early next spring, so we can be playing on it next fall."
Board member Mike Holthaus asked Niklaus if the wet weather will cause any delays.
"There has been nothing that has been alarming so far with water on the site," Niklaus said.
AES handbook
The board approved two changes to the existing Annandale Elementary School handbook proposed by Principal Jonathan Klippenes:
■ Parents waiting to pick up students after school will not be allowed into the building until the end of the school day at 3 p.m. This is for security purposes. Parents may wait outside or in their vehicles.
■ The minimum temperature for students to go outdoors during the daily 30-minute noon recess is proposed to be lowered to 0 degrees actual air temperature or minus 10 windchill.
The idea is that active outside play during noon time supports better learning in the afternoon. These temperature minimums are viewed as safe for children.
Preschool handbook
The board approved two minor changes to the preschool handbook proposed by Community Education Director Tiffany Grube:
■ Late pickup from pre-school.
"In order to preserve the preparation and break time for our staff, parents are required to pick up their child no later than 10 minutes after the end of the preschool class day. If you arrive more than 10 minutes late, there will be a late fee due to the early childhood office when you pick up your child.
"The late fee schedule is as follows: Up to 10 minutes – no charge, 10-15 minutes – $5, 15-20 minutes – $10, 25-30 minutes – $15 and for every additional five minutes there will be an additional $5.
"Please note tardiness may result in dis-enrollment. Please make a backup plan today to ensure your student is picked up on time."
■ Background checks for volunteers. Grube proposed that background checks be required for all pre-school volunteers, similar to the background check requirement found in the AES Student Handbook.
"It is a fairly simple process," said Klippenes. "They need to provide name, address, date of birth and a copy of their driver’s license. It takes about 20 seconds to complete the background check. It is a precaution we need to take. Volunteers are often with children where they are not supervised by a staff person."
Volunteers, including chaperones, will now be required to have the background check on file for both AES and pre-school.
Board candidates
The board approved a resolution stating the names of the candidates for the Nov. 8 School Board election: Paul Zabinski, Katie Jones, Jonathan Scheer, William Dammann and Kelly Korpela.
New employees
The board approved the hiring of the following as special education paraprofessionals at Annandale Elementary for the 2016-17 school year: Stephanie Prinsen, Kristen Fahey, Kristen Politte and Misty Bayerl.
"We interviewed 13 candidates and had a really hard time determining who the top four were," Klippenes said. "The four are really high-quality people."
Hockey
The board approved a three-year contract with the Annandale-Maple Lake Hockey Booster Club. The new three-year agreement will expire at the end of 2018-19.
The only change is a recommended increase of 2.5 percent in the contribution from each school district to the cost of leasing ice time. This would increase each school district’s contribution from the current $11,000 to $11,275 in 2016-17, $11,560 in 2017-18 and $11,850 in 2017-18.
In 2015-16 the total cost of the JV and varsity hockey program was approximately $68,000. Half of this expense (roughly $34,000) is split between the three school districts with Monticello paying 50 percent ($17,000), and Annandale and Maple Lake paying 25 percent each ($8,500). The other half of the total expense is split between the school districts based on the number of participants in the program.
Annandale and Maple Lake school districts use lease levy to support their portion of the expense and the Annandale-Maple Lake Booster Club pays the remaining share due from those school districts.
Niklaus expressed pleasure that the Monticello-Annandale-Maple Lake hocky team will move down to Class 1A from Class 2A.
"They will no longer have to compete with all the big schools," Niklaus said. "I am convinced that if we did not have this agreement with Monticello and Maple Lake, we would lose students to open enrollment. Some people are very serious about their hockey."