MINUTES
MENAHGA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 821
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
NOVEMBER 17, 2008
CALL TO ORDER/ PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE BY THE CHAIR- at 6:30 P.M. in the
High School Media Center.
ATTENDANCE- Jody Bjornson, Curtis Hasbargen, Sheila Parvi, Diana Pihlaja, Hugo Pulju,
Durwin Tomperi, Elementary Principal J. DeLaHunt, Secondary Principal M. Klamm, Leana
Bruer, Student Council Member, and Superintendent Nesland.
VISITORS IN ATTENDANCE SPEAKING AT THIS MEETING- Eide Bailly; FY-08
Annual financial audit presentation.
ADOPTING THE REGULAR MEETING AGENDA- MOTION BY Bjornson to add topic
GRANT OPPORTUNITY and REGION I NORTHERN LIGHTRS LIBRARY NETWORK
LIBRARY AUTOMATION GRANT to the presented agenda. SECONDED BY Hasbargen
VOTE-u/c
APPROVAL OF PAST MEETING MINUTES- MOTION BY Hasbargen to approve the
10/20/08 Regular Meeting Minutes as well as the 11/10/08 Special Meeting Minutes as
presented. SECONDED BY Pihlaja VOTE-u/c
RECOGNITION/CONGRATULATIONS & STUDENT UPDATES–
Update by School Board Clerk;
Thank you to those nursing students from Minnesota State Community and Technical
College in Wadena for their help during the hearing and vision screening.
Congratulations to the Menahga High School "Geek Squad" Development Team, which
consists of Aaron Clack, Brandon Mickelson, Alex Hendrickson, Kendra Skoog and Kim
Herlitz.
The following students make up the Menahga Student Leadership Team: Lauren Ohlgren,
Chet Aho, Leana Bruer, Brock Clements, Tom Gruchow, Annmarie Kallinen, Megan Melander,
Megan Miller, Derek Pihlaja, Matt Skoog and Brianne Tolkkinen
Congratulations to LaRee Fearing and Nichole Weston for planning another wonderful
Community Pumpkin Party. Attendance was nearly 350. A very worthwhile project for our
youngsters. They would like to thank all those who donated and helped with this event.
Thank you to all the seniors that helped to encourage our elementary in raising money for
“Pennies in the elementary” for Menahga Dollars for Scholars. They raised $1,914.17 for
scholarships!
Congratulations to the fall sports programs as they come to a close. End of the year banquets
were held during these past few weeks.
*Congratulations to our UNC All-Conference football players and All-Conference Honorable
Mention* *All-Conference* Alex Brockpahler, Zach Nevala, Mike Hepola, Nate Braith,
*Honorable Mention* Brady Yrjo, Brandon Mickelson, Josh Kinnunen, Josh Meech, and Andy
Floyd
*Congratulations to next year’s football captains*: Alex Brockpahler, Tom Gruchow, Josh
Kinnunen, Casey "Buck" Strayer, Kasey Tyge
Congratulations to Brad Goehrig, Durwin Tomperi and Curtis Hasbargen as they were the
successful candidates in the school board election. Thank you to all those who filed for the
office.
Thank you to Mary Klamm and the Student Council for organizing the Community Veteran’s
Day Program.
Congratulations to the following Veteran’s Day contest winners: Maria Salmen, Kailyn
Kallinen, Jenna Pinoniemi, Chelsey Koebernick, Seth Harsha, Heidi Tormanen, Madison
Womble, Hayley Johnson, Maia Shepersky.
Student Council; Monthly update given by Leana Bruer.
FINANCIAL;
AUTHORIZATION TO PAY MONTHLY FINANCIAL CLAIMS- MOTION BY Tomperi
to approve the payment of bills for November, 2008. SECONDED BY Hasbargen VOTE-u/c
RECOGNITION OF DONATIONS- MOTION BY Tomperi to recognize and accept the
following donations categories, donors, and amounts as follows;
Community Pumpkin Party:
Tru-Star Federal Credit Union
$50.00
Lamb-Weston of Park Rapids
$100.00
Wolf Pack Wolf Lake Baseball Club
$100.00
Jerry and Jeri Nesland
$25.00
McDonalds of Park Rapids
240 food coupons
Innovis Health Care of Park Rapids
3 Blue Back packs
Park Salon of Park Rapids
12 haircut coupons
A1A Sandblast Company
$100.00
West Central Telephone
$100.00
First National Bank of Menahga & Sebeka two Presidential Dollar Commemorative books
MN Finnish Historical Society
$25.00
Kim Rasmussen/Farmers’ Union Insurance
$25.00
Restemayer Dental Office
$50.00
First National Bank- Eric Myhre
Donation of goods
Sysco
2 boxes of apples
David Josephson Construction Company, Inc.
Prizes and candy
Menahga Senior Citizens Center
$22.00
Reinhart Foods
$120.00
Hugo Pulju
$100.00
VFW Post 6206
$100.00
Menahga Gateway Lions Club
$250.00
St. Joseph Area Health Services
Treat Bags
Tri-County Hospital of Wadena
Treat Bags
Cottage House
Animal Crackers
Betsy and Joe Meyer
Pumpkin necklaces and Fun Putty
Walmart of Park Rapids
Halloween Signs and $100.00
Coborns of Park Rapids
$25.00
Sandra Kilbo
$25.00
Donna Anderson
$10.00
J and B Foods
5 movie passes, 4 gift certificates of $5.00 each
Tracy Cole
getting and dropping off the Pumpkin Party signs
Wolf Lake VFW Auxiliary #8165
$50.00
Sheila Parvi
Passing out Treat Bags
Hugo Pulju
Passing out Treat Bags
CarolAnn Cleveland
Registration Table
Michelle Castren
Registration Table
Mary Whiteside
Plastic pumpkins and other goodies
Linda Squires
Games and prizes
Coke, Inc.
15 cases of water and pop bottles
Becky and Kelly Maninga
50 white racing shirts
Menahga Concrete Products
$40.00
Kenmark Screen Printing Inc.
$25.00
Arlene, LaRae, Betty and Alice
Stuffing the treat bags!
Custodians for helping where ever needed.
To all the staff, administration and students and parents who gave of their time or equipment.
LaRee Fearing for helping with the organization of the pumpkin party!
RIF: Gateway Lions $500, VFW Post 6206 $500
5th & 6th Grade Boys Basketball: First National Bank of Menahga & Sebeka $100
All Star Volleyball, Kendra Skoog: First National Bank of Menahga & Sebeka $50
All Star Volleyball, Heather Tormanen: First National Bank of Menahga & Sebeka $50
FFA: Menahga Concrete Products $50; Jan’s Hair Attitude $5; Bob & Jan’s Discount Mart $10;
K&K Repair $50; Jacquelyn Halonen $25; Lamb Weston/RDO Frozen $200.
SECONDED BY Bjornson VOTE-u/c
CASH FLOW/REVENUE/EXPENDITURES TO-DATE REPORTS–
ADVISORY COMMITTEE REPORTS & OTHER MEETINGS– Freshwater Educational
District Board Minutes- 09/23/08, Finance /Policy Committee- 10/20/08 and, Sebeka/Menahga
Pairing Meeting- 11/12/08
SUPERINTENDENT, PRINCIPALS, & SUPERVISOR REPORTSSuperintendent: January Winter MSBA Conference registrations are due by early December.
Elementary Principal Joleen DeLaHunt
 The November 7th Staff Development day focused largely on curriculum work in grade
levels. Teachers worked to align their instruction with the state / national standards. It is
essential that we are teaching the key standards that MN holds students accountable for.
Curriculum maps are now complete for reading and math. We will continue with the crossgrade level discussions in science, social studies, music and physical education in January.
 Last fall, all K-1 teachers, specialists included, attended a conference on RtI. What is RtI?
How can we implement the key components into our school? RtI is becoming more center
state in MN as schools work to implement research based intervention for students
immediately once areas of concern are addressed. On November 19, three more teachers will
attend a conference in Brainerd to bring back the ‘next steps’ for our elementary.
 Five teachers have submitted an application to FED for the RELI Program’s Teacher
Residency Grant. These teachers have applied for an intense five day training with Rynell
Schock in literacy instruction.
 The week of November 17 to November 21 is American Education Week. We have a staff
that is top-shelf! Our bus drivers, cooks, custodians, paraprofessionals, office personnel, and
teachers are awesome! Thanks for the work you do each daily to make Menahga Public
School the very best it can be!
Secondary Principal Mary Klamm
ASVAB - On November 26th, juniors will take the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational
Aptitude Battery) career exploration test, which was originally designed to predict future
academic and occupational success in military occupations. The results of the test will give an
indication of each student’s academic ability and will predict success in a wide variety of
occupations.
The Career Exploration Scores are provided specifically to help students engage in career
exploration. These scores help students to get a good sense of their verbal, math, and science and
technical skills compared to other students in the same grade. This report shows grade-specific,
gender-specific, and combined standard scores and score bands for all eight tests and three
Career Exploration Scores.
Youth Leadership Team – The Menahga Youth Leadership Team has had two meetings this
year and will participate in youth leadership training on November 24th in Wadena. The mission
of the group is to promote chemical health awareness through positive peer interaction and
activities. Members are: Chester Aho, Leana Bruer, Brock Clements, Lauren Ohlgren, Allison
Franklin, Megan Miller, Derek Pihlaja, Matt Skoog, Brianne Tolkkinen, Tom Gruchow,
Annmarie Kallinen, Megan Melander and Ben Skoog.
“Geek Squad” - Students have chosen a mission statement and new name. The objective of the
Menahga High School RAM-ROM Club is to teach students how to use software, explore ways of
using computer-based tools to enhance their academic endeavors, train students to share their
knowledge with other members of the Menahga community, and promote responsible use of
computers in Menahga and the world at large.
We are in the process of establishing teams that will:
 Assist faculty in the use of technology
 Trouble shooting and maintenance
 Assist elementary students with application programs
 Help design websites
 Help community with technology
Academic Acknowledgement – Over 20 students from Menahga attended the 36th annual BSU
math contest. Students in the lower division placed 6th out of 15 schools. The leading scorers
were: Jacob Ylitalo, Chris Schwartz, and Desiree Robbins. Students in the upper division placed
10th out of 16 schools. The leading scorers were: Brock Clements, Brandon Mickelson, and
Derek Pihlaja.
Update on Skyward’s Family Access – Parents will be able to access their child’s grades, daily
assignments, attendance, class schedules and much more! The goal is to be ready to roll before
Christmas break because we will go LIVE on January 19th. During early November three parents
from each grade level will be chosen to beta test between Thanksgiving and Christmas so we can
take the bugs out of the system. A newspaper article introducing family access will be published
in local newspapers.
Staff Presentation; Classroom SmartBoard demonstration by Tim Wurdock in his classroom.
Testing Report for November/December: Jeannie M. Mayer, District Assessment
Coordinator; Right now is the “calm before the storm,” for a District Assessment Coordinator.
There are many tests being administered, but as January approaches us, the "Big Season" begins!
Between now, and December 15th, we have five tests that will be administered.
*** November 18th & 19th - BST retests. We will have nine students taking either the math or
writing retest.
*** November 26th - juniors will be administered the ASVAB. This is a multi-aptitude test that
measures strengths, weaknesses and potential for future success. It will provide the students with
career information and is an indicator for success in future.
*** December 4th: The MDE is recommending that all districts participate in the Grade 9
GRAD written field test. This will be administered to 9th graders during their English class.
*** December 4th -Juniors will have another opportunity to take the GRAD reading retest. This
is one of the graduation requirements by the state of MN. There are 7 students who will be
involved in this testing.
As you can see, even though the big testing season has not arrived, there are plenty of
assessments happening.
NEW BUSINESSFY-08 ANNUAL FINANCIAL AUDIT PRESENTATION- MOTION BY Bjornson to
recognize the receipt and review of the FY-08 Financial Audit from the CPA firm of
Eide~Bailly. SECONDED BY Hasbargen VOTE –u/c
JOINT POWERS BOARD MEMBER VOTING FOR REGION V SERVICE
COOPERATIVE (NJPA) - The Chair directed the Clerk to carry out the joint powers voting at
this time.
SETTING THE 2009 ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING DATE AND TIME- MOTION BY
Tomperi to set Monday, January 5, 2009 as the Special Organizational Meeting for 2009 at 5:30
pm in the HS Media Center. SECONDED BY Pihlaja VOTE-u/c
GRANT OPPORTUNITY- MOTION BY Bjornson to approve application for the 21st CCLC
grant and to contract with grant writer Diane Lehse for $25/hour not to exceed $3000.
SECONDED BY Tomperi VOTE-u/c
PERSONNEL TOPICSAPPOINTMENT: ECSE PART TIME ECSE TEACHER ASSISTANT- MOTION BY
Tomperi to name Rachel Rudquist for up to 10 _ hours per week, effective November 18, 2008,
at $11.00 per hour as an ECSE Part Time Program Assistant, without seniority or benefits.
SECONDED BY Hasbargen VOTE-u/c
APPOINTMENT: WRESTLING COACH- MOTION BY Tomperi to name Ramsey Miller as
Junior High/Elementary UNC Wrestling Coach, as per certified agreement, for the 2008-09
school year. SECONDED BY Bjornson VOTE-u/c
ADJOURNMENT– MOTION BY Tomperi to adjourn the meeting at 8:08 p.m.
BY Pihlaja VOTE-u/c
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
_____________________________
Sheila Parvi, Clerk
Public School District #821
Date: ________________________
SECONDED