FFA visits, school policies approved

The Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton School Board meeting on Monday, November 21 was a productive one. The JWP Future Farmers of America gave a presentation to the board members, and the board discussed changes to a school policy regarding the use of facilities and equipment. 

FFA Treasurer Sam Carlson led the presentation, explaining the activities the FFA has carried out so far and is planning for the remainder of the school year. “We went to an apple orchard in Faribault for our fall trip,” he explained to the board. “Then we stopped at the World’s Largest Candy Store near Jordan because who doesn’t love candy?”

FFA member Allie Hanks described the group’s trip to Indianapolis. Members visited the Indianapolis Speedway and learned about different parts of the agriculture industry. “It was like a college fair about agriculture,” she said. “We learned about the different branches of ag work there. There were colleges from all 50 states that offered ag programs at their schools, too.”

Carlson then updated the board on the FFA’s fruit sales, which totaled near $8,000 this school year. “It will help us out tremendously,” he claimed.

The funds raised from the fruit sales will help the FFA pay for bus rides to competitions and help graduating seniors who have been in the program for years.

Policy 902 regarding the use of the district facilities and equipment drummed up a lot of questions. The policy states that any food provided at gatherings within school facilities or on school property would need to come from a ServeSafe certified person. It was stated that the policy is nearly identical to one used at the Waseca school district.

Board member Kendra Hoehn questioned Superintendent Jeremy Erler about potluck meals for sports teams. “Will that be an issue?” she asked him.

“With this policy, it’s not allowed,” Erler replied. “All food that would be brought into the school would need to be from a certified kitchen.”

If potluck meals were to happen at the school, the person who cooked the food would need to provide proof of certification. “Otherwise, we’d be liable,” Erler elaborated.

Board member Tim Oelke took issue with the “priority of use” list in the policy. “I would rather have youth programs have priority over the cities of Janesville, Waldorf, and Pemberton,” he expressed. “I feel like the youth programs are an extension of the JWP school, whose teams have the top priority over the cities.”

After getting back to the topic of the food situation, the board decided to suspend further discussions on the policy indefinitely. The board then approved 14 other policy changes (eight of them considered substantial, six considered non-substantial) which included the district’s code of ethics, drug and alcohol testing, and more.

Superintendent Erler began his report by telling the board about his experience substituting for the nurse’s office for a few days. School nurse Laura Hoffmann is out on leave until December, and her long-term substitute Sharyn Miller had other obligations, according to Erler.

Erler was also happy to report that after a long wait, the school’s chiller was finally on the roof. “We ran wire for it today, and the glycol lines are hooked up to it,” he said. “We’ll get it lined up once spring hits.”

Other topics addressed in his report included the elementary starting targeted services for kids needing help with math and reading, new clubs starting at the school, principals starting their formal observations for the year, and the district’s  efforts to purchase two new dishwashers for the kitchens. “Right now, we can do about 30 racks of dishes an hour,” Erler said. “With the new dishwashers, we can do 200 an hour.”

The district is looking to do an analysis on three areas of the school with Growth Operators. They would assess the school’s Human Resources department, update 20 or more job descriptions at the school, and perform a comparable work study to see how the school compares to other districts around the state. The total investment to Growth Operators would range anywhere from $19,000 to $27,000.

Erler noted that the school’s teachers’ union highly favored updating the job descriptions at JWP. But Oelke was hesitant about the district paying that much to an organization it’s never worked with before. “What other school districts use this company?” he asked Erler. “I don’t want to go blindly into this. I’m apprehensive because we have approved stuff in the past where we didn’t get our money’s worth.”

The board decided to postpone the assessment option indefinitely to give Erler time to look into what other schools use Growth Operators to assess their district’s performance.

The board members ended the meeting accepting donations with many thanks from four organizations. Utility Consultants donated $50 to go toward the JWP National Honor Society; Kids Count gave $139.08 for Community Education; the University of Minnesota donated $885 to go toward aquaponics equipment for Ag classes; and the Minnesota Council for Exceptional Children Division for Early Childhood (CEC DEC) donated $603.88 for a DEC mini grant.