District policies back in front of Mitchell Board of Education Monday

MITCHELL — The Mitchell Board of Education will have district policies in front of them again when it meets next in regular session.

The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at Mitchell Middle School.

The board is expected to review district policy 121 and policies 400 through 600 on second reading after a lengthy review at the board’s previous meeting earlier this month. Most of the discussion around the policies, which primarily deal with district financial management and procedures, centered around wording changes and minor updates.

The board will also hold its first reading for any potential changes to district policies 211 and 745.

Policy 211 deals with board of education member compensation and expenses. The policy was brought to the previous board meeting by Joe Childs, superintendent for the Mitchell School District, as a last-minute agenda item but some board members felt that such policy discussion should be reviewed only if it was included with the agenda to which the public has early access.

Childs said he had no problem with bringing the item back for the Sept. 9 meeting.

Policy 211, as it currently reads, states board members should receive a per diem for each regular and special meetings of the board, as well as a per-diem for committee meetings assigned by the board. According to the policy, board members shall receive compensation for no more than 40 per diem events per year with a total maximum annual allocation of $2,400 per board member. Those do not include reimbursement for board travel.

Policy 745 deals with criminal background checks for individuals approved for hire by the district.

In addition to the above policies, the board will also consider the readoption of existing board policies.

The board of education will also consider approval of admission prices. Childs said he recommended approving the current admission prices for the new school year. Those prices are:

• Adult, $5
• Students, $3
• Activity Pass, $40

The board will consider declaring several pieces of Mitchell High School property as surplus.

The items in question are 21 Miller Digital Elite welding helmets, which the district has estimated have no value.

Also at the meeting, the board will consider the following personnel moves:

• The new classified hires of Emma Selland, paraeducator at Longfellow Elementary, $16 per hour, 7 hours per day, effective Sept. 9; Dani Hansen, paraeducator at Mitchell High School, $16 per hour, 4 hours on Gold Days, effective Sept. 12 and Karen Stephens, paraeducator at Mitchell High School, $16 per hour, 7.25 hours per day, effective Sept. 10.
• The resignation of MacKenzie Olsen, paraeducator at Mitchell Middle School, effective Sept. 9.

Also at the meeting, the board is expected to:

• Hear board member reports.
• Hear the superintendent report, which includes a tour of Mitchell Middle School.

The meeting, which is open to the public, will be livestreamed by the Mitchell Republic on its website.

Erik Kaufman joined the Mitchell Republic in July of 2019 as an education and features reporter. He grew up in Freeman, S.D., graduating from Freeman High School. He graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1999 with a major in English and a minor in computer science. He can be reached at ekaufman@mitchellrepublic.com.