By Lexi MooreHills-Beaver Creek School District honored its paraprofessional workers last week during Minnesota Paraprofessional Recognition Week.Paraprofessionals fill many important roles at the H-BC Elementary School and High School, and teachers and administrators say these individuals make their jobs easier."We have a great group," superintendent David Deragisch said at Monday’s School Board meeting. "They do an outstanding job – day in and day out."Elementary principal Todd Holthaus said he’s proud of the work the group did last year to become certified under new No Child Left Behind laws.The new law requires all paraprofessionals working at a school to be certified. Certification is awarded after completing testing and attending several workshops or seminars."We really couldn’t do it without them," Holthaus said. "They make our school better." Enrollment review:Deragisch presented the School Board with enrollment numbers for the second half of the year, compared to where the numbers were on Sept. 8.Enrollment at the elementary school lost two students for a total of 140. The high school lost four students, bringing that total to 162.Overall, Deragisch said he’s not concerned with the loss of six students."We are still way ahead in student totals when you look at where we were projected to be five years ago – we are holding our own."He also said Holthaus expects to have a strong 20 coming into kindergarten next year.School Board Election Changes:On Monday, the board began looking at election options for future elections because of new state election mandates that would be costly to the school.In the past, the district has held board elections on odd years, in order to call more local attention to the elections. Typically, in odd years, there are few national, state and local elections, giving the school district plenty of room to make candidates known in the community.Due to new state requirements for using standardized counting and voting machines at all polling places, the district is considering moving its elections to even years.This will allow H-BC’s candidates’ names to appear on the ballot with national, state, county and local elections. This will save the district from having to pay for an entire election out of its budget.With the current system, the district pays for election judges and little else. The election takes place at the high school with handwritten ballots.Meeting the standards of the new system would require the district to pay for the ballots, the use of the new automatic counter and automatic marker machines, judges and an additional handicap-accessible machine. Deragisch estimates this bill could total nearly $10,000.He presented the board with a solution that would change the year of the school board elections to even years, giving the district the option to use local machines and ballots, with nearly zero cost to the district. To change the year of the elections, the board would need to adopt a resolution establishing a transition plan.If the board decides to adopt the resolution, members would add a year to their terms. Board members who would have been up for re-election in 2007 would have their terms extended to 2008, while board members elected last November would not be up for re-election until 2010.The board will vote on this resolution in February or March, giving time for community members to voice their opinions on the matter.Dates to Remember:
Report cards were mailed to parents on Friday, Jan. 20.
Thursday, Feb. 2, will be H-BC skating night for elementary students at the H-BC gym. There will be a DJ, door prizes and food available.
Monday, Feb. 6, will be Family Reading Night at H-BC Elementary.Policy News:H-BC School Board members heard the first reading of three policies. The board will vote to accept or deny the new versions of policies 529, 530 and 532 at the board meeting on Feb. 13.
Policy 529 deals with staff notification of violent behavior by students. It states that the school is required to notify any staff or paraprofessionals working directly with a student who was violent in the past year.Violent behavior includes damage to the building or property or harming a school employee.
Policy 530 states that the school district requires proof of immunizations for communicable diseases as a condition of enrollment.
The purpose of policy 532 is to describe the appropriate use of peace officers and crisis teams to remove a student with an individualized education program from the school grounds.
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