Luverne Middle School will join the First LEGO League in offering an additional after-school opportunity for students.
School board members approved the additional offering at their regular monthly meeting Sept. 24.
“We would like to get underway by Oct. 13 and meet once a week for practice,” said Middle/High School Principal Ryan Johnson.
Start-up cost for Luverne’s LEGO League program is $1,600 with estimated yearly expenditures of $1,101.
Besides the cost of an adviser ($736), the next highest cost is a start-up robotics set. Each set costs $499.
The Rock County Corn and Soybean Growers Association will sponsor the initial LEGO robot.
“The Rock County Corn and Soybean Growers Association saw this as an opportunity to support local educational efforts and share with students the many ways they can be involved in agriculture besides being a farmer,” said Lucas Peters, association president.
“This new offering should test and teach students creative engineering and robotic skills. All of the skills will be needed in the agricultural industry in the future,” he added.
As members of the First LEGO League (FLL), Luverne can send one team of 9- to 14-year-old students to compete at the regional level. Teams can have a maximum of 10 members.
In FLL the competitions involve three areas: the robotics game, a real-world project and the league’s core values.
This year’s real world project centers on trash and finding ways to lessen or improve the way people handle the trash they make.
“We have 10 kids interested in Year 1 of our LEGO league,” said adviser Bill Thompson.
He said he already has sponsors interested in purchasing additional LEGO sets as the program participation grows.
Last year, school social worker Stacy Schepel organized an after-school LEGO club at the elementary school. Expanding the LEGO offering to the middle school allows those students who started last year a way to continue working with robots, she said.
Ultimately, Thompson said he hopes to build future interest in robotics for an after-school high school program through the Minnesota High School League.
School sets maximum preliminary tax levy
Property owners within the Luverne Public School District should expect a decrease on their 2016 property tax statement for school financing.
Luverne School Board members adopted the state-formulated 11.14 percent drop as their preliminary levy amount.
“That may be adjusted or changed depending on some things that are still happening,” said Superintendent Craig Oftedahl.
The percentage may be lowered but can be no higher than the -11.14 percent, he said.
One possible change could be the impact of the district’s refinancing of the elementary school’s building bond at an interest savings of $140,500.
“It is not all recognized in one year,” Oftedahl explained after the meeting. “It will be recognized over a period of time from 2015-2018.”
Another change could occur following the public’s vote on the district’s renewal of a $763.34 per pupil referendum on Nov. 3, Oftedahl said.
With the current percentage decrease, the school district will receive $2.182 million in 2016, a drop of $273,513 from 2015.
The final levy will be set after the district’s Truth in Taxation meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 17.
In other business, the board:
•approved the hiring of Greg Harner as volunteer football coach.
•hired Kellen Schroht as the head boys’ hockey coach.
•approved a request by Amy Cook to complete a 600-hour counseling internship.