Laporte board adopts district goals

In the summer of 1996, through some connections, I landed a part-time gig writing for two weekly newspapers: The Cass Lake (Minn.) Times and the Northwoods Press of Nevis, Minn. During the summer while I was interning at The Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer, I also wrote a number of features and covered some Laporte (Minn.) School Board meetings for these two papers. I ended up with some great stories, and received a food following among their readers.

Sept. 5, 1996

By Devlyn Brooks

The Laporte School Board adopted its list of goals for 1996-97 school year at its Aug. 26 meeting.

The goals, a suggestion offered by Superintendent Tom Behounek several weeks ago, are a way to measure the performance of the Laporte School District.

Behounek had recommended the policy, noting he had worked with it at other schools where he was employed. It is Behounek's responsibility to achieve these goals by the end of the school year. Each board member was responsible for establishing one goal.

The goals adopted by the board include:

Financial management and responsibility: The Laporte School District will continue to maintain its fiscal solvency and yet purchase the goods and services needed to provide a high quality education for students and community members.

A new monthly financial reporting system will be developed that will present a clearer financial status of the school district to the school board and patrons of the district. All legitimate invoices will be paid monthly with little or no late fee or interest charges.

The evaluation is self-explanatory, the board said.

Staff development: All staff, certified and paraprofessional, will be provided the opportunity to attend professional in-service seminars and workshops.

This will be accomplished by posting a list in the school office of all seminars and workshops to be offered.

Staff evaluation: All staff, certified and paraprofessional, will be evaluated during the school year.

This will be accomplished by periodic evaluations that will be performed on the staff and compiled in the school office.

Also as an evaluation, it was hoped by the board all Laporte students would pass the Minnesota Graduation Standards test, which would demonstrate how well the staff has performed.

Discipline: All aspects of the discipline code, including respect for others, appropriate language and dress, elimination of roughhousing and improper public displays of affection will be enforced at all times.

This will be evaluated by monitoring the number of detentions and in-school suspensions issued during the 1996-97 school year.

Curriculum: The pre-kindergarten through 12th grade curriculum will be revised and completed.

This will be evaluated by a completion date, which was established for June 30, 1998.

School climate: The LaPorte school will continue to promote an atmosphere for students which is safe, orderly and enables the best possible quality education for its students and patrons.

This will be evaluated by establishing a climate or quality instrument that will be administered during the 1996-97 school year to establish the baseline data and again during the 1997-98 school year to use for comparison.

Parental involvement: The board will encourage parental involvement at all times.

This will be evaluated by monitoring parental attendance at parent/teacher conferences, school open houses, and the level of parental volunteerism.

IN OTHER ACTION, THE BOARD:

APPROVED the payment of August's bills pending approval by board members Karla Hadrava and Sharon Shuster.

APPROVED the purchase of a computer software program that will computerize students' health records.

TABLED a discussion on a proposal that would establish a soccer club under the auspices of the Laporte School District.

APPROVED high school, elementary and teacher handbooks with a notation to make changes to gender-specific words in next year's editions.

APPROVED tentatively, a new job description for the school office secretary position pending a review by the board's personnel committee.

TABLED discussions on the hiring of a custodial position and a head boys' basketball coaching position. However, the board did discuss job descriptions and requirements of custodians hired by the district.

ACCEPTED requests of six students to transfer into the Laporte School District. Two students are from Cass Lake, and four students are from Bemidji.

DISCUSSED two issues for which it was suggested the district amend current policies or develop new policies.

The first was a discussion on how much people who transport children to other districts should be paid. Current policy states people receive mileage and an hourly rate. It was suggested to create a policy stating people would only receive mileage.

The second was a discussion of a policy that would only allow school purchased computer disks and programs to be used on school computers. Members of the board feel something should be enacted to protect the school's computers from viruses.

DISCUSSED the purchase of a new set of bleachers. Behounek was asked to price what a new set of aluminum bleachers would cost.

DISCUSSED the possibility of a new detention policy. The current policy states detention will be served after school on weekdays. One suggestion was made that detention be served on Saturday mornings instead.