If we are going to be a twenty-first century school, and by the way we are a quarter of the way through the twenty-first century, it would be nice if some of the outdated ways operating schools would be set aside.”

Treasurer Mark Zuzek

To watch the full school board meeting, visit Hastings Community Television’s YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/@HastingsCommunityTV

The Sept. 25 ISD 200 school board meeting brought a set of fresh faces as the student board members joined their elected counterparts at the table. The student board members are a new addition to the school board and will be responsible for reporting on the activities of the various schools throughout the district at each meeting with their first reports to be presented in October.
The new student school board members are Victoria Steinke, reporting on the Hastings Middle School, Jenevieve Behnke reporting on Kennedy and Pinecrest Elementary Schools, Briseis Rusnacko reporting on Hastings High School and Tilden, and Aidan Suarez Garcia reporting on McAuliffe Elementary School and the Hastings Area Learning Center (ALC).
Each high school student took the oath of office at the meeting before taking their seat at the table and introducing themselves to the audience.

Data requests
A topic of specific focus within the district in the last few months has been data requests. Currently there are five ongoing data requests being worked on at the district, one of which is the extensive 115,000-email anonymous data request regarding the policy committee, which has already cost the district “several thousand dollars and many hours of time,” according the MSBA resolution discussed at the Sept. 10 special meeting. Two new data requests were received in the last month, but these align with the more traditional use of the function, regarding contract negotiations.
According to the presentation at the meeting, despite ongoing work on these five requests, there have been no legal bills regarding data requests in the last month.

Policy Committee
Changes to district policy 520 regarding student surveys was pushed to the November work session where “district administration will be there to be experts in the room to give us guidance on that policy,” said Vice Chair Jessica Dressely.
The changes to the policy discussed in the Tuesday, Sept. 10 work session included having parents and guardians opt students in to surveys that discuss “student’s or the student’s parent(s) or guardian(s) personal beliefs or practices in sex, family life, morality and religion,” rather than having students opted in with the option of being opted out by a parent or guardian.
Chair Carrie Tate referenced the state surveys from the Minnesota Department of Health as one example of surveys that contain these types of questions with the possibility of separating out questions not about these issues so as to better preserve the district’s and state’s ability to gather information.
The school board will discuss this issue at the Nov. 7 work session.
The board is also planning on finalizing and implementing the new cell phone policy by March 15, 2025, according to Dressely.

MSBA Board Member Resolutions
The school board also discussed two Minnesota School Board Association (MSBA) Board Member Resolutions concerning seat time and the rule of 90. Both resolutions were brought before the board by Director Matt Bruns. MSBA board member resolutions are resolutions to have the MSBA lobby state legislature on behalf of school districts.
The first resolution urged the state legislature to “limit seat time requirements for students to earn credits necessary for graduation to allow districts to be innovative and purposeful in meeting student needs,” according to the resolution by Bruns.
Seat time is the requirement that students spend a certain amount of time in a class in order to earn credits. The resolution seeks to replace some seat time requirements with a competency-based education system, “where students advance based on their demonstration of knowledge and skills rather than their time spent in class,” according to the resolution.
“If we are going to be a twenty-first century school, and by the way we are a quarter of the way through the twenty-first century, it would be nice if some of the outdated ways operating schools would be set aside,” said Treasurer Mark Zuzek.
The board voted unanimously in favor of the resolution.
The second resolution proposed by Bruns argued to “restore the pension requirements for Minnesota educators to be in line with Rule 90,” according to the resolution. The rule of 90 is a formula for calculating teacher’s age of retirement with full pension.
“This is important work when we think about recruiting and retaining staff,” especially given District 200’s proximity to other states that still have this rule implemented, said Bruns.
Superintendent Champa spoke to the costs of the reimplementation of this rule. She specifically referenced attending a “statistical analysis that really dug into what it would take to bring this back, and it was cost prohibitive for the state.”
The board voted 6-1 against the resolution, with Bruns the only supporter.
To watch the full school board meeting, visit Hastings Community Television’s YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/@HastingsCommunityTV