Barnum sharing top positions with Willow River

In addition to half-time superintendent Bill Peel, the Barnum school district will have another staff member who will also serve the Willow River school district after July 1.

At the June 14 meeting, the board voted to hire Laura Carlson as a half-time business manager. Her position will be shared with the Willow River school district. The Barnum school district will purchase her services from Willow River like it is purchasing the services of Peel.

The business manager for the Barnum school district, Dawn Hultgren, is taking a position with the Northern Lights Special Education Cooperative. The Barnum school district will continue to host the contract for Hultgren.

The board took a look at the projected budget for the next fiscal year and noted that it is in the black.

“After having to cut three-fourths of a million dollars, we are $137,000 in the black when other school districts around this area are not able to do that,” said board member Paul Coughlin. “Thank you to everyone that had a piece of that.”

The board approved the preliminary Fiscal Year 23 budget June 14, along with the long-term facilities maintenance revenue and expenditure budgets for fiscal years 2023-2032.

The list of upcoming summer projects include elementary hall flooring, tuckpointing at the elementary school, elementary coolers and condensers, football field lighting, commons wallpaper removal and painting, painting the entry doors and cosmetic improvements in the elementary bathrooms.

Most of the funding for the projects comes from the long-term facilities maintenance funds.

Capital funds cover one project.

There was discussion about replacing the lights on the football field.

Board member Beth Dinger was concerned about spending money to replace the lights on the football field when new windows are needed. The cost of the project was estimated at between $36,000 and $90,000.

“I’m concerned about pushback from the public,” she said.

It was explained that one bank of lights has gone out, and that was mentioned by a football official. If the other bank goes out, there would be no lights on the football field, making it a safety issue.

The replacement of the lights will be done during the summer. The lights have been there since the school was built in 1982.

The board discussed changing the board meeting dates because the Willow River school board also meets on the third Tuesday of the month. As Bill Peel will be the superintendent for both school districts, he will need to be able to attend the school board meetings for both.

The board set the second Tuesday of the month as the working meeting, and the fourth Tuesday of the month as the regular board meeting. The meetings will begin at 6:30 p.m.

The next meeting of the Barnum school board is a working meeting on Tuesday, July 12, at 6:30 p.m.

Due to sharing a superintendent and a business manager with the Willow River school district, a joint powers agreement will be set up with the assistance of the Minnesota School Boards Association. A calendar will also be created to show when the people in those positions will be at each school.