Nicollet school board accepts bid to remove fuel storage tank

By RACHEL WEDDIG

Journal Staff Writer

NICOLLET -- The Nicollet school board voted unanimously Wednesday to accept the bid from B&H Petroleum Company to remove and replace the school's underground fuel tank for $25,655.84.

Superintendent John Hornung said the tank needed to be removed because it doesn't pass health and safety codes.

The company will remove the current fuel tank and put in a new 4,000 gallon fiberglass tank. Hornung said the district currently has $7,000 available in health and safety dollars to help with the costs.

The board voted unanimously to sell the old school gym. During a board inservice meeting Tuesday, board members walked around the old gym and decided that the gym is no longer safe to use. Hornung cited reasons such as mold, dust, air quality and ceiling leaks as reasons the gym is no longer safe to use.

The board said it would be best to padlock the old gym as soon as possible because personnel still have keys to get into the gym and Hornung said the ceiling is so deteriorated in one corner he's afraid it may cave in.

Legislative update

The board members also received a legislative update at the board meeting.

Hornung presented new information from the Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning regarding levy referendum information.

In the district's case the total levy is projected to decrease by $941,693.00, which is a decrease of 60.92 percent. The decreases are $687,406.38 for state determined general education and $251,967.11, a decrease of 62.67 percent, for the voter approved market referendum.

The reduction in the state determined levy is a result of the past legislation to "take over" the basic general education portion of the formula.The tax rate for the voter approved referendum will decline and as a result the projected taxes to support the district's current referendum of $577.81 per pupil on a property with a market value of $100,000 are projected to decrease from $280.36 to $193.81.

If the district wanted to increase its referendum to the revised statutory cap of $837.38, the resulting tax rate would be .00289945 and the projected tax on a $100,000 property would be $289.95, an increase of $9.59. Given this action, the district's total taxes would decrease $867,228.83, a decrease of 56.10 percent.

At the July board meeting Hornung reported that the district will receive $167,411 less in its general fund than last year for the 2001-2002 school year. However, in the 2002-2003 year, the district will receive $23,000 more than they will receive for the 2001-2002 school year.

The board hasn't approved an excess levy referendum for the fall.

Principal Gregg Allen proposed updates and changes to the school's student and faculty handbook. Allen is requiring that by second semester all teachers must have posted their course outlines, lesson plans and homework assignments on the district's webpage to help keep parents informed of what their children are learning in school.

Allen also requested that instead of Fridays being "casual dress day" for faculty, he wants Fridays to be Raider Day. Faculty can wear Nicollet Raider clothing or wear blue for the teams' colors. Allen said businesses seem to be shying away from Fridays as casual days because it doesn't look well when businesses clients are better dressed than the employees.

Another change is elementary and high school students will receive different handbooks. Allen said this is confusing for students to know which rules apply to them and two different handbooks will help eliminate the problem.

One minute was added to each period and 10 minutes was subtracted from students' lunch period for the school year. This was done because board members felt students had too much time for lunch and it was beginning to cause some problems. Adding one minute to each period and subtracting 10 minutes from the lunch period won't change the school's starting and ending times.

The next board meeting is scheduled for Sept. 19 at 6:30 p.m. in Nicollet High School.