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September 10, 1999
District 88 board names planning consultantSelection of Minneapolis firm SGN paves way for first Long RangePlanning Task Forcesession later this monthBy ERIC SERRANO Journal Staff Writer NEW ULM -- District 88 school board members Thursday took one more step toward laying down the groundwork for the future of the district by hiring a consultant to help formulate those plans. The board unanimously approved the hiring of the Minneapolis firm of Smiley, Glotter, Nyberg Architects, Inc. (SGN) to serve as a consultant for the district's Long Range Planning Task Force, still being developed, but due to hold its first session Sept. 20. The SGN presentation, which included architects, educational planners, and a former Minnesota Department of Education official, offered the board a glimpse of its services by focusing on ways in which the firm could aid the task force with establishing a plan for meeting curriculum and facilities needs in the coming decade. The board unanimously selected SGN, the third and final group to offer its consulting services. Minnesota State University, Mankato professor Dr. Prudence Gushwa withdrew her offer to help the task force, citing her weighty teaching workload. Another Minneapolis architectural firm, DLR, who worked with the last long range planning group, focused too heavily on facilities issues for some board members. "DLR seemed to feel there was just one answer (facilities). But, (SGN) seemed to show there might be more than one answer (to the district's future needs)," board member Gene Forstner told his colleagues. Board member Brian Wieland said he initially had reservations about the need for hiring a consultant to the planning project, feeling Superintendent Harold Remme and other district administrators could handle the job, but revised his opinion when he examined Remme's present workload. "I also like the way (SGN) put curriculum needs first, then looked at our buildings," Wieland said. SGN also offered a lower fee, $6,000 in total, for their services than did DLR, who tendered an offer of $9,500. The task force membership will be comprised of all seven school board members; each of the district's administrators, including Business Manager Donna Luhring and Curriculum Director Bill Sprung; eight district staff members (Joel Boehlke is the only staffer yet to be named); and ten members of the community at large of which eight have submitted names for consideration: Anne Donnelly-Rieke, Bruce Fenske, Tori Gronholz, Rosemarie Lewis, Susan Nierengarten, Sheldon Rieke, Ruth Scholtz, and Tracie Vranich. In other business, the board: * Unanimously, approved a new two-year contract with the district's 23 custodians and maintenance employees. Wieland, head of the district's negotiations committee, recommended the board OK the new master agreement which represents a 4.1 percent increase in each of the contract's two years, or a hike of $53,702.10 over the previous agreement. That brings the number of district's settled contract talks to four, including agreements with food service workers, individual contracts, and administrators. Still to be settled are contracts with district clerical staff, para-professional support staff, and the district's 190.8 full-time equivalent members of the teacher's union. * Received an update on the progress of a change from a junior high school to a middle school approach, from New Ulm Middle School Principal Steven Webber. Webber told the board initials plans to begin the change with just seventh graders this year was expanded to include the eighth grade for simplicity. Webber also offered the board a suggestion for a change in the student advancement policy at the middle school to incorporate the change from a trimester to semester grading system. * Approved a one-year renewal of an agreement with the City of New Ulm naming the New Ulm Police Department as the administrator of the D.A.R.E Program. * Unanimously approved the hiring of an additional special education assistant at Washington Elementary School.
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