×

New resource officer offers update at GHEC

GRANADA — The Granada-Huntley-East Chain School Board heard an update Thursday from Chris Gerhardt, the school’s new resource officer.

Gerhardt noted his job represents the first time the Martin County Sheriff’s Office has designated a deputy to work as a SRO, and also the first time GHEC has had one. He thanked the board for funding the position. He also described some early projects.

“We did a plain-clothed saturation at the beginning of the school year, focusing on if the students drive recklessly out of the property, if they stop at the stop signs, wear their seat belts or drive distracted,” Gerhardt said.

He said that out of 15 students, he only observed one who was driving distracted, so he spoke with the student. Overall, he was pleased with students’ behavior behind the wheel.

Gerhardt also has brought in experts on school safety, then trained students and staff. And he conducted an exterior safety check of the building.

He worked with staff to create a drug recognition impairment intervention training, in which he educated staff on the signs of a student being under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

“I’m going to continue to work on our relationship with the superintendent and principal so we can work together to address any needs that emerge throughout the school year between students or staff,” Gerhardt said.

In other news, Brian Mittelstadt, the district’s finance director, went through the Truth-in-Taxation hearing. He said property taxes at GHEC will rise 1.3 percent for the 2019 payable 2020 tax levy.

The 2019-2020 budget is just over $5 million, or not much different than last year’s, he said. Staffing represents the biggest change.

“We gained two full-time administrators, a school resource officer, and two or three additional staff members, so we knew going into this year that our staff expenditures would be significantly higher,” Mittelstadt said.

“Approximately 68 percent of total revenue comes from state aid,” he noted. “Twenty-eight percent or so comes from local taxes, which is probably higher than average.”

Mittelstadt explained that a school district tax levy is either set by state formula or voter-approved. The main variables that cause property tax increases or decreases include change in market values and changes in property tax credits.

Moving to other matters, Superintendent Doug Storbeck gave a brief report, speaking about a new program at GHEC called “Mission Monday.”

“It’s just little things we’re having our students do. We present them on Mondays and it’s their mission for the week,” Storbeck said.

Starting out, students have been doing simple things such as saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to staff.

Storbeck said they have missions for teachers to share positive stories about students with other staff members.

“The idea behind this is to portray and spread positive rumors,” he said. “With time, I’d like to start a weekly podcast for Granada-Huntley-East Chain. My ultimate goal is to do a weekly podcast where I interview teachers or students and ask them what’s going on in our school.”

In other news, it was announced that board member Bob Garry will be recognized Jan. 16 at the Minnesota School Board Association Leadership Conference for his 20 years of service.

In other action, the board:

o Approved Mandy Farrow as the high school knowledge bowl coach for the 2019-20 school year.

o Approved Jenn Schall as a long-term substitute paraprofessional.

o Approved Keri Murphy as the National Honor Society director for the 2019-20 school year.

o Approved Monique Brockman as a high school English teacher, effective Jan. 20

o Accepted the resignation of Zac Huntley as IT coordinator, effective Jan. 31.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.65/week.

Subscribe Today