BLUE EARTH– It is possible that some Blue Earth Area High School students might be studying science in a very different location than Blue Earth, Minnesota. The Bahamas. BEA science teacher Julie Ackerman gave a presentation to the BEA School Board on Monday night during their regular meeting, about a field course in tropical geology she is interested in pursuing. Ackerman spent the last week of June and first week of July on San Salvador Island in the Bahamas at a field station. There she learned about the study of the natural sciences going on at the station. “Ideally I would like to create a field course, and take students, mainly juniors, to the field station,” she told the board. “It would be ideally a max of eight students.” There would be an application process and the cost associated with the trip would be $2,100 per student, she explained. That would cover the airfare, and the stay for the week. BEA superintendent Mandy Fletcher said they have been looking at ways to get the word out to families about this possibility. Board members had a few questions about the possible field course project, and did not take an actual vote on it at this time. In other business at the meeting, the board also released the results of the evaluation of superintendent Fletcher, which was completed at a work session before the regular meeting. Fletcher received a 3.5 out of 4 in one area dealing with creating district structure, 3.0 out of 4 in a second area of providing leadership to create and strengthen school, family and community relationships and a 3.7 out of 4 in the third area of visibility and approachability. In her report, Fletcher noted that they would be having a therapy dog at Blue Earth Area Schools this fall. “Sara Albrecht and her dog Frankie successfully completed the therapy dog training,” Fletcher reported. “Frankie will be coming to school a couple of days a week, and mainly be in Sara’s classroom this first year.” Fletcher also noted that federal funding for having free meals for all students, which started during the pandemic, has come to an end, so families interested in the free and reduced lunch program need to fill out the proper forms to qualify for that program again. The board also took care of quite a few personnel matters, including: — Approval of new hire Joselynn Moore (special education teacher; approved resignations of Sara Fredrickson (K-7 Media Center paraprofessional), Stay Haase (K-7 Media Center paraprofessional), Sarah Ferguson (middle school administrative assistant), Morgan Beyer (math teacher), Luke Beyer (elementary teacher) and Robyn Johnson (K-7 paraprofessional); approved contracts for Sara Fredrickson (Library Media specialist/ Media Center Department head) and Brenda Millmann (Community Engagement coordinator); approved retirement for Charlene Thompson (K-7 paraprofessional).