FAIRMONT–The Fairmont School Board held its second meeting for the month of March on Tuesday. During the meeting the board unanimously approved a revised budget for the current school year.

The updated budget is largely in line with the budget passed by the district last summer but makes some modifications due to unexpected issues with the elementary school’s boiler system which were not covered by insurance, increased costs for vehicle replacements and higher expenditures for staff development.

Altogether these expenses warranted an increase of $498,500. During the budget discussion Superintendent Andy Traetow noted this past year the district had lowered its operating expenses by $600,000 for the 2023 fiscal year as it plans for the expiration of pandemic era financial assistance. Traetow also highlighted the performance of Jessica Korte, the district’s new business manager.

“I want to commend Jessica on her learning curve over the last five months. She’s done a fantastic job going to every training she possibly can and getting a handle on the revised budget,” said Traetow.

In Traetow’s report he noted the district is going forward with its plan to extend the school year due to an unexpected amount of snow days. Classes will now be held on June 5 and 6 which were designated as snow day make up days in the current school calendar. Traetow noted the committee responsible for creating next year’s calendar had met on March 20. At this meeting the committee reviewed feedback from staff and drafted a final calendar which will go through one more review before it is presented to the board.

Traetow also presented a summarized buildings and grounds update which detailed the state of several projects. The district approved a contract to re-do spectator sports entrances at Fairmont High School. Work on the facilities is expected to begin on June 12 and conclude on Aug. 25. There are also plans to resurface its tennis courts and track.

The superintendent included no updates regarding health and safety.

Later in the meeting, Board Member Nicole Green provided an update on an abnormally busy meeting of the district’s operations committee.

“This meeting lasted three hours because we had 19 items on the agenda. I think it’s the longest agenda I’ve seen in my life,” said Green.

During the meeting the committee discussed the school’s recent snow days, building leases, replacing school vehicles and contracts for school pictures.

Board member Mari Myren also reported on the board meeting with representatives of the sixth grade student council last week. During the meeting the board heard several proposals from the council, most notably regarding microwaves being placed in cafeterias for students that want to reheat packed lunches. This was the first time the board had met with elementary school student government in several years due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In other business, the board:

— Accepted donations of $10,000 from the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) to provide resiliency classes to early childhood parents and children, $100 from the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation for the high school general fund and a donation of $7,000 from American Legion Post to provide support for the high school Robotics World Championship.

— Approved contracts of John Kesselring as a long term substitute teacher, spring athletic coaches and Amanda Brezina as a high school science teacher.

— Voted not to renew contracts for probationary teacher Bianca Nagel and Chelsey Jensen.

— Approved the resignations of elementary art teacher Helena Johnson, elementary ed teacher Claire Hagstrom, community outreach coordinator Natanael Moreno, elementary paraprofessional Alexis Johnson and high school science teacher Nicole Kesselring.