News

School Board holds November meeting

By Scott Wagar

11/26/2013

The Bottineau School Board held a meeting on Nov. 18 where the board members opened fuel bids, voted on a new vice chair, discussed survey questions that will be sent out to those who voted in the referendum on Nov. 5 and evaluated Superintendent Jason Kersten’s performance.

FUEL BIDS

The school board received two bids for 7,000 gallons of fuel, which included the Bottineau Farmers Elevator at $3.69 per gallon and Northern Fuel Partners at $3.84. The board voted to accept Bottineau Farmers Elevator’s bids.

VICE CHAIR
 
Paul Olson was chosen as the new vice-chair for the school board. Olson replaces Larry Brooks, who was named the president of the board after Dr. Mark Pewe resigned his position on the school board earlier this month due to personal reasons.

Olson has been a school board member for six years and currently chairs the Budget and Finance Committee. He has also been a member of the Curriculum/Student Activities and Evaluation Personal/Policy Committees.

REFERENDUM SURVEY
 
With the referendum being voted down during the school’s vote for the construction of a new elementary school, the school board held a special meeting on Nov. 11 and made the decision to mail out survey questions to those residents in the school district who voted.
Individuals, who did not vote, but wish to participate in the survey, can go to the school’s website at http://www.bottineau.k12.nd.us/under the Facilities Master Plan tab. Once at the survey, follow the directions.

SUPERINTENDENT SURVEY

The school board members conducted its quarterly evaluation on Kersten’s performance as the school district’s superintendent. The board evaluates Kersten in ten areas.  The questions were as follows:

1.  Relationship with the School Board
2.  Relationship with the Community
3.  Recruitment/Retention of Staff
4.  Relationship with Students and Parents
5.  Supervision of Licensed and Non-Licensed Staff
6.  Identification and Implementation of School Board Policy Needs
7.  Financial Management Skills
8.  Educational Leadership
9.  Effective Records Management
10.  Supervision of Building and Grounds, Transportation and Student Safety

The board approved Kersten’s evaluation with a 6-0 approval rate in each category.