Brenda Wade Schmidt
Enterprise
The Flandreau School Board has approved a $9.28 million budget for the 2018-19 school year, less than a 2 percent increase over last year.
Next year’s budget for all expenses compares to $9.11 million last school year.
The district will spend $5.14 million in its general fund budget which includes teacher and other staff salaries, operational services, library services, technology, transportation and activities. The budget is a $91,951 increase over the 2017 school year and includes one additional teacher because the district is turning a position that taught English Language Learners and special education into two separate jobs which have been filled for the coming year.
The district’s capital outlay budget increased from $1.45 million last year to $1.49 million this coming fall and includes $275,000 this year that will be transferred to the general operating fund.
Board members offered little discussion and no community members spoke about the budget, which hadn’t changed from the preliminary numbers presented by Superintendent Rick Weber last month. The meeting also included the swearing in of new school board members Jamie Hemmer and Kevin Christenson and returning board member Brian “Pedro” Johnson, the election of school board officers and other official designations typically made when the board is reorganized each July.
Board members elected Tom Stenger as chairman, replacing Darren Hamilton. Johnson will continue as vice chairman.
In other business,

•Board members approved the district purchase the $6,000 in equipment required to join LiveTicket.tv, a network that provides webcasting in South Dakota. There is no annual fee to join, but the district will need to operate the equipment at games and provide an announcer, if it wants one. The network will sell advertising, and the district may receive dividends back.
Weber said he was familiar with the service because he has helped use it in Colome, where his son coaches. The former Cube network switched May 1 to the NFHS Network, which is more expensive than Live.Ticket.tv.
•The board approved a wrestling cooperative with Colman-Egan High School, which will have at least one student wrestling in Flandreau next year. The coop will keep the Flandreau Fliers name and will be coached by a Flandreau coach with practice in Flandreau.
Wrestling numbers show the team will have about 10 athletes in grades 7-12 this coming year and possibly a dozen the following year. Colman-Egan does not offer wrestling and the district will pay Flandreau $250 for each athlete that goes out for wrestling with a limit of $1,000.
The plan will next need approval by the South Dakota High School Activities Association.
•After looking at whether the district should replace Lunchtime Solutions as its food service provider, board members considered bids by that company and Thrive. Lunchtime Solutions was the best financial option, board members said.
Kari Burggraff, one of two board members who looked over the contract offers, said she really had hoped to change companies in order to keep Lunchtime Solutions on its toes, but she couldn’t justify the cost difference.
The district serves 86,700 meals a year over 170 serving days. On average, 510 people participated each day.
School meal prices will not change next year. Breakfast will cost $.30 for those receiving reduced prices and $1.70 for those paying full price. Lunches are $.40 at reduced cost and $2.80 at full pay for K-5 students and $2.90 for students in grades 6-12. An extra entre is $1.65 and an extra branded pizza is $1.90.
•The board approved that an open forum for community members who want to comment on items not on the agenda will be 15 minutes long with each person limited to three minutes, and it will be offered toward the beginning of the meeting. No action will be taken on the items brought up by the public because they are not on the public agenda.
•A representative for the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe asked that board members approve a grant application that would give money toward expanding programs for Native American children in school. The grant could be worth between $375,000 and $500,000 a year for three years and if awarded, would be used to hire a liaison to help promote better understanding of Native American culture in school and to provide teacher training.
In addition, the tribe wants to use part of the money to offer a Dakota language class in high school. At first, the class may have to be an elective, but work is being done at the state level to approve Dakota language classes as meeting the graduation requirement for a foreign language.
•The board will hear a third reading next month of a seclusion and restraint policy that says the district will notify parents of an incident requiring restraint or seclusion within the school day, if possible. In addition, no employee will use prone restraint, or pressure to any part of a student’s body to keep the student in a face-down position except is necessary, reasonable and moderate. No student will be placed in involuntary confinement in a locked room alone unless there is a clear danger.
•Weber said the school activities sign in the Maynard’s parking lot has been fixed.
•The district will be going out for bids to repair the penthouse over the elementary with a bid opening on Aug. 9.
• The board acknowledged the nine years of service for departing school board members Trish LeBrun and Matt Lacey, who was absent.
•The board accepted the resignations of Marissa Stone, elementary counselor, and Justin Kelm, assistant track coach. Instead, Kelm was hired as assistant golf coach. Other hires included Kari Lena as the middle school/high school counselor and Lucinda O’Connell as the speech language pathologist assistant.
•The district has received $201,500 from the Vernon H. Lee and Elizabeth A. Lee Trust for use for student scholarships. A committee will be set up to decide on the parameters of the scholarship.