Verndale School Board: Schwartz and Rurup join the board
by Trinity Gruenberg
The Verndale School Board held their regular meeting on January 4. New Board Members Tahna Rurup and Jeremy Schwartz and the rest of the board took the oath of office.
Bill Blaha was elected board chair, vice-chair is Shyla Hess, the clerk is Chris Youngbauer, and treasurer is Scott Veronen.
Meetings remain the first Monday of the month, other than summer months are the second Monday of the month with no meetings in July, with a new time at 6 p.m. Board members took committee assignments. Board compensation remains the same as last year.
Superintendent Paul Brownlow reviewed the financials explaining COVID funds from the state and county have been expended on items such as PPE, sanitizer, floor scrubber, etc.
They also looked at curriculum pieces such as Ipads for distance learning. Food service showed a slight increase and everyone is eating for free through June. They will be purchasing a dishwasher. School funds are holding steady as the COVID relief funds are offsetting the loss from declining enrollment.
They decided not to offer the early retirement incentive for teachers this year due to the teacher shortage and the pandemic. . .