Votes at a glance: Little Falls board approves donations, MOUs, copier lease and personnel actions

At its April meeting the Little Falls School Board approved multiple action items by voice vote or roll call. Key outcomes:

- Donations accepted: The board accepted numerous community donations (amounts ranged from $150 to $12,000) to support state wrestling travel, care-closet funds, scholarship funds, child-care center support and extracurricular programs; Kelsey presented the list and the board approved on roll call.

- MOU with Principal's Association: The board approved an MOU preserving an elementary-principal pay track for a district transfer; Superintendent Johnson said the union raised no objections.

- Summer school MOU and substitute rates: The board approved expanded summer-school programming (use of remaining ESSER funds) and updated certified substitute daily rates (an increase to remain competitive). The summer-school MOU was approved and the substitute rates were adopted by voice vote.

- Copier lease: The board approved a five-year lease with Marco to replace 28 copiers with 21 machines, with an equipment charge of about $3,000 per month plus a per-page allotment covering maintenance. Staff will set annual quotas and restrict color printing to reduce overage costs.

- Weather cancellations: The board approved handling of March weather cancellations so students will not be required to make up those days; staff time will be used for packing/unpacking and professional development.

- Personnel: The board adopted a resolution terminating the contract of Adeline McCoy, a special-education teacher, at the close of the 2023-24 school year under cited Minnesota statute language; the resolution passed on roll call with affirmative votes recorded. The board also approved one additional early-retirement incentive request.

Many of these items were approved by voice vote; where roll-call votes occurred staff recorded affirmative votes from members present. The board did not take action to reinstate the second middle-school counseling position after a public commenter urged reconsideration.

Votes and next steps: Administration will follow up to implement the copier lease, proceed with summer programming funded by ESSER dollars, publish the adopted budget in June and coordinate logistics for personnel transitions.