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Winona Area Public Schools: key votes and approvals at June board meeting
Summary
The Winona Area Public Schools Board approved a group of policies and personnel actions, ratified a three‑year maintenance/operations contract, accepted donations, and approved insurance renewals. The board treated a recommendation to raise graduation credits as informational and set a fall timeline for further work.
At its regular meeting, the Winona Area Public Schools Board took multiple formal actions including policy approvals, personnel recommendations and contract ratifications.
Items approved by board voice votes or roll call - Policies (action items grouped): Approved School Health Services (Policy 596), Curriculum Development (Policy 603) and School District Testing Plan and Procedure (Policy 614). The board approved the three policies in a single motion; no individual dissent was recorded on the public voice vote. - Junior student school board representative: The board approved the recommendation of the Board Operations Committee and appointed Tegan Brzezinski as the junior student school board representative for the 2025–26 school year following an interview process and a motion by Director Hanratty; the board then administered the oath of office. - Minnesota State High School League membership resolution: The board adopted the 2025–26 resolution delegating interscholastic athletics supervision to the Minnesota State High School League and certifying the delegation to the State Commissioner of Education as provided under Minnesota statute 128C.001. One director expressed opposition in principle but the motion carried. - High school principal appointment: The board approved the superintendent’s recommendation to appoint Nathan Wiernicki as principal of Winona Senior High School. Some directors voiced concern about the level of board input in administrative hiring processes while also supporting the recommended candidate. - Planned operations and maintenance employees unit contract: The board ratified a three‑year contract with the planned operations and maintenance unit that includes a 3 percent wage increase each year, a $600 career increment after year 15, increased sick‑leave buyback days for employees with large balances, clarified overtime rules, expansion of comp‑time accrual to 60 hours and changes to probationary time; the district estimated the three‑year cost at about $378,000 with year‑one cost of roughly $69,000 and a near‑term budget impact of about 0.08% of fund balance. - Insurance and risk items: The board approved renewal of workers’ compensation coverage and renewed liability and cyber insurance; the liability/cyber renewal carried a 2.2 percent change noted by staff. - Donations: By roll call the board accepted donations totaling $88,663.97 earmarked across programs (field trips, PTO funds, FFA banquet support, foundation grants and other school activities).
Items presented for information or briefing - Health services annual report: Presented as information by the district nurse and placed on the record for board reference; no action taken. - Long‑term facilities maintenance (LTFM) 10‑year plan: Presented as a briefing; staff said the plan will return to the board for action at the July meeting and noted a new state allowance to levy for roofing beginning in fiscal 2027.
Votes and movers: Several approvals were by voice vote (ayes recorded) and not a full roll‑call in the transcript; donations acceptance was adopted by roll call with all members present voting yes. Where the transcript provided a mover or seconder, it is recorded in the meeting minutes and the board passed the motions.
The board treated the graduation‑requirements recommendation as informational and requested additional analysis before possible future action.
