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New Prague Area Schools elects officers, approves organizational items and designates Indigenous Peoples' Day as non-holiday
Summary
At an organizational meeting, the New Prague Area Schools Board of Education elected board officers, designated routine administrative vendors and policies, named the superintendent as the district's Education Identity and Access Management official, and adopted a resolution that Indigenous Peoples' Day will not be a district holiday.
The New Prague Area Schools Board of Education held an organizational session in which members elected officers, approved routine organizational designations and adopted a resolution declaring Indigenous Peoples' Day is not a district holiday.
Board members elected Kim Holden as vice chair, nominated Dan as board clerk and named Karen Steinhoff treasurer. The board also approved a slate of routine administrative items — including official depositories, designation of legal counsel and official publication venues — and authorized staff and administrators to execute routine financial transactions and contracts within the board-approved budget.
The board considered several routine governance items required at the start of the year. Superintendent Andy Volmuth was designated as the district’s identified official with authority for the Minnesota Education Identity and Access Management system (the local “I.A.O.” role described in the meeting). Board members discussed producing a pricing matrix for the district’s list of designated legal firms to increase transparency about expected hourly rates and specialties.
The board voted on a resolution, read into the record, determining that Indigenous Peoples' Day will not be a school district holiday for Independent School District 721 (New Prague Area Schools). A roll-call vote on that resolution recorded affirmative votes from board members Mark, Karen Steinhoff, Jean, Dennis, Carrie, Kim Holden and Dan; the resolution was declared passed.
Other items approved by voice vote included the designation of official district depositories (as listed on the agenda), designation of legal counsel (with the superintendent authorized to select among the approved firms for particular matters), and designation of the New Prague Times and the district website as official public notice forums. The board approved its compensation schedule as presented on the agenda ($2,475 annual board base pay, plus officer stipends of $500 for the chair and $300 each for the clerk and treasurer) and tabled a revision of committee assignments for discussion at the scheduled work session later that night.
The board also passed a resolution, citing Minnesota statute 123B.14 subdivision 1 in the motion language, designating the director of business services to perform combined clerk and treasurer duties for the district; authorized specified business-office staff to initiate electronic or paper transactions at district financial institutions; and authorized the superintendent or director of business services to execute contracts and purchase orders contained within the board-approved budget. The board approved the district records retention schedule for submission to the state. A review of board procedures and the board handbook (policy 206, public participation, and policy 209, code of ethics) was noted as a review item requiring no formal board action at this meeting.
The meeting moved into a scheduled work session after formal adjournment.
