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Votes at a glance: Brookings School District board approves calendars, agreements and committee appointments
Summary
The Brookings School District board approved a package of routine business and contracts at its February meeting, including calendars, memoranda of understanding and appointments.
The Brookings School District 05-1 Board of Education approved several routine and project-related items at its February meeting.
Votes at a glance
- Approve meeting agenda: Passed (mover/second not specified in transcript).
- Approve consent agenda: Passed (motion and second recorded; details of roll-call not specified).
- Approve donated items: Passed (donations for disability awareness campaign and esports; donors not fully itemized in transcript).
- Approve 2025-26 and 2026-27 school calendars: Passed. The administration described the calendar-development process, noting community and staff surveys, efforts to balance semester lengths, and a change to move high-school graduation to an earlier date for at least two years. The board approved the two-year calendar.
- Approve agreement with Ivy Bay Valley Bailey to pursue energy rebates: Passed (see separate coverage). The board was told potential rebates could be "upwards of $400,000" and consultant fees would be contingent on realized awards.
- Approve memorandum of understanding with Dakota Wesleyan University for student teachers: Passed. The MOU formalizes placement of Dakota Wesleyan student teachers in district classrooms.
- Approve participation in the Eastern South Dakota Food Buying Group for 2025-26: Passed (standard membership renewal).
- Approve memorandum of understanding with Rising Hope Counseling to provide in-school counseling services for students: Passed. Board members noted the MOU was revised following review and that the agreement is designed to reduce barriers (such as transportation) to counseling services.
- Approve negotiations schedule: Passed. The board set Wednesday, April 16, 2025, as a date for negotiations with the Brookings Education Association.
- Appoint board representatives to the Board of Equalization: Passed. Appointments were made for several dates in March; board members volunteered to attend specified sessions.
- Move into executive session pursuant to South Dakota codified law 1-25-2(4): Passed. The board voted to enter executive session under the cited statute; the transcript indicates an executive session followed.
Context and notes
Board members also received reports from standing committees (facilities, policy and governance, finance) and ad hoc groups (Brookings Child Care Collaborative, Brookings School District Foundation). Highlights included ongoing facility negotiations related to the Fifth Street Gym property (administration said legal reviews are still ongoing and declined to name the interested entity because of state law constraints) and updates from child care and foundation work.
Presentations during the meeting included community recognitions (teacher "best" awards), a donation presentation by the Brookings chapter of the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC) reporting two-year fundraising of $4,340 to help negative lunch account balances, and a student FCCLA update on projects and competitions.
Where vote tallies are not recorded in the public transcript, outcomes are reported as stated ("passed" or "motion passes"). The transcript did not include roll-call vote counts for the listed motions.
