Webster Area 18-5 board approves minutes, finances, claims, sets election date and updates policies

The Webster Area 18-5 School Board approved routine items on its agenda, including minutes from previous meetings, the district's financial statements, claims and open-enrollment requests, and it set the 2026 election date.

The Chair moved to approve the agenda and later led votes to approve prior minutes and the financial statements; each motion was seconded and carried by voice vote. The board approved claims as presented, but during that discussion a committee member flagged a substantial increase in natural gas usage at the main building and the armory for October and November and asked Northwestern to investigate possible meter or reading errors. That member also announced they would abstain from the claims vote.

The board set the district election date for June 2026 and appointed a LAN representative to receive legislative updates and communicate with local legislators.

The board approved two policy changes: a minor expansion of the fixed-asset capitalization policy to explicitly include subscriptions (examples discussed included online curriculum services such as IXL) and procedural language related to dispute-resolution steps for homeless-student services, which the superintendent said would be included as a procedure referenced in the policy manual rather than as a new standalone policy.

Next steps: staff will ask Northwestern to review utility usage reports and will include the Japan trip and other action items on the January agenda as directed by the superintendent.