The Prescott School Board meeting on Feb. 21 began with comments from a grateful life-long Prescott resident and parent Julie Ryan.

“I just wanted to say thank you to entire Prescott School District,” Ryan said. “My son had life altering surgery yesterday and the entire district, every schoolteacher, everyone, especially in this company has allowed him to be himself and I'm forever grateful. So, thank you.”

Good news

Student Representative Mckenzie Hegland shared good news about recent school activities.

“I know forensics and basketball are doing really well in their seasons,” Hegland reported. “For wrestling, Nolan Tomlin just went off to state, congrats to him. The cance team won state for jazz, and we were pom runner ups. The varsity acapella choir attended the ICA competition as quarterfinalists.”

Malone Elementary Building Principal Sarah Dusek gave an update on summer school registration which is open on March 4.

Afton Apple Donation

Malone Parent Committee member Sarah Femling Parkos from Afton Apple was next to stand up and share good news about their family owned and operated farm.

“We have been chosen as the 2023 farm family of the year in Washington County,” said Parkos. “The University of Minnesota farm family recognition program honors farm families from throughout Minnesota for their significant contributions to the agriculture industry and their local communities. We are so proud to be a part of the community and be able to do what we'd love to do.

“We started organizing school field trips setting up the coordinates, creating our kitchen menu and finalizing plans for our annual apple festivals. It seemed like something was missing. But if we couldn't quite figure out what that might be. Well, one of our dreams finally came true. We were approached by Oscar Meyer asking to have their iconic Wienermobile visit our orchard that was out of all the places they could visit in the area. They chose us. There's just something so cool about a giant hot dog strolling down the driveway and parking in our courtyard of our apple orchard. Is that how we know we've made it? We're not sure but an iconic 27-foot hot dog on wheels visiting us was cool. And we relish that opportunity.”

For years Afton Apple has supported the Prescott School District, and this year is no exception.

“We're excited to be offering two scholarships again this year to graduating seniors this spring,” said Parkos. “We got feedback from schools with Wishlist items that may not be afforded in the school budget. “Malone Intermediate School would like to transform their classrooms into building thinking classrooms, with new professional development tools such as books for the staff and whiteboards for all the fourth and fifth grade core and SPED classrooms. That transformation would cost about $6,000.

“Last year, they also started a program called One School One Book. It's a school wide reading program where all the students and staff read the same book of activities throughout the month and finish the program with an author visit to the engage with the students. I still remember the impact from when I was in elementary school when we got to meet an author. It was so memorable being a young student learning about the process to write and publish a book. To implement the One School One Book program again this year at Prescott Intermediate is a cost $4,500.”

“We also got feedback from the elementary and intermediate core teachers with a few items they'd like for their classrooms. Those items include a paper cutter for art, a sail for outdoor classroom coverage for STEM, six glockenspiels and two sets of drums for music class. The specialist wish list items would cost about $1,170.

“In recent years of doing donations, we have focused only on Malone Elementary supporting the upgrade of deteriorating playground equipment. This year we would like to support the Prescott Intermediate School and specialist classrooms tools. With so many great ideas, it was hard to pick just one. Tonight, we'd like to donate $11,170. Through the past seven years of fundraising efforts for Prescott schools alone, we have been able to donate over $60,000 to supporting the students at Prescott.”

Retirements/resignation

Director of Transportation Tim Rundquist is retiring after serving the district for 30 years.

“I know you'd like to go unnoticed here but the service that you've done for our district over the last I don't know how many years you've been here… it's a huge loss of the district but congratulations on retiring,” said Board President Mike Matzek. “Your position is going to be impossible to fill. On behalf of the district and everybody, thank you so much.”

Also retiring is Financial Coordinator Sue Gerdes.

“You've been here for just a very little bit shorter time than Tim, but you have had an amazing impact on us,” said Matzek. “And I'm just, I'm super sad that you're leaving, but I know it's for good reasons. And thank you so much for the service that you've provided us and giving us a huge momentum point for us this April. Again, it will be big shoes to fill. I don't know how we're going to do this. But we'll move on. So, thank you so much for everything you've done.”

Among the teaching staff there are two retirements and one resignation. Lori Pedretti, Prescott High School science teacher, is retiring after 35 years and Jay Bartsch, high school physical education teacher, also announced his retirement. Second grade teacher Kaitlyn Bentz turned in her resignation.

The board thanked the teachers for their service and Matzek commented, “Congratulations on a long career here in Prescott that has honestly shaped our district in many ways, and we sincerely appreciate all the great people that have been able to serve us for that many years. You don't see that very often anymore. And it's just an amazing accomplishment. I'm very proud and happy for all of them.”

On to new business, the board approved spending $46,000 to complete the LED lighting phases 3 and 4. The money will come from Fund 46, which will fully outfit PHS with LED lighting. LED fixtures last twice as long as previous lighting and use half the energy.

Defeasance

Elise Murn from Baird explained that defeasance is just a fancy way of saying “to pay ahead on your loans.” The school district is in the fortunate position to make this happen. Summary of the cash defeasance states that the district has an additional $914,000, the balance of which can be used to prepay debt with a call date in 2030. Funds would be deposited into an escrow for prepayment of debt; this would save district taxpayers approximately $451,216. This is to be approved next month. This money can only be used for this purpose; it cannot be transferred into any other fund.

2024 summer plan work

Summer projects were prioritized according to need. The middle school veneer brick work on the parking lot side was first on the list. The board was given several options to replace that section which included using brick, which would be the most expensive and the color would most likely not match; EIFS, stucco-like material which could be colored which would add another type of exterior finish to the building; and metal panels which could be painted with an accent color and be most economical.

After looking at options to repair the brick, the board agreed on 15 courses of metal sheeting. Additional projects included $175,000 for a new track plus high and long jump, shot put and discus would add $82,000; Malone Elementary principal and nurses’ office and SPED rooms were estimated very conservatively at $302,000; middle school PE lockers were estimated at $62-$75,000 and replacing the middle school bleachers came in at $214,114.

Retirement deadline waiver

Due to a short fall in the operating budget, Superintendent Dr. Rick Spicuzza proposed a retirement deadline waiver that would allow eligible staff to retire without risk of non-renewal or cuts if the referendum does not pass on April 2. A staff member suggested instead of getting non-renewed due to the deficit if they could retire even though the deadline had passed. Without the emergency waiver, the deadline to give notice for retirement was Feb. 1, which allows the district to find replacements.

“What we would like to do is have an emergency one-year waiver, that if we are unsuccessful on April 2,” said Spicuzza. “We would provide a week for individuals who are eligible to retire to put forward to retirement rather than risk either be non-renewed or cut to sustain their benefits. I believe that is the right thing to do.”

Members agreed this would be a fair and responsible plan if the referendum fails.

Superintendent Review

Spicuzza’s annual review was read to the board.

“In summary, Dr. Spicuzza has consistently maintained a high level of excellence in several key areas, over many years, as our district leader. Financial stewardship of taxpayers’ dollars is once again near the top, despite school districts, like Prescott, across the state facing severe budget challenges due to the lack of investment into public schools at a state level,” concluded Matzek. “We look forward to maintaining our strong partnership with him as we work together to make Prescott Schools a destination district for all stakeholders in our community.”

All were informed that another upcoming town hall meeting will be held March 24 at 1:30 p.m. at PHS to discuss the upcoming referendum.