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Minnesota mother nature has struck again.

After agreeing on a two-year contract with Wild River Contracting last year at a rate of $14,900 for snow removal, the district decided to re-open bids for the services since there was too much snow last year.

Jeremy Vitalis of Wild River Contracting was on hand to inform the board that the cost of keeping the district buildings plowed last year was nearly double the original figure because of the heavy snow.

He said that a viable solution would be to move to an hourly rate for the plowing. Board member Tom Lawlor expressed concern with moving to an hourly rate because then they wouldn't know how much to budget for. If they stick with a flat rate, then they know what it will look like in the budget, regardless of how much snow falls. If they go hourly, it'd be a shot in the dark on how much they should budget.

The board decided to void the second year of the contract with Wild River Contracting and re-open bidding on a flat rate basis.

Q-Comp Director Laura Yehlik gave a quick update. She said that they have rough site goals for each school in the district on sustainable growth.

The schools have some different focuses on where they need the extra help. The high school will be focusing on math goals while the middle school and elementary schools will be focused on literacy goals.

In some news around the district:

-High school senior Charlie Wilcox was named a KARE 11 Academic All-Star. 

-Lakeside Elementary started a "mileage club" as a healthy alternative for kids to choose at recess. Students have the choice to walk or run laps around a course that has been set up.

Each student receives a punch card and they receive one punch for every lap, which is 1/4 of a mile. The entire card is five miles.

Each time a student completes five miles, they are rewarded with their name being announced over the morning announcements, a cut-out foot with their name on it is placed on the cafeteria wall and there are a few small prizes.

-Seventy-two parents and middle school students are taking off for Washington DC this week for a school trip.

-Taylors Falls Elementary's outdoor classroom is complete. They are using the classroom already, but a parent will be building benches and tables for the classroom over the winter. Two weeks ago, a naturalist from Wild River State Park visited and worked with the second graders on seed pod travel.

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