Meeting: Board of Education Regular Meeting
Scheduled: August 17, 2026 at 7:00 PM
The Bennett Community School District Board of Education is scheduled to consider financial reports and bills, a new support staff handbook, student and preschool handbooks, several board policies, and a phone replacement bid. The packet also includes administrative reports and routine consent-agenda business.
Key Items on the Agenda
Board Policies
The agenda includes Board Policies 503.11, 503.11R1, 503.11R2, and 210.02 under new business. The packet identifies these policy numbers for board consideration but does not include supporting text explaining the proposed changes.
Phone Replacement Bid
The board is scheduled to consider Phone Replacement Bid Approval. The packet agenda identifies the proposed approval but does not provide a bid amount, vendor, scope, or other supporting bid details.
New Support Staff Handbook
The board is scheduled to consider approval of a new 2026–2027 Bennett Community School Support Staff Handbook, prepared by the administration and staff handbook committee.
The handbook covers employment practices and workplace expectations including employee hours, payroll, leave, evaluations, personnel files, procurement, student supervision and behavior, health and safety, emergency procedures, and mandatory reporting. Among its provisions:
- Twelve-month support personnel receive 12 vacation days after one to six continuous years, 18 days after seven to 15 years, and 24 days after 16 or more years, unless an employment contract provides otherwise.
- Support personnel receive 10 sick days in their first year, with one additional day each subsequent year up to 15 days annually; unused sick leave may accumulate to 120 days.
- Eligible support personnel receive up to two personal-business days and 10 paid holidays.
- Support staff are to be evaluated annually or as needed.
- Purchases charged to the district require an approved purchase request through WebLink.
- The handbook includes procedures for student supervision, emergencies, workplace safety, mandatory child-abuse reporting, and emergency drills.
Student Handbook
The board is scheduled to consider approval of the 2026–2027 Student-Parent Handbook for Grades K–6. The handbook addresses school operations, attendance, transportation, student conduct, health requirements, communication with families, discipline, technology use, student searches and records, and other district procedures.
Notable provisions include:
- The regular school day lists an 8:00 AM tardy time, with dismissal at 3:05 PM on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday and 1:05 PM on Wednesday.
- The attendance framework counts both excused and unexcused absences toward specified truancy thresholds, subject to listed exceptions.
- At 9 absences per trimester, or 15% of total student days in the year, the handbook calls for a School Engagement Meeting and Absenteeism Prevention Plan.
- At 12 absences per trimester, or 20% of school days, the handbook provides for notification of the district SRO and referral to the Cedar County Attorney's office.
- Personal electronic devices such as cell phones are not permitted in students' possession during the academic school day except as allowed by board policy; phones brought with parent or guardian permission are to remain silent and put away.
- Transportation changes are to be communicated directly to the main office by 10:00 AM, with morning bus changes reported by 6:45 AM.
- The handbook contains detailed provisions on bullying and harassment, student threats of violence, discipline, searches, health requirements, medication, and Internet use.
Preschool Handbook
Approval of the Preschool Handbook is also listed under new business. The packet text provided does not include supporting handbook content sufficient to describe proposed provisions or changes.
Major Financial Items
July 31 Fund Balances
The consent agenda includes the district's financial report as of July 31, 2026, including the Nutrition Fund. The packet's fund-balance summary reports total ending balances of $3,958,276.69, compared with $4,505,470.46 for June 2026 and $3,729,226.02 for July 2025.
Reported July 2026 balances include:
- General: $1,588,311.22
- Management: $1,079,592.42
- PPEL: $731,990.34
- Capital Projects: $458,313.90
- Food Service: $88,355.86
- Activity: $7,266.56
- Food Pantry: $6,734.10
- Preschool: -$2,287.71
The packet reports that the combined balance decreased $547,193.77 from the previous month while remaining $229,050.67 above the July 2025 total.
August Bills
The consent agenda includes August bills and additional bills. The primary August bill listing totals $27,604.17, allocated as:
- General Fund: $20,033.17
- PPEL Fund: $6,443.00
- Nutrition Fund: $1,128.00
Larger listed expenditures include $14,014.75 to MBAEA for FY27 first-quarter flow-through funding, $4,068.00 to TwinState for annual broadband services, $2,375.00 to TwinState for technology supervision, $1,279.84 to Amazon for basketballs, $1,128.00 to Ekon-O-Pac for trays, and $1,100.00 to ISFIS for GASB 75.
The additional-bills document lists $200.00 for music curriculum, $129.00 for a teacher-resource subscription, $499.00 for science curriculum, and $1,006.78 for nutrition food expense.
Consent Agenda
The board is scheduled to consider a consent agenda containing:
- Minutes from the June 8, 2026 meeting.
- Financial report as of July 31, 2026, including the Nutrition Fund.
- Open enrollment, reported as 0 in and 2 out.
- August bills and additional bills.
- Personnel report, including the listed hire of Todd Ainesworth as Head Cook.
The agenda provides a public-comment period. Citizens wishing to address the board are instructed to notify the board secretary before the meeting, and comments are limited to three minutes. Under Board Policy 213 as reproduced in the packet, petitions may be received during this period, but the board does not act on petitions or other matters presented during public comment.
Administrative reports are scheduled from Superintendent Borseth and Principal Costello. The packet agenda identifies the reports but does not provide substantive report content.
What to Watch at the Meeting
Several agenda items could produce substantive board action or clarification:
- Whether the board approves or modifies the proposed 2026–2027 support staff handbook.
- Whether the student and preschool handbooks are approved as presented.
- What action is taken on Board Policies 503.11, 503.11R1, 503.11R2, and 210.02, for which the packet does not provide explanatory supporting text.
- Details of the phone replacement bid, including vendor and cost, because those details are not included in the packet text.
- The district's financial position following the reported $547,193.77 month-over-month decrease in combined fund balances and the negative $2,287.71 Preschool Fund balance.
Meeting Schedule Note
The packet includes notice that the regular monthly meeting was originally scheduled for August 10, 2026 and was rescheduled to Monday, August 17, 2026 at 7:00 PM in the Bennett Elementary School Conference Room.
