Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

HLWW forms committee to oversee possible consolidation



The formation of a new committee to oversee a potential
consolidation with Lester Prairie highlighted a meeting with the Howard
Lake-Waverly-Winsted school board last Monday.

The committee, comprised of seven members, will meet with
Lester Prairie the week of Sept. 10, Superintendent Riley Hoheisel said.

Committee members will reflect an identical committee formed
by Lester Prairie, including the superintendent (ex-officio), two board
members, one teacher, one support staff member and two community members.
A committee is also being formed by Glencoe Silver Lake, with the same purpose,
and same number of people.

Members of the committee are: Hoheisel, Jim Fowler and
Randy Heuer, teacher Chad Gagnon, a non-teaching staff member that is yet
to be determined, and two people representing the community Mary Pettit
and Rob Merritt.

There was an awkward moment as the board approved the committee
members, because it was not disclosed who they were. This was because the
members had not been notified yet, Acting Board Chair Randy Heuer said.

“I would like to know who the people are,” board
member Kirk Jensen said. He was passed a list.

“What if they turn it down, and there we sit?”
Board Member Rick Lammers asked.

“Then people can call Rick Lammers,” Heuer said
shortly.

“No, no, no,” Lammers said.

In addition, there was a great deal of discussion about
the committee’s make up, since it had two members to represent three communities.

Board member Ken Zimmerman insisted on adding another community
representative to represent Waverly. “It is no more than right,”
he said. “What you’re going to do is alienate Waverly even more,”
he said.

Jensen suggested using the staff member position to also
represent Waverly, although it was pointed out that staff in Waverly do
not all necessarily live there, and that this might be a problem.

Heuer objected, saying that the school district promised
Lester Prairie a 50-50 partnership, and that this would skew that.

A motion was made by Leo Weber to accept the committee
as originally suggested.

Zimmerman amended the motion to add a representative for
Waverly This was seconded by Gene Lorentz. The amended resolution was defeated
by a vote of 5-3. Those in favor were Zimmerman, Lorentz, and Jensen. Those
against were Charles Weber, Raymond, Lammers, Leo Weber, and Heuer. Jim
Fowler was unable to attend the meeting.

The original resolution was offered again and passed by
a vote of 6-2, with Charles Weber, and Lammers dissenting.

“The people on the committee are representative of
the various points of view,” Heuer said “although supportive of
consolidation.”

It was noted by some board members that the committee meetings
are public, but that the committee is not required to accept input from
non-committee members.

Some board members expressed misgivings about the time
element, since the school must submit its plans for the new high school
to the state soon, in order to obtain the $6 million in grant money if the
school consolidates with Lester Prairie, or risk waiting another two years
until the bonding cycle is available again.

“If we miss this November, then we’ll have to wait
another two years,” Zimmerman commented.

“I don’t want to be pulled along and then have them
decide not to (commit),” Jensen said.

“They can back out anytime,” Zimmerman said.

“I would like to actually know what their board thinks,”
Jensen said. “I mean, are they even interested in putting it on the
ballot?” he asked.

“There’s a lot of things that need to be discussed,”
Heuer said. “We don’t want to rush too much; on the other hand, we’ve
got to get done.”

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