The Jordan School Board approved the move to paying more for its special education director if the possibility should present itself.

The district pays for 40 percent of its special education director’s salary, with another 40 percent coming from Belle Plaine and 20 percent coming from Montgomery-Lonsdale.

If the option arises, the district would like to increase it’s portion to 50 percent, while Belle Plaine would increase its portion to 50 percent. In this option, Montgomery could share its director with the Minnesota River Valley Special Educational Cooperative.

The Jordan School Board renewed the district’s agreement with Minnesota State University at Mankato to allow student teachers in the district.

The college asks that the board renew the agreement every couple of years, Superintendent Larry Kauzlarich said.

With an already full plate in the coming months, the Jordan School Board voted to postpone its discussion of long-range planning for the district.

Board Member Joe Benko, who wasn’t able to attend the meeting, wrote in his comments that the long-range planning tied into the budget issues the district would be working with in the coming months, and that it needed to be addressed now.

The board voted to move the discussion until May, so that it could still involve Superintendent Larry Kauzlarich, but also involve the district’s new superintendent.

Jordan Superintendent Larry Kauzlarich isn’t receiving the help he had hoped for.

Kauzlarich said the ideas for reducing the district’s operating costs have not been coming in from the public like he expected. As it is, Kauzlarich said, most of the suggestions have been raised internally through the administration.

“From the community, I’m getting nothing in the way of suggestions,” Kauzlarich said.

The Jordan School Board will hear from a representative from Trane about what it can expect in fixing the air quality problems at the elementary school.

The district has already taken some steps to repair the air quality problems, but could be facing replacing the units on the school’s roof in the near future.

“As we put new units up on the roof, we want it to make a difference internally,” Kauzlarich said.

Superintendent Larry Kauzlarich told the Jordan School Board at their meeting Monday that Elementary School Principal Stacy DeCorsey was one of three principals being considered as principal of the year for Minnesota.

The winner will go on to represent the state at a national competition, Kauzlarich said. A winner will be announced in May.

The honor is awarded by DeCorsey’s peers, Kauzlarich said.

The Jordan School board held a small ceremony to swear in its two new members Monday.

Scott Erickson was gone during last regular meeting of the board, so he was officially sworn in Monday, while Sheila Bauer had already taken the oath of office of a school board member. She restated the oath with Erickson as part of the ceremony.

Superintendent Larry Kauzlarich said he has seen other schools use the swearing-in ceremony and thought it would be nice to bring to Jordan.

“It’s nice to let people know who the new members are,” he said.

When the Jordan School Board reorganized during its first meeting of the year, they did so with a brief synopsis of what each committee assignment entailed. The explanations were written by Superintendent Larry Kauzlarich.

The Carver-Scott Educational Cooperative board

“Presently we have two members appointed to be members of this board,” Kauzlarich wrote. “They function just like local board members. This may be reduced to one member in the near future."

The Jordan School Board will meet at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 28 instead of at 7 p.m.

The board decided to push its meeting time forward, because the Jordan Jaguar basketball team will tip off against Minneapolis Roosevelt that night, which Superintendent Larry Kauzlarich said is one of the biggest games of the season.

Jordan Public Schools has won the school finance award from the Minnesota Department of Education for 2007.

The award reflects good bookkeeping and business practices and belongs to the workers in the district office, Superintendent Larry Kauzlarich said. That includes Lorrie Jabs, Rhonda Doeden, and Nancy Goss.

About one quarter of the schools in the state receive the award, Kauzlarich said.