Four schools closed to open enrollment

Three elementary schools and one high school in District 112 will be closed for open enrollment to residents outside the district during the 2013-14 school year.

The School Board followed the recommendation of administration on Nov. 15 to close East Union, Clover Ridge and Victoria elementary schools and Chanhassen High School for open enrollment. The board voted unanimously to approve the recommendation. Chair Jim Leone and board member Heather Nelson were absent.

“These are the same exact schools that are [already] closed to open enrollment and for the same exact reasons,” said Diane Kaiser, director of information systems.

The recommendation for the three elementary schools was made because their current enrollment exceeds building capacity, according to Oct. 1 numbers.

East Union’s building capacity is 168. Its enrollment was at 201 students, or 20 percent over capacity. Clover Ridge’s capacity is 605 students. Its enrollment was at 701 students, or 16 percent over capacity. Victoria Elementary’s capacity is 605. Its enrollment was at 672 students, or 11 percent above capacity.

Chanhassen High School was recommended for closed enrollment because the enrollment difference with Chaska High School is more than 250. Chanhassen’s enrollment, as of Oct. 1, was at 1,574 students, while Chaska High School was at 1,279 students – a difference of 295 students. Board policy mandates the difference not to exceed 250.

Kaiser said people have to apply for open enrollment for the next school year by Jan. 15.

“This really has to do with having this in place so people know by Jan. 15 if they can apply for these schools or not,” she said.

Approval of contracts

The board approved contracts for the Principals’ Association, the administrative assistant to the superintendent, one employee in the Confidential Personnel group and the individual directors. Jim O’Connell, director of administrative services said all of these contracts run from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2014. All of the contract agreements for these groups and individuals include a compensation package increase of 3.19 percent over the two-year period.

In general, all of the contracts are increasing in wages, and there is no increased contribution by the district to things such as health insurance, dental insurance and deferred compensation, O’Connell said.

O’Connell said the Principals’ Association contracts affect 21 principals and assistant principals. The average salary increase for the principals’ contracts is $1,265 in the first year and $3,040 in the second year.

The administrative assistant’s salary will increase by $1,135 in the first year and $2,200 in the second year. The confidential personnel employee’s wages will increase by 42 cent an hour in the first year and 79 cents an hour in the second year. O’Connell didn’t have the salary increase amounts available for the directors’ contracts, he said.

O’Connell said he still has to bring contracts forward for the registered nurses, professional technical, nutrition services and coordinators, managers and supervisors groups.

“I hope to bring them all in the next couple of months,” he said.

Election resolutions

The board adopted resolutions to canvass the return of votes in the school district general election for school board members and to authorize the issuance of certificates of election and direct the clerk to perform other election related duties.

Caroline Long, administrative assistant to the superintendent, said 89,934 ballots were counted for the school board positions, while 44,732 ballots were blank. Heather Nelson received 11,292 votes, Amy Logue had 10,850, Jeff Ross had 8,652, Jim Leone had 8,039 and Larry Doran had 6,068.

There were 293 write-in votes and 18 defective ballots.

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