I attended the St. Cloud Area School District 742 Board meeting on January 28, 2016, at 7 p.m. The meeting took place at the St. Cloud City Hall and chaired by Dr. Les Green. Other board members present were Al Dahlgren, Debbie Erickson, Bruce Hentges, Bruce Mohs, Jerry Von Korff, and Dennis Whipple. A local high student, along wither her mother, and service dog read the mission statement of the school district. The student and her mom discussed the process of acquiring a service animal and their experience working with the high school and school district in regards to using a service animal in school. The School Board had approved a new policy regarding service animals in school at the meeting on January 13, 2016. The consent agenda was the next item covered in the meeting. The consent agenda is numerous agenda items packaged together as one item on the agenda. These items include meeting approvals, payment of bills, new hires, medical leave, resignations, retirements, awarded grants/donations, and construction bid approvals. The Board approved the consent agenda unanimously. …show more content…
Joanne Dorsher spoke first. She is the President of the District 742 Local Education & Activities Foundation (LEAF) Board of Directors. Ms. Dorsher presented an update on LEAF’s activities and its fundraising event. She also discussed uses of the grant money over the past year. Over the 2014-2015 school year, the granted total amount was $184,496.00. One program funded was a mobile summer reading program for preschool aged children. After the meeting, I asked Ms. Dorsher if the books included those written in Somalin or Spanish. She informed me that the books are mostly in English. The program is working on adding more Spanish language books. She also told me that there are only a few children’s books written in Somalian, so the program does not currently provide