Senior TJ Christensen leads the Litchfield High School football team in smashing through a banner as the Dragons head back to the field following halftime of the homecoming football game Saturday.
The LHS homecoming court poses for a photo after being introduced at halftime of the game Saturday. The group includes Blake Aller, Adallia Bruning, TJ Christensen, Abby Woelfel, Garrison Jackman, Morgan Falling, Lukas Kuehl, Camryn Iverson, king Zachary Quast and queen Shelby Dengerud.
The Litchfield High School student cheering section offers signs of support during Saturday afternoon’s game.
Shelby Dengerud laughs as the crown sits precariously on her head after receiving it from Ellie Brown, while fellow candidates Adallia Bruning, left, and Morgan Falling applaud.
Morgan Falling lifts the ball high as she crosses the goal line for a touchdown in a powder puff football game Friday afternoon.
Ellie Brown celebrates after intercepting a pass and returning it during a powder puff football game Friday afternoon.
Litchfield High School’s 2023 homecoming court included, front row, from left, Camryn Iverson, Abby Woelfel, queen Shelby Dengerud, king Zachary Quast, Morgan Falling, Adallia Bruning, coronation emcee Allison Kargas; back, Garrison Jackman, Lukas Kuehl, TJ Christensen, Blake Aller and emcee Ben Olson.
Junior Kira Kuechle runs upfield after catching a pass, pursued by members of the senior team and cheered on by a couple of teammates.
Homecoming king Zachary Quast and queen Shelby Dengerud make their way across the field after being introduced at halftime of the football game Saturday afternoon.
LHS senior girls pose with the homecoming banner minutes before the football team crashed through it to start the second half of the game.
LHS seniors Garrison Jackman and Shelby Dengerud have a little fun reversing roles following Saturday’s game.
Litchfield High School’s homecoming included a week full of themed days and a variety of activities that culminated with the football game Saturday afternoon.
During a coronation Friday morning, Shelby Dengerud was crowned queen and Zachary Quast king.
Girls from grades 9-12 then participated in the traditional powder puff football game Friday afternoon, with the senior class girls claiming the championship. It was the third powder puff title won by the seniors during their time at LHS.
Festivities took a bit of a twist when a thunder storm rolled through the area, forcing a delay in kickoff of Litchfield’s game against Dasssel-Cokato, and eventually postponement to Saturday afternoon.
The wait was worth it, however, as the Dragons held off Dassel-Cokato in a 14-13 thriller, bringing homecoming to a happy conclusion.
See more photos on Page 11.
It took another lengthy discussion — that still ended with pointed disagreement — but Litchfield School Board approved a preliminary levy during its meeting last week.
The action, if given final approval in December, will increase the district’s levy 3.71% for 2024, and is aimed at creating an additional $1.5 million in deferred maintenance funding.
The board’s 4-1 vote — with member Greg Mathews dissenting — followed what was a continuation of one that began in August and was picked up again during its Sept. 11 meeting. The board had been considering using both general obligation building bonds and tax abatement bonds to generate up to $3.5 million in funding that could be used to improve a long-neglected parking lot and the high school tennis courts, as well as other possible parking lot and facility improvements, which could be part of the district’s collaboration with the city of Litchfield on the Litchfield Area Recreation Center project.
Tax abatement funds can be used only for parking lot improvements, while the general obligation bonds can be used for a broader variety of facility improvements as they are essentially “left over” from the building improvement taxing authority that district voters approved in a 2019 referendum.
The School Board authorized a resolution during its first meeting in September saying it intended to issue the general obligation and tax abatement bonds that would total $3.5 million.
“The intent of the resolution was to allow the board maximum flexibility as they consider various site improvement projects across the district until we could be provided with the estimated tax impact of the issuance,” according to a memo from Business Manager Jesse Johnson and Superintendent Beckie Simenson.
That analysis came at the board’s first meeting of September, when Ehlers Financial Management representative Matthew Hammer told the board the district levy would increase 8.24% if it issued the entire $3.5 million in proposed bonds.
That increase, following two failed school referendums seeking funding to build a swimming pool that would have been part of the LARC, had some board members concerned that it could be viewed as a violation of the public trust. Their struggle with that issue led to the board leaving the Sept. 11 meeting without a vote on the preliminary levy.
That meant members needed to make a decision Monday to meet the Sept. 30 deadline for setting the preliminary levy. The preliminary levy is a placeholder, allowing time to review tax impacts and prepare budgeting, with the official levy needing to be set before the end of December. The preliminary levy can be decreased, but not increased before that final decision.
And that led to a debate over flexibility versus messaging.
While no one spoke in favor of the 8.24% increase, board member Greg Mathews suggested setting the levy above the 3.71% increase.
He said multiple times he supported increasing the levy by $1.8 million — $300,000 more than the “left over” $1.5 million from the 2019 referendum — because it offered the board greater flexibility and more time to gather details about various improvement costs.
“We’re not talking about new projects here, like we were the new swimming pool,” Mathews said of a list Simenson provided the board, which gave priority to certain projects. “We’re talking about maintaining what we have. And we have an obligation.
“If we agree to $1.5 (million) … we’re locked in. That gives us fewer options,” Mathews said. “If we don’t need the $1.8 (million), then in our December meeting, we can revise that downwards.”
Board chairman Alex Carlson said he asked Hammer about a 5% levy increase, which would be $1.5 million of general obligation bonds and $700,000 of tax abatement. But Carlson did not offer that levy amount as a resolution.
Johnson recommended the board pursue only the 3.71% increase. The district’s business manager also explained that the tax abatement option could always be on the table for the right project.
“There’s a big difference between the levy process and then as far as the ability to sell tax abatement bonds,” Johnson said. “You always have the authority.”
Waiting to use tax abatement until the costs of an extended and potentially reconfigured south parking lot at the high school were better known would be a better approach, Johnson said.
“I think we can get there,” he said. “I think the key would be to agree to something now, so that we can get into an agreement … we can sit down and talk about all these ideas.”
Waiting to use tax abatement bonds could be slightly more costly, Johnson acknowledged, but that cost could be outweighed by having a clearer picture of the costs of an expanded project.
Still, Mathews said he thought it would be better to have the additional financial flexibility up front, especially since the board could change its mind and set the levy lower in its final decision in December.
“When we were elected to the Board of Education, we know that we were going to be spending people’s money,” Mathews said. “I think what people want is value. I don’t like spending the extra 4% or 8% either. (But) that’s the reality of the situation. I want the time to look at it and get an assessment from a lot of different sources, so we can make an intelligent decision. And I don’t want to be locked down and confined by a certain amount of money, because that limits our options.”
Meeker Memorial Hospital & Clinics and CentraCare announced today they have entered a three-year management services agreement that begins Sunday, Oct. 1.
Through the agreement, CentraCare will provide management oversight for the hospital and clinics and key leadership positions, while Meeker Memorial Hospital & Clinics will remain community owned by Meeker County and governed by its current independent board of directors.
“This agreement enables Meeker Memorial to retain its governance structure while benefitting from greater system-wide resources, best practices, platforms and other advantages which will support the people in the communities we serve,” said Beth Oberg, chairwoman of the Meeker Memorial Board of Directors. “The two organizations share a unique commitment to rural health care in our region and are jointly dedicated to enhancing and growing high-quality health care close to home for generations to come.”
CentraCare and Meeker Memorial have worked closely in recent years through a collaborative services agreement to get the hospital on Epic and align the hospital and clinics’ electronic health record systems. Through a professional services agreement, the physicians and advanced practice professionals at Meeker Memorial Clinics are also employed through CentraCare and leased to Meeker Memorial.
“We’re honored to be strengthening our partnership with Meeker Memorial Hospital & Clinics,” said Bryan Lydick, executive director of Rural Health Southwest Division of CentraCare. “CentraCare is committed to keeping care close to where people live and work and we’re excited to partner to enhance quality, improve outcomes and increase efficiencies for our region.”
Before a management agreement was voted on, Meeker Memorial Hospital & Clinics President and Chief Executive Officer Kurt Waldbillig announced his resignation effective at the end of September.
Mary Ellen Wells will take over as interim president and CEO starting Oct. 1, while a search for a new president and CEO is expected to begin early next year. Wells has more than 35 years of health care leadership experience in a variety of roles, according to a news release from CentraCare announcing the changes. Included in her experience is work with several independent and critical access hospitals, clinics and skilled nursing facilities.
“We are looking forward to working together with CentraCare to continue serving and caring for the people of Meeker County,” Oberg said. “Like we’ve done for more than a century, we’ll continue providing care as it should be.”
Compared to a $3.3 million levy, $9,000 doesn't sound like much, but it does reflect a small decrease in the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City School District’s annual property tax levy.
ACGC School Board adopted this proposed levy during its Sept. 25 meeting. The slight decrease, amounting to about a quarter of 1% is spread across ACGC’s general levy — which at $1,787,824 is almost the same as last year’s levy — and the debt service and community services levies, approved at levels of $1,404,377 and $148,255, respectively. It is possible for the board to decrease the levy further before adoption of its final levy in December, but the amount cannot be increased.
Prior to the board adopting the levy, Business Manager Blake Stoltman explained reasons for fluctuations in the various funds. The formulas for state aid to schools and for the state's levy limits, he said, are based on a number of factors, most significantly the school district’s enrollment and the market value of property located within the district.
State aid accounts for most of the money public schools spend. Stoltman noted that the total value of property in the ACGC district rose by 18% this past year, meaning that local government levies will be spread across a larger tax base in 2024.
Stoltman's levy explanation will probably be the last the ACGC district hears from him, as he will soon be leaving the SMS firm, with which the district contracts for financial management services.
Superintendent Kip Lynk told the board that this would be a good time for the board to evaluate whether it wants to stick with its contract with SMS, which will assign another of its accountants to the ACGC district, or to hire its own business manager as a district employee, or to share a business manager with another district.
Enrollment up
Overall enrollment at the ACGC schools is up by 27 students over the numbers last May. September enrollment figures released by the district office report that high school/middle school enrollment stands at 527, compared to 513 in May, and elementary K-4 enrollment is 347, compared to 334 in May, for a total of 874. This is the highest ACGC September enrollment in the past five years.
Testing results
High school/middle school Principal Robin Wall and elementary Principal Kodi Goracke presented data from the Minnesota Department of Education's most recent North Star Report. They noted that ACGC students have made significant progress in academics and in attendance rates. However, at 43.5% proficiency in reading, ACGC still ranks below the state average of 47.6% proficiency. Nevertheless, more ACGC students are proficient, by 3.5 points, over last year’s 40% rate at ACGC.
ACGC students perform significantly better than the state average in math, at 47.6% proficiency compared to the state’s 42.7% proficiency. This is a 7.9-point increase over last year’s performance.
Wall noted that year-over-year improvements have been noted at all levels of student ability. A sole exception is among English language learners, who performed at approximately the same levels as last year. She cautioned that there are not enough ELL students tested at ACGC to meet the minimum level to be included in the state database, however.
When it comes to student attendance and graduation rates, ACGC is significantly ahead of state averages. More than 95.5% of ACGC ninth-graders graduate within four years, compared to a state average of 75.67%.
ACGC also has many more students who attend class regularly, defined as more than 90% of the days school is in session. The district’s 2023 attendance rate was about 94.1%, compared to 89.3% in 2022 and 81.27% statewide.
Attendance rates statewide and at ACGC dropped during the COVID epidemic.
Personnel matters
- The school board terminated a district employee. After reviewing confidential allegations against a staff member during a closed session, the board voted 5-0 to terminate the individual.
- The board hired several paraeducators, including Jessie Read, Amy Self, Sabrina Sackett, Pam Narragon, Amy Pederson and Lila Snavely. One paraeducator, Jennilee Pearson, and head cook Jessica Lovell resigned. Nancy Marcks was hired as school musical choreographer.
Other business
- The board amended several district policies, including one related to corporal punishment and prone restraint. During discussion about this policy, it was noted that law enforcement officers at the schools are employees of the Meeker County Sheriff’s office and/or the Atwater Police Department and are not school resource officers.
The state attorney general’s office has established more clarity about the use of prone restraints, so that law enforcement organizations understand it better, school officials noted. They added that no regular deputy had been at the high school/middle school yet this fall because the assigned individual was still being trained, but he should be in the building in October.
- The board reviewed student participation in fall extra and co-curricular activities and noted that participation is back up in football. Sixty-two students are participating in football, 51 in volleyball and 23 in the fall play.
