School Board Meeting

August 11, 2026

The meeting started promptly at 5. Ryan Riester, Jim Bryant and Kayla Anderson were not in attendance.

Superintendent Jaszczak started the meeting with a few comments regarding the beginning of the school year. There are 21 new teachers who will begin their orientation next week. The new bus service, MTN is working on an app for parents in order to inform them of any busing issues and answer questions. The bus routes are being reworked from scratch, and for the time being the buses will be parking in the High School Parking lot.

Dr. Eric Guthrie from the MN State Demographic Center was introduced and he proceeded to inform the board and other attendees of the data regarding current demographics and possible future implications for Goodhue County. He began with an overview of what creates changes in demographics ( birth rate, death rate, migration ) and then moved to more specifics with graphics showing the population changes for those students aged from birth to age 19. Currently, there is a gradual and will probably be a natural decline in births. The median age of the population in Goodhue County is 42-43 years old, which is considered the top end of reproduction. It basically seems that our younger population leaves after graduation and may come back in later years (considered part of the migration statistic). Goodhue County already has more people age 65+ than school aged children. The bottom line is there will be a gradual decline in school aged children in the future, but no data cliffs. In Minnesota, and the US, birth rates have been declining. In Minnesota the replacement average for the population is at 1.6 children in a family and anything above 2 children per family is considered replacement. Superintendent Jaszczak will be looking further at the kindergarten class information from other districts around the county to see if this declining trend is holding for them also, and if open enrollment is making a difference. {My thought is that this may make it more difficult for the school’s finances since fewer people will have “skin in the game”.}

Next, a representative of SitelogIQ spoke regarding the expectations on what they will be providing the school system with as the election for the referendum gets closer. It seems that the ball will really get rolling about ten weeks out. They’re currently working on a dedicated website that will be used to inform the public with more specifics. The superintendent’s office will be collaborating on this. SitelogIQ will also begin getting mailers out, small newspaper-type brochures, and fact sheets to be available for back-to school open houses, staff presentations, sporting events and community meetings. Most of this information will come out beginning in late September or early October. {Personally, I think that cuts it too close to the early election period, but it’s not my call.} Supt. Jaszczak and his team are creating a list of organizations where presentations can be given regarding the referendum. It was stressed that the best advertisement is still a face-to-face interaction. Mr. Koenig would really like a definitive timeline and the SitelogIQ representative noted that, along with the caveat that each district in the past has had very different needs regarding the community information piece. The representative from SitelogIQ also requested a meeting be held with the Early Childhood Task Force as soon as possible including some board members and the superintendent. It sounds like this will happen next week. { My final take on this is that everyone is nervous, with the timeline so very tight but will work hard to get this done.}

Board member Koenig asked if there is a need to review the goals in the strategic plan, and the superintendent asked that this be done in the future,{but basically first things first. That’s my words, the superintendent said it in a more nuanced way.}The superintendent will be creating a schedule for principals to address the board at future workshop meetings.

The next meeting is August 25. The workshop meeting was adjourned at 6:10.