Action of the School Board Action of the School Board 01/26/15

Meeting Date:
Jan. 26, 2015

Board Chair
Tom Heidemann

Vice Chair

Marci Anderson

ACTION

of the School School District
Board
Anoka-Hennepin

Recognition

TIES Exceptional Teachers

Joel VerDuin, chief technology and information officer, recognized two Anoka-Hennepin
educators who were named 2014 TIES Exceptional Teachers. Kristin Fritschel, a fifth-grade
humanities teacher at Champlin-Brooklyn Park Academy for Math and Environmental Science, and Tom Skoglund, a district-wide instructional technology facilitator, were honored
for modeling best practices in their classrooms and engaging students in learning with
technology. Read more about Fritschel and Skoglund.

Communications, delegations and petitions

Melissa Thompson commented on the Anti-bullying/Anti-harassment Task Force recommendations that have been presented at recent meetings. She feels they are redundant and
believes little is being done to prevent bullying. She also said the feels the parent survey
needs to include a question about family make-up.

Treasurer
Bill Harvey

Clerk

Jeff Simon

Patrick L. Anderson told the School Board he’s been following the progress of the Antibullying/Anti-harassment Task Force and lauded the group for working hard. He also
encouraged everyone to abide by the golden rule, and “do unto others as you would like to
be treated.”
Jeff Klemetsen requested that robotics be considered for district funding. He said robotics
is recognized by the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL), and should be funded
like other activities — at the very least travel and lodging for participants who travel to
competitions.

Finance

Audit report for fiscal year 2014 presented

Director

William Fields

Aaron Nielsen, principal with the accounting firm Malloy, Montague, Karnowski, Radosevich & Company (MMKR), reviewed the annual audit his firm conducted of the district’s
financial statements for the 2014 fiscal year (July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014). The auditor
gave the district a clean opinion on its basic financial statements, which is the best assessment an auditor can provide.
He said there were no findings or weaknesses in the district’s financial audit, however there
were two deficiencies in the Title I federal program audit and some compliance findings in
the student activity fund audit.

Director

To be decided

ANOKA-HENNEPIN
SCHOOLS
A future without limit

Nielsen explained that the district is required to provide Title I funds to non-public schools
within the district. Title I funding goes to schools with high percentages of students in
poverty to provide extra help with reading and math to those needing it. In one case, a nonpublic school that received funds from the district failed to ensure that all their students
receiving services with Title I funds lived in a school district that was eligible for Title I
funding. In the other case, some students had test scores higher than the district’s threshold
for providing Title I services.
Nielsen indicated that the audit of schools’ activity funds revealed some concerns in limited cases with internal controls regarding cash receipts and segregation of duties, untimely
deposits and lack of dual signatures for disbursements. He pointed out that the number of