MITCHELL — The Mitchell Board of Education came to no definitive consensus Monday night on whether to make changes to the district policy that dictates board member compensation for meetings and other mandatory responsibilities.

Discussion on the topic took place during the board’s regular meeting at Mitchell Middle School and resulted in Policy 211 being tabled for future discussion, likely at the next regular meeting of the board in October.

The policy in question currently sets board member compensation at a $60 per diem for events such as regular board meetings. It also limits compensation for board members at no more than 40 such per diem events annually for a total of $2,400 a year.

Terry Aslesen, a member of the board, noted that he did not necessarily approve of the board approving pay increases to its own members. But he said it did seem appropriate to compensate them for those they did attend, even if that included going over the allotted 40 meetings, as there may be times when a heavy workload forces board members to attend more meetings than in a usual year.

“If you end up having 60 meetings depending on what is going on, if a person is going to those, they should be paid,” Aslesen said during the meeting.

Aslesen said that in the past he had used up much of his per diem events before the middle of the calendar year. Those events included regular meetings of the board and activities such as Mitchell Technical College and Mitchell High School graduation, as well as several board committee meetings or attending equalization meetings.

Those are all important obligations that board members should be attending, Aslesen said.

“The only reason this came to mind is that I ran out of the 40 before we had the May 13 board meeting,” Aselsen said. “Those are all obviously things we want board members to be doing and going to and attending.”

He also had concerns that board member pay sat well below that of comparably-sized districts and could discourage some qualified members of the public from running for the board.

Aslesen suggested removing the paragraph of the policy that reads “…members shall receive compensation for no more than 40 per diem events per year, for a total maximum annual allocation of $2,400 per board member, not including reimbursements for board travel.”

Aslesen also offered up the idea of ​​setting board member compensation per event at a percentage of what is allowed by state law, the amount of which was recently set at $166. Adding language that placed board member compensation at 50% of what is allowable by state law, for example, would allow compensation to be updated if and when the state changes the allowable rate and would prevent the board from having to set a new policy every time .

He said he used ChatGPT to research the board compensation amount at several districts of similar size, with Sioux Falls currently set at $166 per event, Rapid City at $150 per event and Aberdeen at $140. Further down the list, Yankton came in at $105 and Harrisburg at $100.

The Mitchell School District currently sits at $60 per event.

Brittni Flood, president of the Mitchell Board of Education, said she was hesitant to expand board member pay after district patrons had already been generous with the district recently.

“I feel like getting on the board — I’m not in this to make money, and if I were I should get a different job. I think we’ve asked a lot of our community, so I have a really hard time increasing our pay for this because we’ve asked for so much already,” Flood said.

Some discussion revolved around the fact that in addition to its K-12 programs, the Mitchell School District and its board of education also oversee operations at Mitchell Technical College, which can result in more obligations by board members to attend advisory meetings and other official acts .

Deb Olson, another member of the board, agreed she was reluctant to make any changes to the policy, which was in front of the board for a first reading.

“And I don’t think we’ve seen a lack of quality candidates running for the board. It’s not like we can’t get anyone to run for the board because nobody is willing to serve for $60 per meeting for a total of $2,400,” Olson said.

Further discussion also included what exactly defines an official event for board members. Shawn Ruml, a member of the board, pondered if members of the board volunteering to serve lunch to teachers would constitute an official act, even if it’s technically not required for the board member to be there.

Ruml and Deb Everson, another member of the board, suggested they were open to possibly removing the annual 40 per diem event, although both said they would like to hear more.

At the end of the discussion, the board tabled any revisions to Policy 211 until more information could be gathered on what other districts in the state are doing. Superintendent Joe Childs said the policy would likely be back in front of the board for more discussion next month.

He said the district policy is old enough that it may be time to consider changing either the per diem amount or the per diem limit, but he hoped to have more information for the board at its next meeting.

“I think we probably want to gather some data that comes directly from the districts. What we were handed out today (on per meeting pay rate) was from ChatGPT, so I don’t know if that’s accurate, although it certainly may be. But this is in regard to recent changes in law that now allow up to $166 per meeting for each board member. That kind of started the conversation. That policy may be antiquated a bit,” Childs said. “It is possible that we’re at the bottom end of compensation for board members.”

The board is expected to revisit the policy for more discussion when it meets next on Tuesday, Oct. 15. The board had previously been scheduled to meet Oct. 14 but moved the date back one day due to the Native American Day holiday on Oct. 14.

The board of education approved admission prices for the 2024-25 school year. On unanimous vote, the board approved admission prices as follows:

• Adult, $5
• Students, $3
• Activity Pass, $40

The board declared several pieces of Mitchell High School property as surplus.

The items in question were 21 Miller Digital Elite welding helmets, which the district has estimated have no value.

Also at the meeting, the board approved the following personnel moves:

• The new classified hires of Kelcie Kitzeman, paraeducator at Mitchell Middle School, $16 per hour 7 hours per day, effective Sept. 10; Emma Selland, paraeducator at Longfellow Elementary, $16 per hour, 7 hours per day, effective Sept. 9; Dani Hansen, paraeducator at Mitchell High School, $16 per hour, 4 hours on Gold Days, effective Sept. 12 and Karen Stephens, paraeducator at Mitchell High School, $16 per hour, 7.25 hours per day, effective Sept. 10.
• The resignation of MacKenzie Olsen, paraeducator at Mitchell Middle School, effective Sept. 9.

Also at the meeting, the board:

• Heard board member reports.
• Heard the superintendent’s report, which includes a tour of Mitchell Middle School.
• Approved the second reading of K-12 Policy 121 and policy series 400 to 600 on second reading.
• Approved revisions to Policy 745 on first reading.
• Approved re-adoption of existing board policies.