The Willow River School Board met for a special meeting on Saturday morning, September 26 in Tamarack at the residence of Superintendent Lynette Maas, to discuss a host of topics related to the school district in general. The board at its regular September 8 meeting arranged for the special meeting with the sole agenda item as setting this year’s district goals. However, as noted in the follow-up minutes from September 26, the special meeting in northern Aitkin County opened with approval of an updated agenda, of which local newspapers sites were not made aware prior to the meeting.

In addition to discussion over the 2009-2010 district goals and the H1N1 virus, agenda items from the special meeting also raised board discussion over the anticipated letter from Moose Lake School District regarding consolidation, the administrative structure, and capital issues. As the minutes note, the nearly three hour meeting outside the district limits was scheduled for 8:00 but was called to order at 8:45 and adjourned at 11:00 am.

Board members “showed up late” said Maas, who hosted the breakfast meeting as a “nice way to talk about goals on a more casual basis.” In a recent phone conversation, Maas said that notice of the special meeting was posted on school grounds. She was unaware, however, that board meetings are expected to be held within the district. “The special meeting was definitely open to the public,” she said. “They will be from now on.”

As dictated in the Minnesota statute on open meeting laws, section 13D.01, all meetings “must be open to the public,” and according to an early Minnesota Supreme Court decision, be held within the district boundaries.

Maas noted that the item over Moose Lake’s letter about consolidation was added to the agenda to merely inform the board that she was in receipt of the invitation. “I got the letter, and it is an agenda item for the board meeting next week,” said Maas. She said that the public is “certainly welcome” to hear board discussion over the invitation to consider consolidating with Moose Lake.

The next board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 13 at 6:30 pm in the school library. Items listed on the agenda for the special meeting are expected to be discussed at the regular meeting next week.

Willow River’s special board meeting comes on the heels of the September 21 Moose Lake School meeting at which the board approved a letter of invite to the school boards of both Willow River and Barnum asking the districts to enter into discussions over a possible future school facility for the neighbors.The letter, that was subsequently mailed, questions “whether or not our region will be able to continue to support three independent school districts in the years ahead.”

The board hopes to host a joint meeting between the three districts to “discuss the pros and cons of conducting a study to determine whether or not consolidating two or more of our districts would be in everyone’s best interest.”