HURON — The Huron School Board approved hiring a Huron High School graduate to be its next Activities Director and Huron Arena Manager.

At its regular Monday night meeting, the school board unanimously approved hiring Scott DeBoer, a 2006 HHS graduate, to replace Terry Rotert, who is retiring at the end of the school district’s fiscal year.

Mrs. Kari Hinker, the principal at the Washington 4-5 Center, presented the school district’s Classified Employee of the Month to Lisa Bishop, a SPED/Para Educator at Washington, who has been with the school district for 10 years.

Brad McGirr, the chairman of the Huron School District Foundation gave the board an update on happenings since the group was formed 14 months ago.

Responses to the foundation’s start has been outstanding McGirr told the board, with more than 80 donors signing on as “Founders Club” members in the initial introduction to the HSDF last April.

Since then, events held over homecoming weekend last fall — including a golf tournament — and the first ever “Day of the Tiger” in December have had positive responses.

Pledges have surpassed the $220,000 level and McGirr formally requested that the board consider hiring an executive director to oversee the foundation.

“Our volunteer board has worked very hard and if the foundation is going to continue to grow, we need to look at making some changes,” McGirr said.

Board member Tim Van Berkum updated the board on several bills in the S.D. Legislature that had or still have the possibility of affecting school operations.

Some of the bills have been killed, some are going back to committee for additional hearings and some are still in process.

Board president Garrett Bischoff presented a report on his attendance at the National School Boards of America convention in Washington, D.C., and spoke about the possibility of having one of the speakers at the event coming to the area for a presentation as well.

The board approved a first reading of a revised school calendar. The calendar committee has built the school calendar with a start date of Aug. 15; however, the school board’s approved start date was Aug. 20. Huron School District Superintendent Dr. Kraig Steinhoff said that three dates, Nov. 27, Feb. 14 and May 20 — which were not school days on the original calendar were added to make the scheduling change.

Three school district policies — involving supervision of students, reporting child abuse and staff ethics — received first readings. According to school district business manager Kelly Christopherson, the policy updates are aimed at securing lower insurance rates from the school district’s insurer.

A first reading of a plan for Electronic or Remote learning was approved. During discussion, Brittany Layher, a parent with children in the district, spoke on the “negative impact” that remote learning had during COVID.

“I think what you have should be thrown out or at the very least, there should be more avenues of communication provided for parents,” she said. She also suggested a better way to check and balance wasted time.

In other action, the board:

• Approved a dozen 12-inch-by-20-inch signs on the new Huron High School Tennis Courts, recognizing the name of a supporter of the program. Signs would be $100 per year and would be non-intrusive to those watching the tennis matches.
• Approved 10 new hires, five resignations and two new contracts for district employees
• Approved a total of 12 intentions to apply for grants for a myriad of projects within the district
• Recognized Successes in the district, including athletic and fine arts groups that earned the S.D. High School Activities Association’s Academic Achievement Award.
• Approved the rehiring of 12 school district administrators for the 2024-25 school year, with salaries to be determined at a later date.

The next meeting will be 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 26, in the Instructional Planning Center at Huron Arena.