BOLD School Board votes 4-2 to seek new superintendent amid budget shortfall
members on Monday voted 4-2 to begin a search for a new superintendent instead of negotiating a new contract with Superintendent Jim Menton.
The vote came after board members initially considered a motion to begin negotiating a new contract. Board members must now decide how to conduct that search under a relatively tight time frame. Superintendent Menton's contract ends June 30.
Board members at the April 28 meeting cited concerns over the district's financial predicament — and worries that the community will not trust the board and current superintendent to solve it — in their discussions prior to the vote.
Another factor — not mentioned by board members but referenced by Menton — was his recent interview as one of five finalists for the superintendent position with the Byron Public Schools in southeast Minnesota.
BOLD board members Todd Sheehan and Greg Peppel voted "nay" on the motion for a new superintendent search, while members Todd Frank and Sandy Benson made the motion for the search and were joined in "aye" votes by MaryElla Clouse and Brad Aaseth. Brad Reffereth was absent.
Board Chairman Todd Frank stepped aside from his role as chair so that he would be free to urge members to rescind the motion to negotiate a new contract with Menton and start a new search.
School board members held a closed session with Menton one month earlier to evaluate his performance. Under the Minnesota Open Meeting law, a public body may close a meeting to evaluate the performance of an employee under its authority.
Menton told board members that he left that meeting with the impression that he had the support to move forward and fix the district's financial situation.
The district is on track for a $700,000 shortfall or greater in this year's budget. It could grow to as large as $900,000 in what Menton described as a "worst-case scenario."
The district's financial mess came to light following the resignation of the school district's business manager in September.
that the district had asked for a criminal investigation into the business manager's actions.
He told the board then that the district was facing a shortfall of $700,000. The budget had not allocated sufficient revenues, nor identified sources for them, for significant transportation and payroll expenses included in the budget.
Chairman Frank initially raised the concerns on Monday about negotiating a new contract. He said he had been contacted by 17 different community members, as well as by five former school board members, who said they did not want to see the board renew the superintendent's contract.
"I don't think the trust will be there by the community, and once trust is lost, we've lost it," said Frank after explaining his concerns.
Other board members expressed favorable opinions of the superintendent, as well as concerns about the fiscal dilemma.
"The bottom line," said Clouse, "is he is responsible for balancing the budget and ensuring we do not go into debt."
After the motion was made to search for a new superintendent, Menton said, "I understand. I understand completely and this has been a massive debacle. (There is a) need to accept responsibility and I certainly do. As everyone knows, there have been some pretty massive extenuating circumstances that (I'm) just not at liberty to fully discuss. ... It's been an extremely frustrating year."
Menton explained that he had left the last board meeting with the impression that he would continue. He added that he had "taken a lot of flak for taking a job interview without the opportunity to fix what has happened here."
He said he was not sure that the problem can be fixed in one year.
"I am certainly motivated to fix this," he said.
Sheehan said he had also left the last meeting with the impression that board members were going to give the superintendent a chance to fix what happened, adding: "All of this wasn't his issue."
Clouse pointed out that the BOLD School Board does not have a finance committee in place. She said there were many extenuating circumstances, and that she felt partially responsible for not having spotted the budget problems in the making.
"That is what makes this such a difficult decision. I believe in giving people a second chance," she said.
Menton has served as superintendent of the BOLD School District since May 2021 He led an effort that saw voters in November 2023 approve nearly $40 million in financing to address facilities needs in the district serving the communities of Bird Island, Olivia and Lake Lillian.
Prior to becoming superintendent, Menton had served for five years as BOLD's high school principal. He had been an assistant principal for the Westbrook-Walnut Grove School District before joining BOLD.
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Boston Globe
17-07-2025
- Boston Globe
‘They're part of the family': A Vermont dairy farmer fears being separated from a family of migrant workers
Morin hired Bernardo and her partner out of necessity. He couldn't find Americans willing to milk his cows, raise his calves, and shovel out the barn — physically demanding work with long hours and modest wages. Over time, the relationship between the self-described conservative farmer and his migrant workers has deepened. Advertisement 'I consider them more than just employees,' he said. 'They're part of the family.' Farmer John Morin and his partner, Lynn Beede, had lunch with Wuendy Bernardo's family at home in Orleans County, Vt., on July 10. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff The feeling is mutual. As Bernardo's 17-year-old daughter let out the family's chickens one muggy morning this week, she described Morin and his partner, Lynn Beede, in similar terms. 'They are like our grandparents,' she said. 'They care about us.' But this blended family could soon be pulled apart. Bernardo, who was apprehended after illegally crossing the southern border in 2014, has been required ever since to make periodic check-ins with immigration authorities. Since President Trump took office, those appointments have become more frequent, and the stakes have felt much higher. Her next one is Monday. 'Each time I go back, it's with the same fear,' the 33-year-old Bernardo said through an interpreter last week, seated at Morin's dining room table. 'When I walk into that building, it's with the thought that I might not be able to go home, and I might not be able to see my children.' Advertisement Morin — a Carhartt-clad man with gray facial stubble and kind eyes — also dreads the check-ins. 'If I lose my workers, I'm going to be done,' he said. 'What am I gonna do? Hire more migrant workers and worry about losing them ?' Bernado's children played outside the barn on the dairy farm in Orleans County, Vt., on July 10. Bernardo and her partner have lived and worked on the farm for over a decade with their family. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Regular; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Bold; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } .dipgrid { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: stretch; margin: 25px -28px; } .dip__main { position: relative; overflow: hidden; } .dip__image { position: relative; top: 50%; left: 0%; } .dip__image.portrait { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 24px; } .dip__image.landscape { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 10px; } @media only screen and (min-width: 700px) { .dipgrid { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: stretch; max-width: 1200px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } .dip { width: 48.5%; } .dip:not(:nth-child(2n)) { margin-right: 3%; } .dip__image.portrait { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 10px; } .dip__image.landscape { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 0px; } .dip__main { position: relative; overflow: hidden; } } .dip_cap_cred { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Regular", "Times New Roman", Times, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: .5px; text-align: left; margin: 3px 15px 0px 0px; font-weight: 200; } .dip_cap_cred span{ text-transform: uppercase; color: #6b6b6b; } .theme-dark .dip_cap_cred{ color: #fff; } .theme-dark .dip_cap_cred span { color: #fff; } Will Lambek of Migrant Justice comforted Wuendy Bernardo after discussing her immigration situation on July 10. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff) Bernardo milked a cow during an early morning shift at the farm in Orleans County, Vt., on July 11. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff) When Morin was growing up, there were dozens of farms in these parts. He and his siblings would milk his father's 50 cows before and after school, and bale hay in the summers. Most of those farms are now gone. The ones that remain are far larger and rely less on family labor. Throughout the state, an estimated 750 to 850 migrant farmworkers, mostly from Mexico and Guatemala, constitute 'There aren't a lot of people growing up into farming anymore,' Morin said. 'It's very hard to find American help that will actually milk the cows, work in the barns.' Margins in the industry have grown tighter as the price farmers get for milk hasn't kept pace with rising costs. 'I'm surviving, but I'm not gonna lie: It's hard financially,' said Morin, who bought the family farm from a brother. 'Of the 20 years I've been farming, I've probably had three good years.' Advertisement Bernardo's 18-year-old sister helped John Morin collect a calf and its mother on his dairy farm. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff Bernardo's children cast shadows on a garage at the dairy farm where they live and work. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff Of Vermont's 14 counties, Orleans was one of two Trump won in 2024. But Morin says there's a growing, if quiet, discontent among local farmers. 'I think a lot of people are not happy at all,' he said. 'We have to worry about weather. We have to worry about the price of milk fluctuating. And now we gotta worry about losing our help. We're just trying to make a living and feed the country.' Morin said he voted for Trump in 2016 'against my better judgment,' but backed the Democratic nominees in 2020 and 2024. 'I consider myself conservative, but I don't consider this administration conservative,' he said, emphasizing the importance of family values. 'You don't treat people like they're doing.' In recent months, rival factions within the Trump administration A Trump 2028 flag was posted on a hill in Orleans County, Vt., near Morin's farm. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, until recently ICE did not respond to questions from the Globe about her case, or about its current posture toward migrant farmworkers. Advertisement Bernardo and her partner have five children, from 5 to 17, and also care for two of her orphaned half-sisters, ages 15 and 18. The family members have a range of immigration and citizenship statuses. It is a hard life of long days. Most mornings, Bernardo and her partner start milking Morin's 125 cows at 4:30 a.m., and again at 3 p.m. before letting them out for the night. In between, they do other farm and household chores and spend time with their kids. Morin's farm is smaller than most and lacks a modern 'milking parlor' that would allow the cows to come to centralized machines. Instead, Bernardo and her partner walk up and down three rows of cows in the barn, disinfecting their udders and attaching mobile milkers one by one. Bernardo and her 15-year-old half-sister made dinner at their home in their kitchen upstairs. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff Bernardo fed a calf on the dairy farm on July 11. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff The younger children also help feed the calves, and the older ones take the occasional milking shift. Days off are vanishingly rare because, no matter what, the cows have to be milked. But sometimes life gets in the way. When their 10-year-old son had appendicitis this spring, Bernardo and her partner stayed by his bedside for three weeks at a hospital in Burlington, while Morin took over some of their dairy duties. 'John was the one who picked up the slack, and they also helped care for the family,' Bernardo said. In better times, Morin and Beede share meals with Bernardo's family, ply the kids with snacks, wait for them at the bus stop, and take them to town. The children love his cat and her dogs. Bernardo and her partner took a walk on the farm with two of their children after a second round of milking cows on July 11. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Regular; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Bold; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } .dipgrid { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: stretch; margin: 25px -28px; } .dip__main { position: relative; overflow: hidden; } .dip__image { position: relative; top: 50%; left: 0%; } .dip__image.portrait { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 24px; } .dip__image.landscape { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 10px; } @media only screen and (min-width: 700px) { .dipgrid { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: stretch; max-width: 1200px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } .dip { width: 48.5%; } .dip:not(:nth-child(2n)) { margin-right: 3%; } .dip__image.portrait { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 10px; } .dip__image.landscape { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 0px; } .dip__main { position: relative; overflow: hidden; } } .dip_cap_cred { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Regular", "Times New Roman", Times, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: .5px; text-align: left; margin: 3px 15px 0px 0px; font-weight: 200; } .dip_cap_cred span{ text-transform: uppercase; color: #6b6b6b; } .theme-dark .dip_cap_cred{ color: #fff; } .theme-dark .dip_cap_cred span { color: #fff; } Bernardo's 15-year-old half-sister said a prayer before having breakfast with her family. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff) Bernardo's daughters played in their bedroom before breakfast. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff) Occasionally the younger kids call down from their upstairs apartment to ask if they can come down to play or watch a movie. Advertisement 'Kids give life purpose. They give life meaning,' Beede said. 'I think that's what Wuendy and her family do in our lives.' Without them, 'It would be a very lonely existence for us, with very little purpose.' According to Dan Kurzman, a longtime friend of Morin's: 'He adopted that family — and they've adopted him.' Upstairs, the family of nine shares close quarters: a cramped kitchen and common area, one bedroom for the parents, and two more packed with bunkbeds. Several balloons in the kids' bedrooms last week marked the recent high school graduation of Bernardo's oldest half-sister. 'It feels exciting,' the 18-year-old said. 'My first graduation.' 'As a mother, that's what I hope for all of my kids,' Bernardo said. 'I hope to see them all graduate.' Bernardo's children played outside the barn while their parents work on the dairy farm. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff The children have typical aspirations, of becoming a nurse, or a veterinarian, another an attorney, another a dentist, Bernardo said. They attend local schools, which the older kids say they prefer to long, slow summers on the farm, when they must concoct their own entertainment. 'We go to the river and spend time there when days are hot,' the 13-year-old said. 'And I think that's all.' (To protect their privacy, Bernardo asked that her children not be named.) Over a breakfast of homemade tortillas filled with pork sausage, spinach, and Vermont cheddar cheese, Bernardo's partner said he wished more Americans understood that all he and his family are looking for is a better life. 'We do the dirty work they don't want to do. We are not criminals. We are supporting our kids. We are part of the economy of the United States,' he said. 'That's all we do: work and feed our family.' Advertisement He said he felt nervous about Bernardo's looming check-in. 'I always try to stay positive and think everything will be all right,' he said. 'But with this administration, you never know.' Bernardo sat with her cup of coffee after having breakfast with her family. Her day started at 4:30 a.m. with the first of two shifts milking cows. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff At Bernardo's last appointment with ICE, on June 20, crowds of supporters gathered outside the agency's office in St. Albans to protest her potential deportation. After a half hour she reappeared. She'd been told to return in a month. Morin, who had driven Bernardo and three of her children to the appointment, waited for her outside, fuming. 'This is not American,' he said. 'I wear the American flag. I support the Constitution. I support our troops that have fought for this country, that make this country free. What's going on in this country — it's not humane.'
Politico
10-07-2025
- Politico
How an Arizona special election is inflaming Democratic divides
'As a mother and lifelong public servant in this community, I've lived the challenges our families face under Trump's anti-Latino policies, and have spent my career standing up for immigrant rights,' Grijalva said in a statement. 'I will bring the same fight and resistance to this anti-immigrant Administration.' Foxx, who would be one of two Filipino Americans in Congress if elected, has been calling out the party's failure to stand up to President Donald Trump and is going after the late Grijalva for not resigning and thus making Republicans' megabill easier to pass. She has also painted Adelita Grijalva as part of the 'establishment.' 'Hundreds of thousands of people in my district, myself included, my friends, my family, my neighbors have been without a representative because of the passing,' Foxx said in a Tuesday interview. 'At a time where this budget bill stands to impact so many of us, we have had nobody voting on our behalf, nobody fighting for us.' Hogg and his PAC did not respond directly to BOLD PAC's statement, instead focusing on highlighting their endorsed candidate. Foxx, Hogg said in a statement, 'brings unmatched clarity, conviction, and lived experience to some of the toughest challenges working families face.' 'She is equipped to fight back against Trump because he's attacking the very programs that she's relied on for her survival,' he added. Foxx brushed aside concerns about Hispanic representation, saying the role 'can look a lot of different ways' and citing her ties to the the district's younger, working-class communities. Hernandez and Grijalva are vowing to stand up to Trump. But like Foxx, Hernandez has painted Grijalva as an extension of the Democrats whom they view as somewhat acquiescent and has pointed to the support from national groups like BOLD PAC as evidence nothing will change. 'It's not surprising that the daughter of a congressman who was in Congress for over 20 years is getting the establishment endorsement,' Hernandez said in an interview on Tuesday. With under a week before the election, Hernandez spent almost $479,000 on TV ads, to Foxx's roughly $471,500 and Grijalva's near $309,000, according to AdImpact, which tracks political advertising. Outside spending has ramped up in the race as well. Some pro-Grijalva groups have also played in the race. The Working Families Party, which endorsed her in late May, spent just under $150,000, mostly on broadcast ads. Progressive Promise, the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the League of Conservation Voters have also bought ads in the area, per AdImpact.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
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