The Big Lake Board of Education held their organization meeting last week. Newly-elected board members Amber Sixberry and Mark Hedstrom were sworn into office. Tim Hayes was re-elected board chair. Hedstrom was elected to fill the role of treasurer. Tom Pietrzak was elected board clerk. The West Sherburne Tribune was named the district’s official newspaper. KleinBank of Big Lake was named as their official depository, along with any other as determined by need. The board will continue to meet the fourth Thursday of every month in the Community Room at Independence Elementary School at 6:30 p.m. Exceptions to this are November and December, when the meetings are moved up one week to accommodate the holidays. The board left their compensation the same as last year, at $45 for a regular meeting and $60 for any meeting exceeding four hours. There is also a yearly stipend for the chair of $600 per year and $400 per year for the treasurer. The board approved the use of facsimile stamps for the board chair, clerk and treasurer. The board also approved a motion to allow Finance Manager Angie Manual to make electronic transfers on behalf of the district. The board reviewed their committee assignments and several changes were made. Hedstrom joins Board Members Dan Nygaard and Pietrzak on the communications committee. Board Member Tony Scales replaces Kevin Phillippe on the finance committee. Nygaard joined the grievance committee with Hayes and Scales. Hedstrom joins Pietrzak and Hayes on the policy committee. Nygaard takes the lead on the continuing education committee. Hayes is now on the Early Childhood Family Education Committee with Hedstrom as alternate. Sixberry is the representative to the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL). Pietrzak is the board representative on the readmission panel with Hedstrom as alternate. Scales will represent the board at the Schools for Equity in Education (SEE), meetings. Sixberry will represent Big Lake on the board of Wright Tech Center. The board also approved renewing membership in the Minnesota School Board Association, SEE, Resource Training and Solutions, the Central Minnesota Educational Research and Development Council and the MSHSL. The board approved a work session Tuesday, Feb. 12. There was also some discussion of video recording school board meetings and posting them on the school website as a means of improving communication.