A Hormel great’s legacy may soon officially live on in academia.

At an Austin Public Schools board meeting Monday evening, the board is expected to confirm the new school’s name as I.J. Holton Intermediate School.

The name was unofficially decided in late August after a 6-0 school board voted on the late Holton, a former president and CEO of Hormel Foods Corp. who died in April, from a list of five names. The board is coming to the end of a 90-day public comment period on the new school’s name, and will finalize it Monday.

Later in the meeting, the board will take its first look at a revised district policy on naming school buildings or facilities. While policy revisions are a routine activity, Superintendent David Krenz said this revision was in part a response to the naming process for the Holton school.

“It was a first go-round when we put it in place for the I.J. Holton,” Krenz said.

The review makes small changes to the policy’s language and adjusts the timeline for how long after a person’s death it must be before the board can name a school structure after him or her.

 

Truth in Taxation

Following the regularly-scheduled meeting will be the school board’s Truth in Taxation hearing at 6 p.m. The proposed tax levy for next year is $6,793,659, which is a 3.21 percent drop from last year’s levy of $7,018,790. The proposal is at the limit determined by the Minnesota Department of Education for how much Austin Public Schools can levy. The school board has to certify it by Dec. 31.

A public comment period will take place during the levy discussion.

 

Superintendent review

Also during the meeting, Chairperson Jeff Kritzer will present the results of a superintendent’s evaluation conducted at a Nov. 26 meeting.