REGIONAL—Tower-Soudan officially has a new coordinator for its community education program. The school board approved the hiring of Amy Banks at a special meeting here on Thursday, Dec. 19. Banks, who has already been active in the role since early December, says she is working hard to “learn the ropes.” Since the departure of the previous coordinator, the hours for the position have been cut from just over thirteen per week to seven. According to Superintendent Reggie Engebritson, the cut in hours is a temporary measure until she has a “better understanding of the programs we (the district) will be offering in the future and the amount of time needed to oversee the program.”
This is not the only change that school personnel will be experiencing. The board voted to ratify new union contracts for support staff, such as paraprofessionals and teachers’ aides, as well as food service employees and Indian Education employees. Each of the new contracts adjusts the salary schedule from six steps down to four and includes pay bumps at each step.
Approval of the new contracts wasn’t unanimous, as board members Chris Koivisto and Pat Christensen both voted against their ratification. Their concerns stemmed from the new salary schedule, as well as a lack of wording specifying the necessity of a bachelor’s degree for certain positions. Koivisto expressed concern that some employees who have quickly reached the top of their pay scale and have no room for growth could be dissatisfied, though other board members waved off these concerns as the new contracts still allow for cost of living adjustments.
In other business, the board:
Approved the calendar listing of regular school board meetings for 2020. The first meeting of the new year will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at 5 p.m.
Approved the calendar for the 2020-2021 school year.
Denied a grievance from EdMN Local 1406 regarding a teacher who failed to turn in a voucher within the allowed timeframe for work completed outside the required classroom duties.
Accepted the resignation of Jacqueline Bush, a secretary at Northeast Range.
Approved the termination of part time North Woods custodian James Boutto.
Approved the purchase of four Bluebird propane school buses. The district will trade in three of their current buses to help defray the cost, which will total $392,000.
Approved an Indian Education policies and procedures document for 2019-2020.