Deans to be hired for high school
The Brainerd School District hopes to improve communication with parents and students at the high school by adding two deans.
At Monday's meeting the school board accepted a resignation from Mike Elsmore, assistant principal at Brainerd High School.
Assistant Superintendent Gary Phillips said rather than replacing the one assistant principal position that the district will hire two deans. Each dean and the remaining assistant principal, Erich Heise, will be assigned a specific grade. Heise will work with students and staff as assistant prilncipal. The two deans will each be assigned one grade level and work only with students.
In an interview, today, Phillips said, "This will give us three individuals each responsible for about 500 to 550 kids so we'll be able to have better communication with parents and students rather than having two assistant principals each responsiblefor 750 students.
Phillips said there were 12 applicants for the job. The administration recommended to the school board to hire Eric Widvey, who has taught at Milaca for the past six years, and Karrie Boser, who has taught at Pierz for seven years. Each dean will be paid $45,000 a year.
The deans are expected to be approved by the board at its August meeting.
In other school business, the school board:
Learned that residents are eager to take part in determining the future use of the Franklin Junior High School building.
Brainerd Superintendent Jerry Walseth said the district is getting a lot of response from residents who want to be on the Franklin task force.
The board agreed to add up to five more community members for 12-member task force.
Other task force members include school board members Bob Nystrom and Randy Klinger; Paul Bloom, Brainerd Community Education director; Doug Grout, the director of the Brainerd Housing and Redevelopment Authority; and Brainerd City Council member Bob Olson.
The first task force meeting will be 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 12 at Mississippi Horizons. The task force will meet monthly.
The school board also agreed to hire James H. Bedard of Brainerd to appraise the Franklin site at a cost not to exceed $7,000.
Accepted resignations from Pam Larson, mathematics teacher at Franklin, and Shirley Johnson, an elementary teacher.
Agreed to hire Gia Anderson as a guidance counselor for the 2002-03 school year only. Veronica Qualley was hired as a Spanish teacher for at Washington Middle School.
Accepted a concept design plan for the new middle school in Baxter. The concept plan places the school on the southeastern portion of the property.
The access road to the school off Crow Wing County Road 48 is proposed to extend Knollwood Drive. The access road on the east side of the school from Crow Wing County Road 48 to Mapleton Road South.
Kevin Donnay of Widseth, Smith and Nolting architecture and engineering firm said a two-day brainstorming session will occur this week on the design on the middle school to see what designs will work best.
Approved a floor covering policy for construction and floor covering replacement.
Renewed its memberships with the Minnesota School Boards Association and the Schools for Equity in Education for the 2002-03 school year.
Approved a service agreement with Northern Pines Mental Health Cooperative and another agreement with North Central Service Cooperative. Membership at NCSC decreased from $150 to $10 for the 2002-03 school year. The school will receive NCSC correspondence via e-mail instead of by mail. Board Chair Ruth Gmeinder and board member Randy Klinger will be the NCSC representative assembly members for the upcoming school year.
Approved an agreement with St. Cloud State University to allow students to student teach in the school district.
Approved a bid from Neumann Insulation Co. for $26,240 for pipe reinstallation at Lowell, Nisswa and Whittier elementary schools and at the high school.