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Minot School Board votes to increase hiring rather than merge two schools

MPS board rejects merged school plan

Jill Schramm.MDN McKinley School will be welcoming students back next week. The school board decided not to merge Roosevelt and McKinley schools, dividing the classrooms between them, but instead will keep all classes at each school.

Minot Public Schools is seeking eight additional teachers with little more than a week before classes start.

The school board authorized the hiring of four more teachers in addition to four already being sought to assist with distance education at a special meeting Tuesday. The hiring is necessary with the board’s rejection of a proposal to merge two elementary schools due to the smaller class sizes resulting from families opting for distance education to reduce risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tracey Lawson, assistant superintendent for elementary, presented a plan for combining Roosevelt and McKinley, which both have just one section of each grade in a regular school year.

“We did see that the enrollment was well below the average at the other schools and looked at configuring those to combine those two schools,” she said.

The plan would have displaced four classroom teachers, although they would continue to have jobs elsewhere, including opportunities in distance education, which is short teachers.

Combining classrooms would have resulted in class sizes ranging from 18 students in kindergarten, which is about the district’s in-person average, to 22 for first grade, which is slightly above the 20.2-student average. Second and fourth grades still would have had two classrooms because of the number of students, although class sizes would be only between 12 and 16. The plan was to have grades kindergarten through two at McKinley and grades three through five at Roosevelt for the 2020-21 school term, with shuttle service between them.

“Would this not be an opportunity to lower the class sizes in these schools and keep the teachers where they are, and then have social distancing available in those classrooms?” board member Laura Mihalick asked.

Jim Rostad, board president, said keeping class sizes more consistent is necessary to be fair across the district.

“We only have so much money so we’ve got to be as fair as we can districtwide,” he said. “I think that’s what we are doing right now with this proposal.”

Board member Bonny Berryman said the money shouldn’t override the concern for children.

“This is too hard on the students – the displaced students and the displaced teachers,” Berryman said.

Board member Miranda Schuler agreed.

“It’s too close to school starting. It’s too much on the parents and the kids and the teachers,” she said. “We are stewards of the taxpayers’ money, but we’re also looking out for the best interest of our kids and our teachers.”

Keeping the schools separate and hiring four additional teachers is estimated to cost $320,000, which will add to the budget deficit. Supt. Mark Vollmer also said hiring at this late phase will be difficult.

Mihalick, Berryman and Schuler voted to authorize the hiring of additional teachers, while Rostad and Mike Gessner voted against.

Lawson noted the need for 15 distance educators in elementary. The district has been taking applications among existing staff for those positions. Lawson said distance learning classrooms will consist of combining students at up to five schools to reach the targeted numbers.

Also, 11 classroom sections across the district were identified for elimination based on decreased in-person enrollment. Schools that will be dropping an in-person section include::

– kindergarten at Hoeven and Longfellow.

– grade one at Hoeven, Sunnyside and Washington.

– grade three at Hoeven, Longfellow and Sunnyside.

– grade four at Hoeven and Longfellow.

– grade five at Perkett.

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