Red Wing School Board briefs

Red Wing School Board

New teaching positions approved

Red Wing School Board unanimously approved a motion that will add what is the equivalent of three full-time teaching positions. The costs for the new positions will be covered by revenue from increased enrollment.

The motion allows the addition a ninth third-grade teacher at Burnside Elementary. It also allows for additional hours for several part-time sixth-grade teachers at Twin Bluff; the extra hours equate to one full-time position.

While the additional elementary teaching positions will help keep class sizes down, they also raised concerns about the amount of space at the elementary schools.

“This configuration will pretty much max out our space,” Board member Paul Kramp said.

At the high school, there will be a sixth full-time special education teacher. Special education administrator Kim Chalmers said that the current five teachers have “very large” caseloads of more than 20 students each. The additional teacher will help alleviate that.

Personnel changes

The board approved the following personnel changes:

Reassignment: Kathi Gustafson, cook at Twin Bluff, effective June 1.

Resignation: Jona Evanson, special education assistant at Sunnyside, effective Feb. 27; Evan Gough, assistant principal at RWHS, effective June 30.

New hire: Chris Nordenskjold, night custodian at Twin Bluff, effective March 12; Russel Johnson, night custodian at Twin Bluff, effective March 5.

Retirement: Carol Schwartau, second-grade teacher at Burnside, effective June 6; Karen Bang, sixth-grade computer teacher at Twin Bluff, effective June 6.

Meeting watch

Monday night’s meeting lasted about one hour, 45 minutes before going into closed session to discuss the district’s lawsuit filed by former student Quera Pruitt. All board members were present.

— Compiled by Sarah Gorvin, staff writer

Tags: red wing, school board, government