by Dave DeMars
news@thenewsleaders.com
The June 19 Sartell-St. Stephen School Board meeting revealed Sartell-St. Stephen School District Activities Director John Ross will step down and take on the role of associate activities director and management for the middle school’s activities program.
According to a recent press release by Superintendent Jeff Schwiebert, the Sartell-St. Stephen School Board approved an increase in personnel to support District K-12 activities and will be seeking a new activities director to replace Ross’s position at the high-school level. The district wants to fill the new activities-director position by July 15. As part of his new role, Ross will lead a task force to review potential expansion of sixth-grade opportunities.
The internal shift created disappointment among many on the district coaching staff. At the board meeting, swim coach Jason Anderson read from a prepared statement representing his opinion and the views of other coaches during the public-forum portion of the meeting. Anderson’s statement extolled the fine job Ross has done for so many years.
In his statement, Anderson cited the fact Ross has evolved throughout the years from being a student at Sartell schools to becoming successful as a teacher, dean of students, coach and finally activities director for the past 10 years. Anderson praised Ross for being an effective leader for the activities program and moving activities programs forward.
“John’s support in difficult and successful situations has given us a strong foundation for successful coaching,” Anderson said.
Anderson went on to say in his 26-year coaching career, he has talked with many coaches from other schools. Those coaches often confide they do not feel supported in their programs by their activities directors. That is not the case in Sartell, Anderson said.
“I have always been passionate about being able to say, ‘Not where I work,’” Anderson said. “Our activities director does a great job in managing fair and consistent policies across our sports, keeping all our teams in the forefront.”
Anderson added Ross’s influence and attention to the activities program is a major reason why coaches have such a positive influence on the students they coach.
“He has established a culture of self-improvement not only in knowledge of our sport but in our leadership skills,” Anderson said. “We as the head coaches of District 748 would ask the board to take the necessary steps tonight that would enable Mr. Ross to continue as the Sartell High School athletics director or at a minimum, table the motion until a more comprehensive evaluation of value to the athletic departments can be completed.”
Anderson closed his statement by saying all employees should be given the time to improve, to remediate problem issues and a chance to grow in their positions. After hearing the statement, the board did not respond as per its non-response policy for public forums and visitor statements.
Survey results
School District Assistant Superintendent Kay Nelson led a team of school principals in a presentation dealing with a state-mandated community survey reporting on how well the district is doing at various levels in educating students in the district so they can become “The World’s Best Workforce.”
Most of the respondents had children who attended school in the district. Ninety-five percent or better of all respondents rated the district efforts as good or excellent in satisfying educational needs and goals for K-12. Other highlights of the study include:
● 91 percent of respondents agree that at the high-school level, the district is doing a satisfactory job in preparing students for college.
● 92 percent of respondents would recommend Sartell High School as a good place to educate their children.
● 91 percent of respondents feel high-school class sizes are appropriate.
● 94 percent of respondents feel course rigor at the high-school level is satisfactory.
● 93 percent of overall respondents see quality of education remaining the same or improving.
● 84 percent of overall respondents trust the school board and district to do what is right for the children in the district.
● 91 percent of respondents agree or strongly agree residents receive good value for investment in local education.
A number of respondents have chosen to have children educated outside the district. Reasons most often given for the choice were unhappy or negative school experience (13), lacking subject or course offerings (22), religious values (17), convenience (23), post-secondary options (9) and special education (6).
Team Silver
Sartell High School Principal Brenda Steve and Nick Peterson, the high school’s assistant principal, gave a brief presentation on the Team Silver intervention program at Sartell High School. The program is designed to help students coming into the ninth grade who were identified as those having difficulties in adapting to school demands. Among the goals for the program are better school attendance, a decrease in the failure rate, improved reading skills and improved study skills and technology skills. The program participants meet every day.
“Missing 90 minutes of instructional time a day (because of absence) is a lot of instructional time that we have to catch up along the way,” Peterson said.
Data showed in the past three years 20 percent of students in ninth grade failed at least one class. That is one of the things that gave impetus to the program. Failure rate in the program has been reduced to around 3 percent of the Team Silver students that fail in a core subject area. Students who were part of the program in ninth grade have continued to be highly successful in 10th grade. Capacity for the program is 60 students, but the program has never reached capacity, according to Steve.
Action items
Action items on the night’s agenda included approval of a personnel resolution dealing with hiring and changes of position, approval of a fundraiser, approval of some individual contracts, approval of the Stearns County All-Hazard Migration Plan that would make the district eligible to apply for emergency funds under the Federal Emergency Management Agency, approval of a preliminary budget, approval of the academic calendar for holidays for contracted individuals and the superintendent, and approval of the Reading Well by Third-Grade Literacy Program.
The board also received a letter of resignation from its chair, Michelle Meyer, which will become effective Aug. 11. In her letter of resignation, Meyer said she and her family will be moving outside district boundaries and, thus, she would not be eligible to serve on the board. The board expects to address how to fill her position at its July meeting.
Swim Coach Jason Anderson reads from a prepared statement expressing his and other coaches’ disappointment at Activities Director John Ross being replaced as AD.
