South St. Paul Public Schools — Transcript
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Student Athletics and Activities Recognition
Employee Service Milestones and Retirements
District Work Session and Superintendent Updates
Policy Approvals
Teacher Development and Evaluation Plan (TDE Plan) Approval
Intermediate School District 97 Long-Term Facilities Maintenance Budget Resolution
Votes (9)
Approval of Policies (Third and Final Reading)
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [00:57:04] · Seconded by Unknown [00:57:05]
The board considered a lengthy list of policies for their third and final reading. Director Claflin noted that the significant number of policies was due to a standard review process to ensure they are updated for the upcoming school year, not in response to any specific crisis.
Approval of Non-renewal of Long-Term and Limited Contract Substitute Teachers
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [00:57:11] · Seconded by Unknown [00:57:12]
Director of Human Resources, Joel Miler, explained that this is an annual process mandated by Minnesota statutes to terminate the contracts of long-term limited substitute teachers at the end of the school year. This prevents the district from allocating two teachers to one position in the following year.
Approval of 2024-25 Continuance of Teacher Contracts
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [00:58:53] · Seconded by Unknown [00:58:54]
Joel Miler, Director of Human Resources, presented the recommendation for probationary teachers who are to be retained and those who will be granted tenure for the upcoming school year, as part of the annual staffing process.
Approval of Education Identity and Access Management Board Resolution
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [00:59:02] · Seconded by Unknown [00:59:03]
Joel Miler explained that this resolution designates Dr. Brian Zambino as the official with authority for Education Identity Access Management, allowing the district to identify responsible individuals within state systems. He humorously noted that not approving it would lead to 'much less work'.
Approval of Resolution Relating to Non-Renewal of Probationary Teachers (Long-Term Limited Contract Substitute Teachers)
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [1:00:10] · Seconded by Unknown [1:00:11]
Joel Miler further clarified this resolution concerns the non-renewal of long-term limited contract substitute teachers, in compliance with Minnesota statutes. This is necessary to officially terminate contracts at the end of the school year to avoid issues with staffing for the next year.
Approval of 2024-2027 Teacher Development and Evaluation Plan
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [1:00:27] · Seconded by Unknown [1:00:28]
Dr. Amy Winter and Tiffany Bran presented the revised TDE plan, highlighting updates to align with state guidelines (MDA), inclusion of cultural competency, and clearer definitions for student learning goals. Key changes included reducing informal observations for probationary teachers while increasing them for continuing contract teachers, ensuring consistent peer coaching, and streamlining the performance assistance process. The plan emphasizes teacher growth and support.
Approval of Resolution Authorizing Intermediate School District 97's Long-Term Facilities Maintenance Program Budget
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [1:09:20] · Seconded by Unknown [1:09:21]
Brady Hoffman, Finance Director, clarified that this is an annual resolution allowing Intermediate School District 97 to access long-term facilities maintenance (LTFM) funding, with South St. Paul contributing a proportionate share ($11,318 for 25-26). He explained the budget increased due to necessary projects like replacing HP units.
Approval of the Acceptance of the Gifts Report
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [1:12:42] · Seconded by Unknown [1:12:43]
Mr. Hoffman presented a report listing various donations received by the district. These included a 3M volunteer match, contributions to the CDLU group from HLT Heating and Cooling and Mendoza Navaro LLC, donations from the South St. Paul Education Foundation for elementary pottery programs, support from the South St. Paul Open Foundation for dance team coaching salaries, and a donation from Volkswagen of Inver Grove for the senior all-night party.
Motion to Move into Closed Session
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [1:21:42] · Seconded by Unknown [1:21:43]
A motion was made to move into a closed session, as allowed by Minnesota statute 13d 03, to discuss independent employee negotiations.
Notable Quotes (7)
I'd just like to mention it was a huge list that you just read off. All of these policies are available on the website if you're curious and also in the various School handbooks. It seems like so many of them are coming up because we want to make sure we review them in time for the next school year to prepare so nothing major has happened in our world we're not responding to some kind of crisis this is a very standard review process.
This is the time of year where excuse me where we are non-renewing teachers for the 2425 school year so we do have two more teacher names to bring forward to you from probationary staff members that we are non-renewing for the next school year and we're looking for the board's approval this evening on those non-renewals
Well if you didn't approve it we were all going to have much less work to do but we'll get back to work thank you for approving that that allows us to go into the state systems and identify who responsible for the various buckets of work and so that's what they call that the EDI am however I this one's Iowa sorry there's two of them but anyway approving that will allow us to keep the work moving
This is for the non-renewal of long-term limited contract substitute teachers in compliance with Minnesota statutes were required to terminate the teaching contracts of the district's long-term limited contract substitute teachers at the end of each school year A long-term substitute by definition is one who worked all or part of the school year replacing a specific teacher who has returned rights to his or her position the contracts of the long-term substitutes must be terminated at the end of the school year failure to terminate these contracts could result in the district allocating two teachers to a position for the next school year attached as a resolution to non-renew teaching contracts for the district's long-term limited contract substitute teachers
We've moved it from the 35% to that part one our teacher practice it is no longer part of the final performance rating that our teachers um receive at the end of their um cycle of performance so we've updated that including a definition to add some guiding questions to help those professional learning communities strengthen then that meant that we still had these student learning goals that we needed to account for that 35% and so in the past this was optional fortunately was already there now it is required so again not a new practice just a slight shift in our practice
The big takeaway is I was really excited that we had alignment across of teachers administrators and the educational service department an agreement on a plan on how to support teachers and in some of the documents what you will see is we want to support we don't want to be punitive so we realize that as teachers are coming out of colleges they're not necessarily ready to go to run a classroom without support and so this plan is designed to support them as they are also learning how to improve their skills as a teacher and so we just did a lot of cleanup and also balanced like what are the needs of teachers and what are the available resources
So this is an annual resolution that comes to the school board uh long-term facility maintenance funding is a revenue stream that districts and intermediates can access to help maintain the Deferred maintenance needs of their buildings um as an intermediate District they don't have their own tax base they're a member um Consortium of districts so in order for them to access this Revenue each member district needs to approve their prop proportionate share of that amount which then our taxpayers will pay that portion and then we return those funds over to the intermediate to do those projects
Ordinances & Resolutions (29)
District policy on equal opportunity.
District policy outlining its mission statement.
District policy regarding employee discipline, suspension, and dismissal.
District policy on conducting background checks for employees.
District policy addressing harassment and violence.
District policy for staff on acceptable use of information technology.
District policy prohibiting weapons in schools.
District policy outlining procedures for searching student property and persons.
District policy regarding student appearance and dress code.
District policy on the distribution of non-school materials by students and employees.
District policy governing school-sponsored student publications and activities.
District policy prohibiting bullying.
District policy on the protection and privacy of personal records.
District policy on overdose medication.
District policy regarding Do Not Resuscitate/Intubate orders.
District policy and forms for student surveys.
District policy prohibiting discrimination based on student disability.
District policy prohibiting hazing.
District policy prohibiting discrimination based on student's parental, family, or marital status.
District policy on student immunization requirements.
District policy on the Pledge of Allegiance.
District policy for students on acceptable use of information technology.
District policy on attendance at state tournaments.
District policy regarding homeschooling.
District policy outlining graduation requirements.
District policy on the acceptance of gifts.
New initiative focusing on career planning, pathways to careers, and further education from middle school through high school, including STEM education.
An anonymous reporting application for students, families, and staff to report concerns about welfare, fights, etc.
A triennial plan outlining requirements and support for educators' evaluation and growth, aligned with state guidelines.