NEW LONDON -- New London-Spicer schools will not proceed with a quality compensation program application to the state because the teachers union has voted down the plan, according to a report given to the NLS School Board at its regular meeting Monday.
The district had been waiting on the union vote to proceed with the application, according to Superintendent Paul Carlson.
The timing of the district's application for state funding for the program pushed the teachers' vote into the school year, he explained.
"It is difficult to implement a new plan when school was already in session," he told the board. "The teachers' union didn't feel comfortable approving the plan."
The quality compensation plan would have rewarded teachers for increasing the academic achievement of students. The funding for the plan was to be $190 per student from the state and $70 per student from local property taxes.
ADVERTISEMENT
The board approved the preliminary property tax level at its Sept. 25 meeting with the $70 per student fee included in the levy. Carlson noted that the levy increase will decrease from 26.79 percent to 18.61 percent with the $70 per student funding removed.
Some portions of the plan will still be used by the district, Carlson noted, including study groups and learning groups.
Board chair Karen Nelson thanked the group that worked on the compensation application and plan. "It was a very big project," she said. "Our school district will benefit from all the hard work."
The board also heard a report from Carlson that Dave Trooien, Minnesota Department of Transportation District 8 engineer, will meet with the board at the Oct. 23 meeting to discuss the intersection of state highways 23 and 9 near the high school in New London.
High school student Kristina Scholl was critically injuried in an accident at the intersection in early September. In a letter to MnDOT, the board asked the agency to consider making it a controlled intersection.
Carlson noted that MnDOT is studying the accident data from the intersection and expects to have the study finished by the Oct. 23 meeting. He also noted that at its Oct. 18 regular meeting, the New London City Council will consider a resolution of support for change to a controlled intersection.
In other action, the board:
- Approved a tentative site for a regulation-sized outdoor hockey rink at the Prairie Meadows school site in Spicer, with the actual site on the property to be determined by the Lakes Area Hockey Club with the approval of the board's buildings and grounds committee.
ADVERTISEMENT
- Heard a report that, as of Oct. 2, the district enrollment is 1,581 students from kindergarten to grade 12. That compares to 1,595 students on the first day of school on Sept. 5 and 1,571 at the end of the 2005-06 school year.
- Heard a report that the buildings and grounds committee has had several meetings with the Crow River Players regarding the Little Theatre. The committee and the players' group board have discussed increasing the rent that the district pays the group from $3,000 per year to $14,200 per year for staging school plays at the theater, according to Carlson. The board took no action on the matter.
- Heard a report from Carlson on school safety, in light of recent school shootings around the country. Carlson stressed that the district has plans and prevention measures in place should such a thing happen at the NLS schools.
