Board looks at teachers entering, leaving NBC schools

by Mary Le Arneal
Published 2/23/22

The North Bend Public School Board of Education had its eyes on the future at its meeting Feb. 14.

The meeting started with Ross Lafleur and Kinsey Wemhoff talking about an enhanced mentor program for new teachers in the district. The objective of the program would be to support new teachers throughout their first year to help them feel a part of the NBC team.

The board looked at planning for next year. Superintendent Dan Endorf just wanted to make the board aware that the NSAA has approved bowling and girls wrestling as sanctioned sports. It was decided that NBC would poll the girls in the school to see if there is an interest in girls wrestling.

The renovations at the elementary school are advancing in planning stages. There are some contractors wanting to get into the school early, before the early out on May 12, to get pre-construction items done that would not interfere with the students.

“They are starting to feel the pressure,” Endorf said.

The English language arts curriculum adoption is moving along. The new science standards are reading differently than previously ones. The science teachers are still looking at what is available.

New teachers hired for the 2022-2023 year include Madison Davis for preschool (present preschool teacher Kayla Black is moving to a SPED position), McKenna Peterson for kindergarten, Melissa Harrell for first grade and Jenna Saalfeld for the middle school math position. The kindergarten and first grade teachers will be “looping” teachers and follow these large classes as they progress through the school.

In closing up this year, the board looked at doing an exit interview when teachers or staff leave the district. Les Douma, the district’s Teambuilder facilitator, suggested this and gave examples of questions that could be asked and how to do this. Board member Justin Taylor presented some exit interviews he found online. There was discussion on methods and how this could be done.

Board member Doug Hoops felt the board was not moving fast enough and made the motion that NBC follow Douma’s guidelines and do exit interviews with the departing teachers choosing who would conduct the interview. Board secretary Kyrsten Mottl offered to assist as she had done these interviews in her previous employment. The motion passed 6-0.

The board approved the purchase of the AptaFund time keeping software to help streamline the logging of hours for classified staff. It will save Mottl time and is a more accurate accounting of time cards.

The board went into executive session to ratify negotiations for the 2022-23 school year.

The next meeting is March 14 at 7:30 p.m.

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