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Minnesota school board association members are gathering Jan 16 and 17 this week in Minneapolis, at the convention center— and this year North Branch is a featured district in the  “Schools of Excellence” showcase.  The district six area is represented on the MSBA Board of Directors by Heather Naegele, of North Branch.

At last week’s North Branch Board organizational meeting Superintendent Sara Paul explained that the district was selected to present its “Registered Teacher Apprenticeship” program.  Naegele and North Branch Chair Tim MacMillan are also participating on the  panel.    

North Branch has initiated a state-sanctioned teacher training and certification program in response to  the existing and predicted teacher shortages.    There are several apprentice teachers who have been accepted to work alongside experienced journey teachers, who have volunteered to mentor and develop skills in the chosen discipline.  The apprentice candidates are mostly individuals who have been interested in becoming full time teachers but lacked the time, resources or ability to enroll in traditional programs.  

North Branch won funding from the state to aid the program and is focusing on apprentices interested in pursuing special education for  this first group.

Other topics the state school board conference will cover include;  artificial intelligence, contract negotiations and breakout sessions on everything from legal issues to construction and finance. They’ll hear from the Grammy Award winner of Music Educator of the Year.

In other action — the Board re-elected Tim MacMillan as chair, Sarah Grovender vice chair. They left pay at $60 per meeting or $125 for all day meetings (in excess of four hours.). The chair gets $800 per year and the vice chair $500. Data from other districts in this area were provided and for comparison— Forest Lake pays its chair $5,725 annually and vice chair $5,525 and directors $5,325.  They get no per diem or per meeting identified compensation.  Chisago Lakes regular meeting rate is $45, and $75 for three hour meetings less than six hours and the chair/clerk gets $600 per year.  The School Board in Rush City gets $50 per meeting, and no officer extra compensation.  Meetings in excess of four hours are $100.

Committee assignments stayed the same except for a personal conflict causing Native American Parent Advisory Committee liaison Naegele to step down. Members MacMillan and LaValla will fill this slot.  Strategic Planning Committee gets LaValla, Shelly Johnson and Neagele.

The Board meeting date in March was moved to March 6 from the 13th which is during break.

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