The International Falls School Board Wednesday approved the resignation and release from contract of district Superintendent Jeff Peura at a special meeting.
The resignation is effective June 30, and was approved by the board unanimously with no discussion.
Peura has accepted a position in Baudette as superintendent and elementary principal for the Lake of the Woods School District beginning July 1.
“I’d just like to say thank you to the board of International Falls for the opportunity to work here, and also the community and the staff for the high level of excellence they bring to education,” Peura said during the meeting. “I appreciate it.”
The board also unanimously approved the layoffs of five teachers — an item that had been tabled at April’s meeting. One fourth-grade teacher, Beth Shermoen of Falls Elementary, was unanimously removed from the layoff list and expected to continue teaching next school year.
The layoffs, by non-renewal of contracts, are effective at the end of this school year and were approved for Stephanie Davis, fourth-grade teacher at Falls Elementary School; Kim Kuffenkam, reading specialist at Falls Elementary; Terry Mason, Title I reading and math teacher at West End Elementary; Jonelle Mellstrom, kindergarten teacher at Falls Elementary; and Darrell Schmidt, English teacher at Falls High School.
“What’s the criteria for if we find some more money next year, or somebody else retires or whatever, to put the call back for them?” asked board member Darrell Wagner.
“There is no seniority pecking order,” Peura said and since all teachers are probationary, there’s no policy in place for that.
Board Chairman Stuart Nordquist told The Journal the change in the number of layoffs was made as a result of the resignation of sixth-grade teacher Emilie Veith, opening a position for one teacher to stay working in the district. The resignation was approved in April.
The layoffs were approved to reduce spending to offset a projected $700,000 budget deficit next school year.
Little discussion took place on the approval of the layoffs and the removal of Shermoen from the layoff list.
“(Shermoen) will not be placed on notice of termination and non-renewal of teaching contract,” Nordquist told The Journal after the meeting. “Beth Shermoen will be a teacher next year, assigned to whatever grade (elementary principal Jerry) Hilfer assigns her to.”
Peura told the board that Hilfer could not attend the meeting, but recommended the board remove Shermoen from the layoff list.
Nordquist added that at the May 21 meeting, all probationary teachers who were not laid off will have their contracts officially renewed. “And Beth Shermoen will be one of them,” he said.
In April, community members and parents spoke in support of Shermoen and expressed concern about her being laid off. Many said her students’ performance on standardized testing makes her a teacher too valuable to terminate, and urged the board to reconsider the system of choosing layoffs when seniority is not a required system.
Hilfer told The Journal that after the notice of resignation from Veith opened a slot, the criteria used to choose Shermoen was the criteria used in evaluating any teacher. Observations, student assessment data, classroom management, feedback from colleagues, feedback from parents and students, attendance to special needs issues, professional enhancement, involvement and commitment to the community, attendance and absence record, special licensure areas, and the needs of the district were the criteria used for the decision, according to Hilfer.
Administration structure
With the approval of Peura’s resignation, and Hilfer’s retirement at the end of this school year, the board discussed the possibility of combining the positions, but decided against it.
“I think the way we’re structured now, I mean we’re going to a smaller school district, but we’re not there yet,” Wagner said during discussion. “So I can’t see how we could, you know, cut any personnel there and expand the workload to everybody else.”
Other board members agreed, and a survey of union representatives for teachers; paraprofessionals; and secretaries, cooks and custodians showed the unions in agreement to keep the positions separate.
Nordquist said later that having the elementary grade student population between a three- and four-section structure makes the job of elementary principal too demanding to combine with superintendent.
“If the census continues the way it is, we’re going to eventually slip into a three-section school. The numbers are just not there,” Nordquist said. “But even if we slip into a three-section school, we still need a principal in that building.”
The positions were posted calling for applicants Thursday, and the deadline to apply for both is set for May 25; the board agreed to use the same time line for both positions.
“It’s pretty late in the season, we might have to go with the interim route before we do an entire superintendent search,” Wagner said.
Board member Mark Lassila suggested going forward with the search but keeping in mind that if a superintendent is not found in time for next school year, an interim search would be more realistic.
“We’ll get those posted and we will hopefully get a superintendent and principal aboard in a short period of time,” Nordquist said as the meeting ended. “Hopefully, elementary principal we can get done first.”
