Mitchell Board of Education to hear presentation on new literacy coaches – Mitchell Republic

MITCHELL — The Mitchell Board of Education will learn more about the district instructional literacy coaches when it meets next in regular session.

The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10 in Room 10 at the Mitchell Career and Technical Education Academy. The Mitchell Republic will livestream the meeting on its website.

Joe Childs, superintendent for the Mitchell School District, told the audience at Thursday’s State of the School’s presentation that the district has three new literacy coaches on staff this year who are working to improve reading skills for students at all levels.

“New this year, we have three literacy coaches that work in our elementary schools. They spend half of their time working with teachers providing professional development, and half of their time is direct instruction,” Childs said at the Thursday presentation. “There’s been a lot of discussion about the science of reading. There is a state initiative now, and it’s become an initiative in the Mitchell School District, and it focuses on phonics. Part of our empowerment is to make sure our teachers are up to speed with all the resources they need to teach reading.”

The coaches spend half of their day supporting classroom instruction during CORE 95% phonics time, or Tier 1. The literacy coaches work alongside every K-5 teacher once a week, according to information in the meeting agenda item. The other half of the day is dedicated to providing small-group instruction in a Tier 2 model for 30 minutes, with each coach leading a group during Tier 2 time at each grade level.

No action is expected on the subject at the meeting, the presentation is expected to be for the board’s information only.

Also at the meeting, the board is expected to consider the following personnel moves:

• The new certified hire of Tayah Waldera, volunteer assistant track coach, $1, effective 2024-25 school year.
• The new classified hires of Joni Hirsch, paraeducator at L.B. Williams Elementary, $16 per hour, 7 hours daily, effective Jan. 21, 2025 and Elizabeth Duvall, paraeducator at Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary, $16 per hour, 7 hours daily, effective Jan. 27, 2025.
• The resignation of Roxanne Loudenburg, middle school head volleyball coach, effective Jan. 27, 2025.
• The new Mitchell Technical College hires of Theresa Kriese, interim president, compensation increase of $31,044 ($166,000 prorated), effective Jan. 1, 2025; Tim Pranger, information systems technology (IST) adjunct instructor, $11,700 – 13 credits at (IST 202 – PenTest+, 4 credits; IST 203 – Emerging Technologies: MR, AI and ML, 4 credits; IST 268 – Managing Modern Networks, 5 credits), effective Jan. 13, 2025 and Jim Piper, Power Line Substitute Instructor, $150 per day, effective Jan. 30, 2025.
• The salary adjustment of Ben Goeman, Student Success Coach and Counselor, $51,200 to $52,200 for degree completion, effective Jan. 21, 2025.
• The Mitchell Technical College resignation of Michael Plooster, Power Line Instructor, effective Jan. 24, 2025.

Also at the meeting, the board is expected to:

• Hear board member reports.
• Hear the superintendent report.
• Hear public commentary.
• Consider accepting the audit report from 2023-24.
• Consider approval of membership agreement in the Eastern South Dakota Food Buying Group.
• Consider approval of the 2025-26 K-12 school calendar.
• Consider approval of an editorial cleanup of Policy 745.
• Consider entering into executive session for “the purpose of preparing for contract negotiations or negotiating with employees or employee representatives.”

The meeting is open to the public.

Erik Kaufman joined the Mitchell Republic in July of 2019 as an education and features reporter. He grew up in Freeman, S.D., graduating from Freeman High School. He graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1999 with a major in English and a minor in computer science. He can be reached at [email protected].