NEW ULM — The District 88 School Board approved a local literacy plan for the 2019-2020 school year containing minor changes, a Safe Routes To Schools (SRTS) local coordinator grant during a board meeting Thursday.

Jefferson Elementary Principal Adam Kluver presented the local literacy plan to the board and said minor changes were made to some components of district’s plan for next school year.

Kluver said the largest change to the literacy plan is to core curriculum and instruction with the school district’s investment in new English Language Arts (ELA) resources for students kindergarten through fourth grade.

Grades kindergarten through second grade will implement Zaner-Bloser Superkids – chosen because of its systematic instruction and decodable and informational text. Kluver said this resource is better structured than previous literacy resources.

“It is a more structured program or curriculum resource than we had in the past with a heavy emphasis on foundational skills, phonemic awareness and phonics – those building blocks of learning how to read for our youngest students,” he told the board.

He said in grades three and four, students transition into more comprehension and application-based programs with Read Side by Side.

According to a print version of the local literacy plan, the program was chosen because of its focus on learning to build and integrate knowledge across text-types using strategies to monitor and improve comprehension.

“It’s taking the skills students learn K-2 and putting students into situations where they’re going to apply those skills,” Kluver said.

In addition to the literacy plan, the board unanimously approved the resolution for a SRTS Local Coordinator grant that allows communities to implement SRTS planning and implementation assistance to the community.

Through the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the grant provides financial assistance to fund a SRTS Local Coordinator position.

“We’re one of the few schools in the state that actually qualifies with this and got it,” Superintendent Jeff Bertrang said.

SRTS planning and programmatic activities will commence once the grant agreement is finalized and sent back to the state.

In Bertrang’s report to the board, he said the district’s May construction projects are underway with Washington Learning Center’s roof project halfway complete and the middle school’s cooler stripped and waiting on the delivery of new equipment.

He said the district is waiting on contractor availability for updates to district parking lots and said he estimates the projects will begin in July. Updates to exterior doors for district buildings are also postponed because of a shortage of steel.

“It’s just a matter of availability right now,” Bertrang said.

The next school board study session will be held 5 p.m. Thursday, July 11, in the district conference room. The next regular school board meeting will be held 6 p.m., Thursday, July 25, in the district boardroom at 414 S. Payne St.

Gage Cureton can be emailed at gcureton@nujournal.com.