NEW ULM — A policy change was approved at the New Ulm School Board meeting Thursday, ensuring the school district can continue to give back to dedicated employees.

The change was made to their Gifts to Employees policy; the purpose of which is to avoid impropriety or conflict of interest with potential gifts given to school district employees. The change adds a section to the policy stating the policy does not apply to non-monetary awards provided through the school district’s approved employee recognition program.

Superintendent Sean Koster said the change was made to ensure the policy reflected the school’s actions.

“I think fiduciary responsibility is to make sure that your policies reflect spending,” he said. “If we’re going to pay for dinners for people at a banquet, I wanted to make sure that the policies reflected what we were doing.”

Koster said the main event this change would cover is the honoring of employees who’ve spent

over 25 years with the district and retirees at the Eagles Extravaganza event. The district paid for their meals, which is covered under this policy change.

Koster said the ability for school districts to spend money on gifts to celebrate retirees and employees for their years of service had been possible since 2016 when the state legislature gave this authority to them.

“New Ulm Public Schools didn’t have a policy on file for that,” he said. “We created a policy and made sure it was reflective of what the legislature had put in place. It allowed us to honor our retirees and years of service at the Eagles Extravaganza on Friday.”

With his first year spent in New Ulm and the decades he’s worked in education, Koster said it was an honor to be able to give back to New Ulm’s long-standing staff in this way.

“There were tears shed, hugs, a lot of emotions in those moments,” he said. Having spent my entire career in education, I can definitely relate to the blood, sweat, and tears of someone spending 20, 30 years in a district. My heart goes out to them, thanks them for all their hard work.”

Board member Melissa Sundermann made the motion, with Board member Jonathan Schiro seconding. The next study session will be Thursday, May 9, and the next board meeting Thursday, May 23.