New Ulm – Thursday’s school board meeting confirmed the termination of nine New Ulm Public Schools’ staff members. 

ISD 88’s school board room was silent following the reading of the action item confirming the termination of nine New Ulm Public School staff members.

Board member Amanda Groebner eventually made the motion with a second from board member Melissa Sunderman, which passed as a unanimous decision. 

“It’s never fun,” Groebner said.

Terminations included six paraprofessionals, Mackenzie Kjelshus, Kevin Maudal, and Megan Williams from Washington Learning Center, Joey Berg and Alexandra Erickson from Jefferson Elementary, and Jessica Bendorf from the middle school. Three custodians, Douglas Cottrell, Micheael Keim, and Margaret Zabell were also terminated following the board’s decision.

Terminations aligned with Superintendent Sean Koster’s comments from a March meeting that the cuts would be divided across schools rather than targeting a building or department. 

Koster explained the reasoning for what he said felt like a “late minute” decision before the end of the school year. 

“There were a lot of moving parts a couple months ago when we were looking at this,” Koster said. “Some of it had to do with hiring dates, resignations, retirements.”

The decision making process for termination differed position to position. 

“All of our teachers were handled within the first month and a half of budget reduction conversations [but we also] had decisions that could not be made until now,” Koster said. 

He said with paraprofessionals, there are additions and departures throughout the year so termination decisions could not occur until the end of the school year. 

Position terminations are the result of a $1.98 million budget cut that was decided on earlier in the year. Cuts followed three years of deficit spending by the New Ulm School District. Reduced enrollment in the New Ulm school system, along with decreases in both federal and state funding were contributing factors to the budget cuts. Additionally, the cost of insurance, staffing, and government mandates continue to rise. 

Following the motion to terminate nine staff members, Koster thanked them for their contributions. 

“I would just like to thank all of the staff for what they do for children, for their time and effort, and for working at New Ulm Public Schools,” Koster said. 

Other motions passed were a 2026-2029 contract extension for Superintendent Koster by the board, and approval of the Minnesota Teachers Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee Memorandum of Understanding that would provide a pathway for paraprofessionals to become early childhood special education teachers through the district’s assistance.

In the Superintendent Report, several updates were also given.

Koster said school districts spanning multiple counties are now required to have at least one polling location in each county where at least 5,000 registered district voters reside. 

Koster explained two new laws that will bring updates to the district’s anonymous threat reporting system and add additional guidelines to prevent grooming through unmonitored social media conversations. 

The report concluded with Koster discussing legislative conversation in the capital regarding summer unemployment for school staff. 

“They have funding for it, they continue to have funding for it, but some of the word on the street in the hallways at the capital is that it’s going to be moving to the districts to have to pay for that,” Koster said. 

Funding for summer unemployment for school staff would cost an additional $240,000 for the district. 

Koster assured that he is not against unemployment funding for the staff, but he said the difficulties it would bring. 

The school board next meets on Thursday, June 25, with the study session being held on Thursday, June 11.