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NEW ULM – Sleepy Eye St. Mary's wrestling will no longer be part of the cooperative sponsorship with area schools following Thursday's school board meeting.
Prior to the departure, St. Mary's High School was part of joint wrestling with New Ulm High School, New Ulm Cathedral High School, GFW, and Sleepy Eye Public Schools.
Superintendent Sean Koster said that the board has done several dissolutions of cooperative agreements in the past, but they had all been done due to lack of participation.
St. Mary's High School opted to start a cooperative with Springfield High School.
The change comes less than a month before the start of the wrestling season.
The board supported St. Mary's decision.
"You don't want to hold anyone hostage in any one of these cooperatives if that's the direction they wanted to go from there," Superintendent Sean Koster said. "You hate to see a school go that had active participants, but you also understand that they have their reasons and we'll support it."
Relating to sports, Koster took a moment to welcome Matt Zupke, the new Activities Director, who started on October 15. Zupke has three years of Activities Director experience in another district and Koster said he looks forward to the energy he will bring to the school.
"He [brings] a wealth of knowledge and is eager to get going," Koster said.
Student School Board Member Tanner Kissner had similar praises during his report.
"Students are beginning to meet our new AD and I hear great things so far," Kissner said.
In other news, an at-will employees retirement benefit plan was adopted. At-will employees refer to those who primarily work in the district offices, with all other employees being part of a union and having separate benefit plans.
The plan promotes high attendance and long-term loyalty, with payouts being scaled based on years of service.
Up to $5,000-7,000 can be paid out as a retirement benefit for unused sick days.
This will be the first retirement benefit plan for the district's at-will employees beyond health insurance options.
"It's a pretty minimal cost for a benefit for people that have been with the school for quite some time," Business Manager Matthew Moline said.