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Superintendent presents mixed academic results; board schedules closed session for evaluation
Summary
Superintendent Steve Younowski summarized end‑of‑year goal progress: gains in some grades and assessments, stagnant or missed targets in others, and a drop in graduation rate tied in part to students who left after the pandemic. The board announced closed sessions to discuss negotiations and the superintendent’s evaluation.
At the June 2, 2025 Richfield School Board meeting Superintendent Steve Younowski presented his end‑of‑year goals and preliminary academic outcomes and told the board these results will form part of the closed‑session superintendent evaluation.
Why it matters: the evaluation affects superintendent performance assessment and future contract discussions; the outcomes reported describe student achievement trends the district will prioritize next year.
Younowski framed the evaluation around three components: student achievement, process goals (implementation actions tied to the strategic plan) and overall performance (survey and outcome data). He described mixed achievement results: gains in some FastBridge common assessments — notably measured gains in fifth‑grade reading and a significant decrease in the proficiency gap between white students and students of color in fifth grade — but relatively flat results for eighth grade. In third grade the district did not reach its target for the share of students making “typical to aggressive” growth.
Younowski said preliminary Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCA) data show modest gains in reading and math in identified grade levels and grade bands, though FastBridge trend lines were not uniformly strong. He also reported a surprising drop in the district graduation rate linked largely to a group of students who entered ninth or tenth grade during the COVID period and subsequently did not return to any state school (moved out of state, returned to home country, or otherwise did not enroll) — he said that roughly 12–15 such students accounted for a substantial portion of the decline.
On process goals, the superintendent said progress monitoring and tiered interventions increased substantially: progress monitoring moved from limited coverage early to approximately 70% implementation in the current cycle and tier‑3 intervention monitoring increased from a low base to a much larger percentage (presenters characterized the improvement as substantial but not yet at the 95% aspiration). He noted continued implementation of the LETRS literacy training (phase 1 is two years): as of May, 54% of staff had completed asynchronous units and 76% had completed synchronous units 1–4; many special‑education secondary teachers were scheduled for summer training per a union accommodation.
Younowski also highlighted improvements in school climate: major behavior incidents declined year over year, staff at Richfield Middle School reported a 27% increase in willingness to recommend RMS, and parent recommendation of RMS rose by 11 points; the superintendent tied those gains to training, progress monitoring and curriculum implementation.
The board announced two closed sessions to follow the open meeting: one for labor negotiation strategy (Minn. Stat. 13D.03) and one for superintendent evaluation (Minn. Stat. 13D.05). A motion to go into closed session was moved and seconded and approved in open session; the board said evaluation conversation and any contract discussion would be handled in closed session and reported out afterward consistent with statute. Younowski said he is open to contract discussions after this final year of his current contract.
Discussion versus decision: the academic and evaluation presentation was informational; the board directed staff to continue work on the listed priorities and then moved to closed session for negotiation strategy and evaluation.
