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Marshall board approves contract nonrenewals and reverts Title IX policy; public commenter urges reconsideration of counselor nonrenewal
Summary
The Marshall Public School District board approved a resolution terminating and nonrenewing certain teaching contracts and voted to revert the district’s Title IX policy (5-22) to the 2020 version following federal rule changes; a public commenter asked the board to reconsider a nonrenewal of counselor Melissa Shepherd.
At its meeting, the Marshall Public School District board approved a resolution relating to termination and nonrenewal of teaching contracts as presented and voted to approve Title IX policy 5-22, reverting to the 2020 version of the policy.
A member of the public urged the board to reconsider a nonrenewal for counselor Melissa Shepherd, saying students had built trust with her and that moving them to new counselors would be disruptive. The speaker said Shepherd’s nonrenewal appears in the board minutes and described one case in which a seventh grader was told they could no longer see Miss Shepherd. The commenter said students were being redirected to other counselors and asked the board to "reconsider this decision on the non renewal contract for Ms. Sheppard's." (Speaker used both spellings.)
Later in the meeting, the board approved a resolution to terminate and nonrenew teaching contracts "as presented." The motion was moved by Jeremy (district staff member) and seconded by Board member Sarah Brink; the presiding officer called the vote and said the resolution was approved. The resolution text and the list of affected teachers were presented to the board as part of the meeting packet; the transcript records the board’s approval but does not list names of all the affected teachers on the record.
The board also voted to approve Title IX policy 5-22. Jeremy told the board that federal Title IX rules had changed in 2024 and that the U.S. Department of Education guidance recently reverted some rules to the 2020 policy. The board’s recommendation, described in the meeting, was to return to the 2020 policy language with MSBA’s (Minnesota School Boards Association) recommended approach for processing discrimination claims; the board said the federal change meant the policy did not require three readings. A motion to approve the policy was made and seconded by Board member Sarah Brink; the presiding officer called the vote and said the policy was approved.
The meeting also approved the consent agenda and the meeting agenda earlier in the session. Motions were made and seconded for those items and the presiding officer called each vote and announced approval; vote tallies were not read aloud on the record.
