Faribault school board postpones approval of language and culture classes until January 2026

The Faribault Public School District board voted to postpone consideration of proposed language and culture classes until the board business meeting in January 2026.

Superintendent Benty told the board that curriculum writing and instructor hiring are incomplete and that postponement would allow the district to “do it right and do it correctly and make sure that we have everything written.” He said the district would have “the vast majority of the curriculum from the Saint Paul School,” but that material would cover only the Somali portion; the Spanish portion of the proposed classes still needed to be written and instructors had not yet been hired.

Board members introduced and seconded a subsidiary motion to postpone the agenda item so it would appear on the January 2026 business meeting agenda. The subsidiary motion was seconded by Director Knudson and passed by voice vote.

Procedural motions during the special meeting included approval of the agenda, which passed after a motion by Director Robichaud and a second from Director Wolf, and the subsequent motion to adjourn, moved by Director Boudreaux and seconded by Director Knudson. Those procedural motions were approved by voice votes recorded in the meeting.

The postponement means staff will return with a fuller curriculum package and, implicitly, the results of any instructor hiring before the January business meeting. The board did not adopt the language and culture curriculum at the special meeting and gave no final approval or specifications for the Spanish-language portion during this session.

The board opened the meeting with a quorum confirmed by Director Steeves and closed after the adjournment vote.