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Teacher urges Wayzata district to restore true middle‑school teams, warns sixth-graders feel 'lost'
Summary
At the March 10 meeting a Wayzata Middle School teacher told the board that the district's new middle‑school schedule has replaced teaming with a junior high model and left sixth-graders and staff feeling disconnected, urging the board to reconsider the schedule.
A Wayzata Public Schools teacher told the board on March 10 that recent schedule changes have effectively eliminated meaningful middle‑school teams and urged the district to restore them.
Sally Dietzenbach, a teacher at East Middle School, told the board that while teams remain “in name only,” students and teachers are seeing fewer coordinated team meetings and less consistent communication among a student’s teachers. “For example, I am currently part of the gold team at EMS. Our team only meets two to three times per month for about 15 minutes,” she said, adding that of 115 students on her team only 29 are currently her students and many see her only during a single daily advisory period.
Dietzenbach said true teams previously helped set Wayzata middle schools apart by supporting consistent expectations, stronger student–teacher relationships, better social‑emotional development and earlier intervention. “Without teams, it is much more difficult for teachers to build relationships with their students and for students to feel connected to both their teachers and each other,” she said, and added that the district’s sixth‑grade students are “feeling lost.”
She said staff were told before last year’s schedule change that keeping teams would be a priority, but that the final schedule made “no way to make true teams work.” She urged the board: “If this new schedule truly is incompatible with teaming, maybe the answer is to abandon the schedule instead of abandoning the teams.”
Board members did not take immediate action but acknowledged the concern. Superintendent Chase Anderson said principals should be consulted and that building leaders can best explain local decisions; Director Valentina Ayers asked that principals provide input to the policy committee or a work session to clarify differences among buildings.
No formal motion or vote followed the public comment. The speaker’s request sets an issue the board said it will explore through committee discussions and potential follow-ups with building principals.
