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Albert Lea High principal: staffing cuts have narrowed electives and pushed class sizes higher
Summary
Sean Gaston, principal of Albert Lea High School, told the task force that a 3.1 FTE reduction and unfilled positions have reduced scheduling flexibility, limited elective and CTE course availability, and pushed some upper-level classes into the low-to-mid 30s, risking more program cuts if staffing falls further.
Sean Gaston, principal of Albert Lea High School, told the district task force that staffing reductions over the past year have narrowed elective options, strained career-technical programs and music scheduling, and raised class sizes in upper-level courses.
Gastons said the building serves grades 8–12, employs about 81 licensed staff and roughly 160 total staff, and currently has about 1,178 students (it was as high as about 1,210 at the start of the year). "We reduced our FTE by 3.1 positions," he said, and the school largely absorbed that reduction by relying on teacher overloads and leaving some openings unfilled to protect existing staff.
The overloads system, Gaston explained, lets secondary teachers pick up an extra instructional hour beyond a five-of-seven contract. "When we had the overload flexibility, it…
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