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Principals tell board new curriculum and required training stretched staffing and tutor resources
Summary
Elementary principals told the board that new curriculum adoptions and statutorily required training limited PLC time and reduced tutoring capacity; administrators asked the board to consider priorities such as assistant principals, behavior specialists, interventionists and instructional coaches.
Elementary principals and system leaders told the Lakeville Area Schools board that curriculum adoptions (Bridges math) and legislatively required training have pressured professional-development time and reduced intervention supports.
Principal Jill Kelly and others described system supports that have been added—such as reading interventionists and family support workers—while noting that mandatory training requirements (the presentation referenced the "Reid Act" in the transcript; the program described is the state-mandated READ Act) forced the district to reallocate PLC time and limited opportunities for job-embedded coaching. Principals said PLC meetings were used for mandated professional development, reducing time available for data review and unit planning.
Presenters said prior budget cuts reduced the number of nonlicensed tutors and tutor hours; tutors previously provided daily intervention blocks and helped retain continuity for MTSS groups. Several principals reported tutor-hour cuts left buildings using library and commons space for intervention groups and hampered retention due to part-time schedules. Administrators said tutors and learning specialists are key to delivering Tier 2/3 supports.
Board members asked whether the district needed more professional-development days or more substitute funding so teachers could be pulled from classrooms for job-embedded learning. Principals said the challenge is both calendar constraints (the teacher-contact-day statutory framework) and substitute availability; they also asked the board to consider investing in instructional coaches, assistant principals, reading/math interventionists, and behavior interventionists as priority positions to support implementation.
District leaders said they will return with a prioritized staffing plan and more detailed proposals for the board’s consideration.
