ELLSWORTH — The Ellsworth Community School District Board approved a pair of job descriptions during the April 8 meeting, one of which was a reduction in the middle school assistant principal role to dean of students for the coming year.

The previous assistant principal at the school left in the middle of the year, and a pair of long-term substitutes have since filled the void.

“This role is being reduced from a full-time middle school assistant principal to a 0.5 full-time equivalent dean of students position. Different requirements, different responsibilities to some degree, but very much very similar as well,” Superintendent Brian Nadeau said.

The dean position would retain responsive discipline responsibilities, with Middle School Principal Olin Morrison taking on proactive discipline duties that previously belonged to the assistant principal.

“I would add that it’s very needed. This role absolutely allows me to continue to be an instructional leader in the building. I would add that it’s appropriate that we reduced given our changes in enrollment… but that a part-time dean of students is very much a right-sized position for the building,” Morrison said.

The other approval altered a special education support staff position, directing more of the focus toward the paperwork side of the equation. The change allows special education teachers to more fully focus on direct instruction.

“We’ve seen significant increases, like most other places around us, in IEPs and caseloads for special education teachers,” Nadeau said. “This job description is coming to you with the goal of reducing paperwork, one of the things that special education teachers deal with the most.”

There were some questions from the board on whether the position was an additional position or an altered position, but confusion was ultimately cleared up for a unanimous approval. By law, the position needs to be filled, and the new job description was simply to more closely align with the needs of the department.

“These positions will need to be filled by law,” Nadeau said.

“If it’s the law, I’m not asking anybody to break the law,” Board Member Gary Kressin said.

Election Results

The uncanvassed results came in for both the school board member and referendum votes from the April 7 election. The $2.185 million operational referendum was denied with 1,344 votes in favor and 2,041 votes against.

“Messages were shared with our voters thanking them for their participation. Obviously not the results that we were looking for, but nonetheless, the voters had a chance to speak and they did,” Superintendent Brian Nadeau said.

With four board members up for election and three seats available, Jay Acker (2,258 votes), Dave Beck (1,905) and Kurt Buckner (1,882) were granted the seats and Kressin (1,383) was not re-elected.

Taking third meant Buckner took over a one-year slot on the board, as Acker was appointed directly by fellow board members in the middle of the term due to a vacancy, leaving his seat up for a shortened term in the next election.

Multiple board members thanked Kressin for his time on the board, mentioning his perspective as an administrator in another district being valuable for his fellow members.

“It’s been a good run. Sorry for being passionate many times, but it’s an honor to be on the board,” Kressin said.

Other business

• Approved updated graduation requirements that were spoken about at length during the March meeting. The change alters required credits for graduation due to the change of the high school schedule away from the block schedule, not due to a major shift in instructional time.
• Officially approved the cheerleading program. The program has a self-funded model, and the reason the item was previously tabled was to clear up any overlap with the dance team and to confirm insurance.
• Acknowledged student Kaiden Beach for participating in the State spelling bee and the school receiving the Pierce-St. Croix Officials Association Hospitality Award for the second year in a row due to treating athletic officials well.
• Approved early admittance requests for the 2026-27 school year.

Personnel

The board approved the following personnel changes:

Hires: Lynne Hamilton, long-term substitute; Cade Hanson, middle school counselor; Mark Stoesz, middle school assistant principal long-term substitute.

Transfers: Mara Kenall, from elementary teaching assistant to middle school special education teacher; Ivan Mendez, from volunteer boys basketball coach to varsity assistant basketball coach; Courtney Vien, from high school teaching assistant to high school special education teacher.

Resignations: Kimberley Catron, high school spring play director; Grace Groh, elementary special education teacher; Seth Maina, seventh grade boys basketball coach; Annah Massmann, middle school counselor; Kyle Olson, eighth grade boys basketball coach; Brittany Thompson Kinneman, counselor.