Apr. 9—WORTHINGTON — The District 518 Instructional committee received an update on the school’s progress to fill integral positions during an early morning meeting Monday.

Staff have attended job fairs in Vermillion and Brookings, South Dakota, and there are some job offers out for Advanced Placement Science and a school psychologist, the latter of which has been an open position for a couple of years, noted ISD 518 Superintendent John Landgaard.

“The principals have been busy getting their positions full,” Landgaard said, adding that there are a few openings at Prairie Elementary and the middle school. “The big area we’re really struggling in is special education. At the intermediate school, we’ve had two teachers on overload all year. Those teachers deserve a pat on the back … but we also can’t keep doing that to them.”

At the high school, Landgaard said the greatest concern is filling science and math teacher positions.

“We’ve had a deeper pool of applicants, so that’s been nice to see — also quality candidates,” he added.

At this point, the district isn’t offering hiring incentives but they may need to do so at some point to fill open positions in special education.

Landgaard also said they have yet to fill the assistant principal position at the intermediate school, and are working to fill an HR position as well.

In other business, the committee:

* Learned of a request for a leave of absence from June through August for an employee’s sudden personal issue, said Landgaard.

* Was told the district hasn’t heard anything yet from the Minnesota Department of Education on the application it submitted for review and comment regarding a planned addition to and renovation of the Worthington Senior High School. MDE has 60 days to respond, meaning the approval could come as late as June.

* Was informed about a letter of support District 518 will write for two potential housing projects in Worthington, one near New Grand Theatre and the other near GreatLife golf course. Landgaard said one of the projects could begin construction as early as this fall.

“The letter of support is really that our employees are having a hard time finding housing,” he said.

Another letter of support will be written for the proposed trail project between the JBS Field House and Buss Field, and then farther south and east to connect with the existing trail on the beltline (U.S. 59/Minnesota 60 at Nobles Street).

*

Learned District 518 will receive about $4,500 from the Southwest Initiative Foundation and Southwest Minnesota Private Industry Council’s Career Pathways program to support its robotics program.

* Was told about the planned north parking lot reconstruction at the Worthington Middle School this summer. The lot is slated for completion in mid-August, and the work will also include the remaining portion of the front of the lot. Landgaard said the total project cost is about $1 million.

“Most of the parking lots will then be done — the last one is the teacher lot at the high school,” he said.

Additional work planned this summer is replacement of the HVAC units at the middle school. That project is currently out for bid.

Landgaard advised the committee that the roofing will likely need to be redone at Prairie Elementary in the near term.

“That roof is 23 years old,” he said. “We’ve been able to deal with leaks that have happened.”