NR-S board hears esports proposal

Will New Rockford-Sheyenne school join a short list of North Dakota schools embracing online gaming as a sport? Staff members Brady Eichelberger and Erin Radke sure hope so, and they sought to convince the school board at their Monday night meeting that "esports," as the program is called, would be a popular offering among high school students.

Eichelberger said esports, or organized multiplayer video game competitions, present an opportunity to engage students who are not currently involved in more traditional extracurricular activities. The origins of the sport date back to the late 1990s. He said that since esports isn't physically competitive, the program should be seen as more like an all-inclusive club, similar to FCCLA or FBLA.

According to Eichelberger, 14 high schools in North Dakota have esports right now. Class B schools with esports include Dakota Prairie, Northwood, Hillsboro, Larimore and Rugby.

Some North Dakota colleges also have esports programs, and students can receive scholarships to compete in esports at the collegiate level. Among them are Mayville State, University of Jamestown, Bismarck State College and Dickinson State University. Matthew Berglund, director of esports at Mayville State, was on the call as well. Right now esports is not sanctioned by the state, but Eichelberger expects that it should be soon. He outlined some of the key benefits.

First, a level of commitment is involved, as with other sports. There would be a practice and game schedule with practice requirements for participants. Teamwork and collaboration are important. He said esports also strengthens communication skills, which is especially important for students who are not active in sports and typically go home and game alone. Chad Berger, Athletic Director at Dakota Prairie Schools, told Eichelberger he hears more communication among esports players than he does on the field or court. He coaches football and basketball.

"Practice and hard work are conducive to success," Eichelberger noted.

Also, travel is minimal, as students can compete right in New Rockford at the school.

Eichelberger said that NR-S Athletic Director Elliott Belquist supports the esports program. The two games he proposed to start with are Rocket League and League of Legends. Rocket League is a high-powered hybrid of arcade-style soccer and vehicular mayhem with easy-to-understand controls and fluid, physics-driven competition. League of Legends is a team-based strategy game where two teams of five powerful champions face off to destroy the other's base.

The games take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and practices would fall in between for one-hour stretches three nights a week. Since the games typically last 30 minutes, the one-hour practices allow time for the team to talk about what happened afterwards. The goal is to help students grow and understand their mistakes, as a coach does in other sports and in classwork, Eichelberger noted.

Berglund added, "It's better to be present with others on your team than play remotely."

They have received offers from two people interested in building gaming computers for the cost of parts, which Eichelberger estimated would cost $400-$500 per computer.

The program would be organized on the PlayVS network, and the cost would be $64 per player each season. There are two seasons for e-sports, fall and spring. Eichelberger said it is likely that fall would be the season when NR-S would compete, as there are fewer extracurriculars at that time.

Radke and Eichelberger are willing to forego the first year advisor salaries to get the program going. They estimate that it would cost $1,250 - $3,000 to launch the program for the first year.

President Alyson Myhre asked where the club would be housed in the school, and Eichelberger replied that they have considered using either the collaboration room or Ms. Rinde's classroom. No matter where the computers are kept, the students would not be able to access them during the regular school day.

Esports are flexible, so students can participate in both e-sports and a traditional sport such as football or volleyball during the same season. Eichelberger said students have not typically gone away from traditional sports to do e-sports. Particularly Dakota Prairie has not seen any decrease in participation in traditional sports as a result of offering esports.

Initially, students in grades 9-12 would be eligible, but they could expand to junior high in future. There is a lot of interest among high school students right now, Eichelberger said.

Myhre said the school board would consider the request. No action was taken at the meeting that evening. Residents are encouraged to call school board members and express their opinions about offering esports at NR-S.

The school's boiler is in need of replacement. Board member Mike Jacobson reported that the building committee met this past month to discuss options and begin the process of soliciting bids.

Principal Becker reported that Parent-Teacher Conferences were held last Thursday, and more than 90% of elementary parents participated. She said it was nice to be able to connect with families, even though most conferences were held over the phone. Becker also referenced recent Renaissance STAR testing. The district plans to sync the data from these assessments into the distance learning platform to accommodate students' personalized learning path.

Mr. Baumbach noted that he and the secondary staff have focused on intervention and reintegration this past month, which have gone very well. Every Tuesday and Wednesday after school kids receive extra help to get back on track. Baumbach said Mr. Tyler Cook has been successful during the school day at resource time as well. The latest ineligibility report was one-third of what it was before student's resumed full-time in-person instruction on Oct. 26. The ACT is coming up, and he is preparing the school's application. "I think it's only going to get better," he said.

Pre-K students are now required to wear masks in their classroom at East Central Special Education Unit. A strong majority of parents supported the use of masks, according to Superintendent Jill Louters. The entire class had been quarantined for two weeks after positive cases were reported in that classroom.

The school continues to receive daily donations from alumni and community members for the second gymnasium. On Monday alone, the project brought in five letters totaling just under $4,000.

Superintendent Jill Louters addressed the fatigue that all are feeling in light of COVID-19. She highlighted that one instructor committed 23 extra hours during Sept. and Oct. to tutoring students in need. "People are contributing, and they do want our students to be successful," she said. The administration has implemented small initiatives to reduce fatigue, such as coffee delivery from the local coffee shop and cupcakes and lemonade.

Whitney Burkhardsmeier submitted a written teacher's report. "I'm so glad to be doing in-person learning, and I know my students are too," she noted. She highlighted a few of her observations, including that students want to eat in the lunchroom with their friends, and they learn better when they are close to her. Managing in-person students as well as those in quarantine at the same time is the biggest challenge for her, although she said the students are resilient and cooperative with mask wearing and social distancing.

Auditor Emil Schoenfish presented the district's financial audit for the 2019-20 school year.

His opinion is that the audit was favorable and that the district is in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles. The total fund balances ended $12,000 higher than last year, and the general fund reduced by a mere $542. "That's about as close as you can expect to get," Schoenfish said regarding the district's adherence to the budget. Schoenfish cautioned NR-S officials to keep an eye on the federal dollars, which he expected will double, if not triple, this school year due to COVID relief dollars and funds received for food service. If total federal dollars exceed $750,000, the school district will need to have a special kind of audit conducted next year, also known as the single audit. Schoenfish does not do single audits, so the district would need to engage another auditor at a much larger rate.

The school district's financial report is published on page B3.

Superintendent Louters received an overall satisfactory evaluation by the board. Each board member independently ranked her in six categories, and their responses were tallied by President Alyson Myhre. Louters' scores in each category are noted below.

• Goal and Vision Setting- 45 out of 56

• Board Relations- 256 out of 308

• Human Resource Management- 201 out of 280

• Curriculum and Student Support Services- 205 out of 252

• Community Relations- 121 out of 140

• Operations and Resources Management- 280 out of 336

After discussion, the board passed a resolution designating all staff of NR-S as critical infrastructure workers. The North Dakota School Board Association recommended that the district consider this policy. Per the policy, staff members who are under quarantine orders due to close contact but that exhibit no symptoms would have an opportunity to continue working. Louters said the administration intends to handle this on a case-by-case basis.

Sanford Health has a nearly identical policy, per board member Mary Kay Price. "It works in the nursing profession," she said. "If I'm asymptomatic, I want to be able to go to work and help people."

"This experience has touched everyone a little bit differently," Louters said. She noted that although there were very few staff members out at the time, circumstances may change. "If we don't have staff available to work with our students, we will need to go online," Louters said.

The next regular board meeting is set for Monday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m.