Changes ahead at NR-S

Tuesday’s regular meeting of the New Rockford-Sheyenne School Board marked the beginning of significant changes for the district.

For Dr. Jill Louters, who has served as the district’s superintendent for 12 years, it was her last regular meeting with NR-S, as her contract officially expires at the end of June.

School Board President Todd Allmaras began the meeting with a few kind words for the district’s outgoing administrator.

“Twelve years as a superintendent of any school district right now, shows a lot of determination, shows a lot of desire to sit in that position. … Dr. Louters was instrumental in many things that occurred in our school in the last 12 years quite honestly and we need to acknowledge that with a heart of thank you and much appreciation,” said Allmaras.

Louters responded that it’s been an honor and a privilege to serve the district all these years.

“It has been a wonderful experience so thank you for those reflections,” she said.

The school board recently hired elementary principal Natalie Becker to serve as the interim superintendent for the coming school year, and at Tuesday’s meeting they once again hired from within to fill an administrative position.

Laura Hager, a long-time teacher for the district, has accepted a position as the district’s new secondary principal.

Hager currently teaches middle school math at NR-S and has nearly 20 years of teaching experience in both the Sheyenne and New Rockford schools. She was also named the district’s Teacher of the Year in February 2023.

She was offered the principal job during a special meeting last month, after Megan Thompson turned down a contract offered by the school board when she was originally offered the position.

Hager’s new contract is for one year and her position as secondary principal is not designated as an interim one.

Meanwhile, Hager was not the only new hire from Tuesday’s meeting.

The school board also carried a motion to hire Melody Volk to be the district’s new business education teacher.

In introducing Volk, Dr. Louters said that in many ways she’s overqualified for the position, having had years of experience with the Cankdeska Cikana Community College as their communications and TCAP (Tribal College Apprenticeship Program) director.

“She has some wonderful experience at the community college and has been engaged in the areas of teaching and leading in media and graphic design for the college,” said Louters.

Volk has her early childhood education certificate and is currently working on her public school CTE teaching license.

Her hiring was approved unanimously by the board, meaning the school will be able to offer businesses education for the first time since Courtney Wiesz resigned last year.

“We are very excited to bring this CTE opportunity back to the students,” said Louters.

Also at the school board’s regular meeting, results from the June 4 election were officially canvassed and approved.

As expected, Todd Allmaras, Matt Pfeiffer and LeAnn Drake were elected to serve three-year terms on the board.

Pfeiffer and Drake’s first school board meeting will be at the regular meeting in July, meaning Tuesday’s meeting was also the last for outgoing members Patti Larson and Mary Kay Price.

Price and Larson have been on the school board for nine and six years, respectively, and as is tradition, they were each awarded a golden apple for their years of service on the board.

“I thank you on behalf of the students and the taxpayers and parents and everybody that’s here,” said Allmaras to the outgoing board members. “Thank you for the time that you put in here, it’s much appreciated.”

The school board’s next regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 9 at 7 p.m.