Albert Lea principals outline changes for new school year

Principals at the elementary, middle and high school levels gave updates to the Albert Lea school board Monday about changes in their student handbooks heading into the new school year.

Some of the most visible changes were at the high school, where seniors will now be allowed to leave campus during lunches and study hall if they meet certain criteria, said Principal Chris Dibble.

Criteria includes attending 90% of all classes, maintaining passing grades in all classes, maintaining disciplinary expectations for at least 10 days and having a parent or guardian sign a release. Students will be required to sign out and in each day at the school’s pool door with staff already set up to monitor the door.

Dibble said Albert Lea is only one of two campuses left in the Big Nine who maintain a closed campus, along with Winona.

Students had been allowed to leave the school campus in the past, but have not done so since moving to the current high school building on Hammer Road.

He said a spreadsheet with the criteria would be updated regularly to keep track of eligible students.

Superintendent Ron Wagner said the issue was also brought up in the superintendent’s cabinet, where he heard from seniors who wanted to be held accountable with the opportunity.

School board member Neal Skaar said he was in favor of the initiative and asked how long students would have if they left the campus. Dibble said if the students only left for the lunch period, they would have 25 minutes. If they left for lunch and a fifth-hour study hall right after, they would have 77 minutes. Staff tried to situate as many seniors as possible with their study halls after lunch so they could utilize the longer time when desired.

Skaar said though he thinks the initiative is a good idea, he could see some potential difficulty with the students who don’t have a fifth-hour study hall and noted there were some problems when it was done years ago.

Aside from this change, other changes at the high school include turning away food deliveries from DoorDash, Uber Eats or other local restaurants between 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Any deliveries made outside of those times need to be made by the students placing the order, and school personnel will not accept deliveries.

Also new this year students will not be assigned a locker at the beginning of the year, though students who would like to request a locker are able to do so during the open house or any time during the year, Dibble said. Seniors, however, will still get lockers in the senior hallway.

He said they found that most students were not using the lockers, and he noted when Owatonna built its new high school, it actually built it with only 200 or 300 lockers.

With lockers not being in use, this will open up the locker bay for new flexible learning options.

Aside from these changes, graduation requirements will increase to 47 credits with the class of 2027 because of the addition of a personal finance class and 48 credits in 2028 with the finance class and a career exploration course.

There will still be eight periods this year with six 43-minute periods, one 20-minute flex period, one 53-minute period and a 25-minute lunch.

There were also a few changes made to align the school’s activities policy with the Minnesota State High School League and Big Nine expectations.

To participate in activities, students have to “demonstrate satisfactory progress toward graduation in the current semester to regain eligibility.” If a student is not on track to graduate, they may participate in practices but aren’t eligible for games and events until they are back on track to graduate.

If a student has a chemical violation, that student loses eligibility for the next two consecutive contests or two weeks of the season, whichever is greater. Additional consequences come for subsequent violations.

There is also a parent code of conduct that will be in place to hold parents accountable at events for their behavior as well, which will be monitored by the site manager.

Lastly, if a student plans to sign a letter of intent, the school will have two events a year for student signings.

Southwest Middle School

Southwest Principal Tyler Johnson said there were changes in the school’s handbook to fit with the district policy on attendance.

He said the percentage of students who are chronically absent has risen each year since 2017-18, with 17% that year, 20.1% in 2018-19, 24% in 2021-22, 29% in 2022-23 and 32.1% in 2023-24.

A student who is chronically absent misses 10% of the school year or more, whether through excused or unexcused absences.

In the past there had been a cap of 10 absences per class per semester, but this year that is being lowered to nine. Court appearances, school-sponsored activities, religious holidays, deaths of an immediate family member, suspensions and absences included in an IEP or 504 are not included, among others.

“Attendance is a problem and we want to address this,” he said, noting it needs to be a priority for all involved, including families, parents and guardians, students and the school.

Automated phone calls will go home after every unexcused absence, and families will also be notified by mail at various times.

Board member Angie Hoffman asked if there was any insight into what might be causing the attendance issues, and Johnson said he thinks once the COVID-19 pandemic happened, families were more lax on attendance. He wants to make sure parents understand the importance.

The board will look deeper into attendance at a board workshop in October.

There were also updates in the language regarding E-Learning Days and student appearance.

Elementary level

Some of the changes at the elementary level included adding phone calls to parents or guardians for excessive tardies instead of a letter getting sent home.

For student birthdays, part of the handbook was taken out that encouraged families to donate a book  instead of bringing in treats.

Some updates were also discussed regarding cell phones, smart watches and electronics. Cell phones should be placed in a locker, bookbag or given to a building staff member from 7:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Smartwatches may be worn unless they become a distraction to learning. If the smartwatches become a distraction, they will need to be placed in the students’ locker or given to a building staff member.

Other changes included allowing students to come to school with pink eye, per health officials, and asking parents to refrain from packing caffeinated and sugary beverages and unhealthy foods in their children’s lunches and snacks, as they do not support student regulation.

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