Mitchell Tech hazing policy set for review by Mitchell school board
Jun. 8—MITCHELL — The Mitchell Board of Education will get a look at a proposed Mitchell Technical College policy meant to address hazing at the school.
The board will review the policy at its next regular meeting on Monday, June 9. The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in Room 10 at the Mitchell Career and Technical Education Academy.
According to the agenda notes for the meeting, Mitchell Technical College Policy 120 would help bring the school into compliance with national law. The new policy will address requirements of the Stop Campus Hazing Act, and it must be adopted by the board by June 23 for the school to remain in compliance.
"The Stop Campus Hazing Act...was signed into law by President Biden on Dec. 23, 2024 and mandates that institutions of higher education participating in federal student aid must report hazing incidents in their Annual Security Reports, implement hazing policies and publish information related to hazing incidents in a Campus Hazing Transparency Report," Joe Childs, superintendent for the Mitchell School District, wrote in his agenda notes on the subject.
The policy will undergo a first reading at the June 9 meeting. It must gain approval over two readings to become official policy.
The full text of the proposed policy can be found in the agenda for the June 9 meeting.
Also at the meeting, the board is expected to consider the following personnel items:
* The new certified hire of Sydney Pike, 2nd grade teacher at Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary, $53,260, effective 2025-26 school year.
* The new classified hires of Rachela Dirksen, Title VI tutor, ISS monitor, $19 per hour, 8 hours daily, effective Aug. 13 and Abigail Guenthner, begindergarten teaching assistant at L.B. Williams Elementary, $19 per hour, 7.75 hours daily, effective Aug. 13.
* The new Mitchell Technical College summer adjunct hires of Annika Russel-Manke, ACCT 221 Quickbooks, 3 credits, $2,700; Annika Russell-Manke, BUS 122 E-Commerce, 3 credits, $2,700; Ashley Alarcon, RAD 156 Intro to CT, 2 credits, $1,800; Julie Gross, ENGL 110 Workplace Communications, 3 credits, $2,700; Crystal Freund, SOC 150 Social Problems, 3 credits, $2,700; Crystal Freund, SPCM 101 Fundamentals of Speech, 3 credits, $2,700; Nathaniel Raak, MATH 103 Mathematical Reasoning, 3 credits, $2,700; Ryan Van Zee, BUS 170 Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management, 3 credits, $2,700; Shirlyce Weisser, MOP 212 Elecronic Medical Records, 3 credits, $2,700 and Shirlyce Weisser, MOP 230 Medical Office Administration, 3 credits, $2,700. All adjunct hires are effective for the 2025 summer semester.
* The new Mitchell Technical College Summer Internships of Jim Mahoney, BC 290 Commercial Internship, 6 credits, $5,000 (20 students); Tim Goldammer, CA 290 Internship, 6 credits, $3,250 (13 students); Noah Munsen, DPT 290 Internship, 6 credits, $5,500 (22 students); Wade Brozik, HV 290 Internship, 6 credits, $3,000 (12 students); Chris Degen, OPRV 190 Internship, 6 credits, $1,750 (7 students); Lynn Smith, ML 234 Practical Clinical Chemistry, 6 credits, (2 students) and Michael Benjamin, WBT 290 Internship, 6 credits, $500 (2 students). All are effective for the 2025 summer semester.
The board is also expected to consider the following agenda items at the June 9 meeting:
* Consideration to hold a public hearing on a waiver to allow high school credit for Algebra I and Spanish I and to approve both waivers.
* Consideration to approve a resolution to declare elected members of the school board.
* Consideration to approve the South Dakota High School Activities Association Board of Directors.
* Review of the 2025-26 K-12 budget.
* Hear board member reports.
* Hear the superintendent report.
* Hear public commentary.
The meeting is open to the public. The Mitchell Republic will livestream the meeting on its website.
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