FAIRMONT — The Fairmont Area School Board approved a motion Tuesday to allow the district to move forward with creating hybrid and online classes.

The hybrid courses will involve traditional face-to-face seat time, as well as some online learning activities. Board members later clarified that the hybrid and online aspect will be an addition to the current school structure, not a replacement.

Superintendent Joe Brown explained the concept.

“The long-term goal that we have here is for Fairmont High School to become an online school so we can offer classes to other school districts throughout the state,” he said. “Traditionally, they require a one-year notification, but we sent a letter off last week and they’re going to let us pursue this as early as January of 2021.”

“What I’m asking the board to approve is the concept that in the September time frame of the first semester of next school year, that we are allowed to offer hybrid classes to those college in the school classes that are taught by our faculty. That’s under two conditions.

“We actually have 12 high school faculty that currently teach college classes at Fairmont High School. In order for them to be allowed to teach a hybrid class, they would be mandated to get trained on how to properly teach a hybrid class. It would be a certification process, and we’re proposing to spend $1,000 per teacher that wants to get endorsed or certified.

“In our current contract with our faculty, we pay $35 for curriculum work per hour. We figure that a person should be able to get their certification done within 24 hours.”

Under Brown’s proposal, students would be required to attend class in person on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and could attend class Tuesday and Thursday in person or online. Online classes would initially be offered to students attending other Minnesota high schools starting with the second semester of the 2020-2021 school year.

Brown went on to share the reasons behind pursuing the hybrid and online courses.

“This current year, we spent $200,000 with students taking Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) classes. We actually lose state revenue for that,” he said. “What I’m trying to do is create a system where students would be more inclined to come to our school.”

Board member Mike Edman noted that the hybrid and online courses will not replace the PSEO classes.

In other action, the board:

o Approved a three-year contract for a School Resource Officer.

o Approved a motion to accept the resignation of high school ag teacher Amber Seibert after the current school year. The district is in the process of recruiting a new ag teacher.