FAIRMONT– The Fairmont School Board heard from Fairmont High School Speech co-coaches, Kathleen and Erik Walker, on Tuesday. The pair spoke about their team’s successful but challenging season which took place virtually.

“Normally they perform in front of others at other schools but we were always at Fairmont High School. We got to know each other very well,” Kathleen said.

This year there were about 30 students grades 9-12 on the team.

“This year’s success was great and I attribute it to us staying the course. Whereas I think some other teams at other schools struggled with this, we actually thrived,” Kathleen said.

Subsections took place on April 5 and there were 28 medalists and 11 individual subsection champions. Sections took place on April 16 and there were 22 medalists and 12 state qualifiers. The State Tournament took place on April 24. Fairmont had seven people break into the top eight in their category.

“This year we got second place as a team and I’m so proud of these kids for their hard work this year,” Kathleen said.

While the speech season is done for most students, the senior duo team, Tabitha Thatcher and Isabelle Geiger will compete at Nationals, which will take place virtually in June.

In other news, an early release for senior students was recommended by high school principals Kim Niss and Alex Schmidt.

“We have a lot of students that work hard and probably extra hard the last year,” said board member Michael Edman.

The last day for seniors will be on Thursday, May 27. The rest of the student body’s last day is June 2.

Board member Nicole Green shared some news regarding finding a new high school principal following Jake Tietje’s recent resignation.

“Last night there were 17 people who met to interview two candidates. Both were very qualified,” Green said.

Green said ultimately the committee recommended that Chad Brusky be hired for the position. He is a

licensed school administrator and superintendent. Since 2016, he has served as a principal at Trimont Elementary and has most recently served as interim superintendent for Martin County West.

The board approved the employment of Brusky as high school co-principal, effective July 1.

The board also approved the employment of Amanda Weihe as a high school math teacher.

The board accepted a donation of books valued at $500 that will be shared with the elementary and high school library from Rochelle Franzen.

In other matters, the board recognized the district’s 2021 retiree’s.

Retirees include Bill Wachholz, Roni Dauer, Joice Forster, Heidi Luhmann, Rochelle Franzen, Nancy Backer, Kevin Kristenson and Michelle Grotte. Denise Hennis was also recognized for serving 25 years with the district.