FAIRMONT– On Tuesday the Fairmont School Board held a brief meeting before going into a work session to discuss the district’s strategic plan.

During his report to the board during the regular meeting, Superintendent Andy Traetow shared that, while back to school registration just started taking place, enrollment numbers are already up.

“Our preliminary enrollment numbers are showing another increase with total enrolled students as of today for the upcoming school year at 1,777. That’s up 47 students from where we ended the school year so that’s fantastic news,” Traetow said.

However he noted that the number can ebb and flow up until the official state count in October. Traetow also said that number does not include the 115 preschool students that are currently enrolled.

“A lot of hard work goes into organizing our back to school registration. Hopefully our families took advantage of that but if not it’s still open and available online,” Traetow said.

Shifting to a buildings and ground update, Traetow said they’re continuing to make progress on a number of projects both at the elementary school and high school.

“Huge thank you to our custodial and maintenance staff for all of their efforts this time of year as they’re hitting the home stretch for the start of the school year for our teachers to come back Aug. 28 and our students shortly thereafter,” Traetow said.

He also shared an update on a potential partnership with Open Door Health Center, which was first discussed in June. On Tuesday Traetow said plans are still in the works but they will be brought to the operations committee to review and then there will also be a question and answer opportunity.

“We’ll make sure any details will be figured out before we bring it to the full board for final approval to move forward,” Traetow said.

In other news, the board approved changing the start time of school board meetings from 5 p.m. to 5:15 p.m., beginning Sept. 12. The board also approved appointing Abi Peyman and Grace Simpson to serve as student school board members for the 2023-24 school year.

The board accepted the retirement of paraprofessional, Liz Hartke, and the resignation of paraprofessional, Mary Best.

School Board Member Julie Laue said that the district has had eight paraprofessionals either resign or retire and while they’re not filling all positions right away, the board did approve the employment of Tiah Weringa, Abby Ehlert and Natalie Brown as paraprofessionals for the upcoming school year.

The board approved the following long-term substitute teachers, many of whom are retired veteran teachers:

— Kevin Kristenson

— Bob Milette

— Jennifer Streit

— Stacy Bailey

— Marilyn Fritzinger