SHERBURN– The Martin County West School Board held a special meeting before the regular meeting on Tuesday regarding the decision to not renew the contract of head volleyball coach, Kayla Zehms, which happened on Dec. 15, 2025.

The room on Tuesday was filled with interested people. Some had asked to address the board and were heard. Zehms herself began by asking the board to reinstate her contract since the decision was only voted on by four board members and because she said the problem should have been taken to the Athletic Director in writing and that policies were not followed.

The failed performance and lack of leadership questions were refuted by Zehms and her strategic practice plans were explained. The 18-7 record that season was brought up by Zehms and other speakers that followed her for the 30 minutes provided by the board.

The ethics of the board were mentioned by other speakers including a coach, a parent and a student/volleyball player. They also praised the coach and said the team was like a family. The mentioning of a slower way of coaching and that more voices needed to be heard was repeated. The parent asked the board to apologize to the coach and reinstate the coach.

The regular meeting followed with about 30 minutes of public comments to start with more people, including parents, MCW staff and coaches, asking the board for Zehms to be reinstated.

After the public comment portion, while it was not on the agenda, a motion was made by a board member to reinstate Zehms as a coach. The motion received a second but failed with a 2-4 vote. A second motion to reinstate Zehms with an improvement plan also failed with a 3-3 vote.

Moving to other maters, Superintendent Cori Reynolds reported that about 50 percent of the budget has been spent and the enrollment is 623.

Brad Bednar reported the construction update and Craig Popenhagen reported the audit information. The audit was a clean audit meaning there were no compliance issues. The new state compensated absences for 2025 did not affect the general fund but may in the future affect financial statements.

There was a good result in the general fund balance with unrestricted parts of balance at about 25 percent and $ 2,000,000+ . The restrictive fund balance was near $1,000,000+. The operating capital fund was $760,000 and the long term facilities maintenance fundbalance was near $200,000+ and the Welcome School affected that balance.

The new school may be affected positively by the community service fund and the debt service fund will be affected by the property tax in 2026 going into effect. The total of $10,378,980+ was 70 percent by the state sources, 13 percent by property taxes and the federal funding sources were about $500,000 since there are no more covid expenses paid. Approximately 70 percent of general fund expenses are for the students. The board approved the audit report.

Reynolds also reported several district celebrations like FFA placing in several categories at the Ag Bowl and the 4th graders celebrating the I Love to Read Month in February with an outside session one day due to the nice weather.

Principal Autumn Welcome from the high school reported that the 25th of February is School Bus Driver appreciation day and is also an early dismissal day for teachers to do professional development training. FFA had a week of special events to celebrate FFA. She said that Triple A recipients were Emily Schettler and Hayden O’Connor. EXCEL recipients were Ida Rohman and Hank Olson. HOBY recipients were Lillie Schultz and Brock Jagodzinske.

Michelle Baker from Trimont school reported the character education for February was honesty and March the character will be cooperation. I love to Read Month was celebrated and a new reading curriculum is under investigation by staff. Nickole Bowie from Sherburn Elementary reported that the 100th day of school was celebrated in February and that each class has an opportunity to learn ice skating at the Martin County Arena thanks to many helpful volunteers.

Bowie also reported on CER and said that virtual Spanish classes for students and adults are being offered. A 55 driving class has been scheduled and an adult art class with Caroline Porter. Open gym has two sessions and adult basketball continues.

In other business:

— The board approved of the Construction Draw of $ 1,500,476+

— The board approved the following donations: two donations of $500 for the FFA from Parks of MN and also Crystal Valley, a donation of $4,000 for the after school snack program from the Martin County West Area Foundation, a donation of $500 for robotics from the O’Dell Wind Farm and a donation of $2,500 for the kids gardening space at the new school building from Corteva Agriscience.

— The board accepted the resignation of the art teacher at the jr. sr. high school, Helena Johnson.

— The board approved the hiring of Shawna Diemer for long term substitute, Noah Anderson for golf coach, Parker Anderson for assistant baseball coach, Jennifer Clow for assistant softball coach, Jazlyn Geerdes for assistant track coach, Courtney Schultz for jr. high softball coach, Stanneta Svoboda for assistant track coach, Tyler Wille for jr. high baseball coach, Alice Connor for speech coach, Eric Ellanson for custodian at Trimont school and Jocelyn Ward for ESP at Trimont school for the 2026 year.

— The board approved $163,000+ for an emergency lighting plan and approved the firm of KFI as the engineering firm for air and hydronic systems for the new school.

— The board approved the plan for the senior trip from March 29 to April 4 to Washington D.C.

— Committee reports were given with the Southern Plains Education Coop report of a 10 year plan and the inspection of their building.

— The board took action to declare the 2015 Suburban surplus and let bids for its sale and they approved the contract for bus transportation from Cedar Mountain Bus service.

— In reference to the Achievement and Integration Plan, the board approved the services to reduce academic disparities and increase integration and access to effective educators with plans for math and reading TOSA, preschool scholarships, a lyceum for grades 9-12 and responsiveness training for teachers for around $40,000. This plan is due to the state on March 15.

The board went into closed session and approved the sale of the football/softball fields north of the old Welcome School. The next meeting of the MCW School board is scheduled for 6 p.m. on March 16 at the Sherburn Elementary School building.