The Bagley School Board held an emergency meeting last night where the board voted unanimously to open the school year with a distance learning model at the high school level due to the lack of paraprofessionals.

On August 22nd, the school board originally voted to open schools with in-person learning for both elementary and high school students, but at that time, there were five vacant paraprofessionals positions. Last week, four more paraprofessionals were vacated, making a total of nine vacant positions, with one at the high school and the rest at the elementary level.

Due to the staffing shortage, Superintendent Dr. Erich Heise advised the school board of the problem and requested that they met as soon as possible. With the district starting school next week, the board decided to opt in a distance learning model at the high school level until October 14th to prioritize in-person learning for younger students.

The administrative team explained that they do not have enough staff to provide in-person learning at both the elementary and high school level and suggested that they can move staff from the high school to the elementary school temporarily to provide in-person learning for younger students. They are hoping to fill the vacant positions as soon as possible to resume in-person learning at the high school.

By — Destiny Wiggins