New elementary principal hired, Lutterman named secondary principal

The Triton School Board approved a number of personnel decisions Monday night, several of which indicated a new direction for the administration.

Contracts were approved for Mary Morem as elementary school principal and Luke Lutterman as secondary school principal. A contract for Shane VanBeek as activities director/dean of students was also approved as well as his request for a one year leave of absence from his teaching contract.

Lutterman’s new position will have him assuming duties of principal for grades 6-12 with VanBeek working with the middle school as dean of students. Current high school Principal Craig Schlichting will be taking over as superintendent July 1 with the retirement of Brett Joyce.

The retirement of elementary teacher Dawna Henslin was approved as were the resignations of Jessica Dailey, an elementary teacher and Tyler Johnson, a middle school teacher.

Contracts were approved for Ryan McCabe as an elementary teacher, Coltt Ullom as secondary social studies teacher, Branden Strong as technology coordinator, Molly Stroh as elementary teacher and Chelsey Baumbach as middle school science teacher and Rebekah Flatness as custodian.

Contracts were also approved for Dave Hagen as Building, Grounds and Transportation supervisor and Kristine Faber as Community Education director.

Community Ed summer contracts were approved for Kailey Ellingson, Makena Jensen, Holly Kubat, Molly McCool, Caitlyn Soweija, Xitlali Martinez, Mariel Faber, Haylee Joe Sawyer, Isaak Knutson, Derek Lilledah, Drew Kelly and Joe Giesler.

The district also voted to raise lunch prices for the 2019-2020 school year by 10 cents.

Joyce told the board that the district did not raise lunch prices for this year, and although the district has a positive Food Service Fund balance, costs have increased for both food and labor.

Even with the increase, he said, Triton lunch prices are lower than most schools in the area.

Middle school teacher Patrick Floryance and two students gave an update of the school’s Technovation program which is in its third year.

The program aims to increase interest of female students in technical fields and teams have the students coming up with a problem to solve, designing a mobile phone app to solve the problem and prepare a video to “pitch” the app to an audience and then do a presentation before a panel of judges. High school teams also have to prepare a business plan for their app.

Apps by the three Triton teams dealt with natural disaster aid, finding lost pets and developing a way to deliver groceries to rural areas.

The June meeting of the school board will be at 6 p.m. on June 10 in the Performing Arts Center.