School board holds regular, special meetings in February

The Tea Area School Board held their regular board meeting on Feb. 16 and a special meeting on Feb. 19.

At the special meeting, the board met for more than 2 hours in executive session before approving a motion allowing the superintendent to develop an assistant superintendent position that includes such responsibilities as curriculum, instruction and assessment.

At the Feb. 16 meeting, superintendent Tonia Warzecha recognized Oliver Smith for receiving a perfect score on the 2025 spring state math assessment.

The board approved the resignations of Dana LeVan for battery percussion/frontline percussion; Raeanna Kaddatz as seventh grade special education resource teacher and eighth grade girls C/D volleyball coach effective end of year; and Kristina Westhoff as eighth grade volleyball coach. 

They approved the new hires of Kendra Jensen as physical therapist for 2026-27; Bailey Todd as school psychologist for 2026-27; Logan Shockman as drivers’ education instructor; and Whitney Rosebrock as middle school special education resource teacher for 2026-27.

Board president Jason Bennett appointed Jay Ryan and himself to be negotiators. The board will hold a special meeting on March 23 after negotiations.

Bennett also appointed Tara Johanneson, Meredith Decker and Jaxon Johanneson to the teacher of the year committee and Kristen Daggett to the standards of excellence committee.

Warzecha asked the board to consider dual designation of legal counsel to have options in situations where their current counsel Woods Fuller would not be available. The board approved adding KSB School Law as legal counsel for the district.

In her report, Warzecha reviewed growth numbers and building capacity. Right now, district numbers are 684 in the high school, 577 in the middle school, 288 at Frontier, 561 at Legacy and 351 at Venture. Looking forward to future construction needs, Warzecha said they wouldn’t need to think about a bond passing until December 2029. Looking to the future, she also gave an alternate idea to building in case it is needed in the future - making the high school 7-12, making the middle school 5-6 grade and elementary buildings would be JK-4.

The date for homecoming has been set for Sept. 18.

Board member Tara Johanneson reported on bills moving through the legislature. She said bills about property taxes, capital outlay certificates, cell phones, calculating state aid formula, making coaches mandatory reporters, use of taxpayer money on labor unions, free and reduced meals and putting AEDs throughout schools.