Star Tribune
Sartell contracts still in limbo after conservative school board bloc is no-show
SARTELL, Minn. — The nearly two dozen Sartell-St. Stephen school district jobs left in limbo last week remain in limbo after a Tuesday meeting where the three board members holding up the contracts didn’t show up.
After months of bickering, the six-member board did not approve the contracts of 21 employees last week when Emily Larson, Jen Smith and Scott Wenshau again voted against the motion, saying they want the contracts to be voted on individually instead of all together.
Interim Superintendent Tom Lee warned board members that the employees would lose their jobs if the contracts weren’t approved by July 1, which prompted Board Chair Tricia Meling to set a special meeting Tuesday to vote on the contracts. But without a majority of members present, no action could be taken.
“I am deeply saddened,” she said Tuesday. “These positions are vital and the district will need to consider whether it can maintain all activities and services.”
Meling, along with board members Matt Moehrle and Jason Nies, took a short recess just after 6 p.m. to try to call the no-show members. They returned to tell the room of more than 100 people — many wearing blue in support of the employees whose contracts were being voted on — that they could not reach their absent colleagues.
“If members could not attend in person, they had the option to appear here today remotely. Not one board member requested [that],” she said.
Larson, Smith and Wenshau released a joint statement on social media Sunday that reiterated their desire to vote on the contracts separately and called on Lee to cancel Tuesday’s meeting due to scheduling conflicts. They have not responded to requests for comment by phone.
“We are resolute in our commitment to settle these contracts promptly while assuring our district remains accountable through its elected school board,” read the statement, which cited a state statute that says school boards have the “authority to govern, manage and control the district.”
At previous meetings, Larson and Smith have said they think board members have the ability to remove an agenda item that can stand on its own for individual consideration, such as the separate contracts. But Lee and some other board members have said they think that would set a dangerous precedent “that the board, with no supervisory responsibility, can pick somebody off that they just don’t like.”
Lee said Larson and Smith approached him a few months ago with concerns about an employee, but he did not think the concerns rose to the level of firing the employee or not renewing their contract. He then said he thought the actions of Larson, Smith and Wenshau seemed to be “an effort to get rid of an individual these board members have a vendetta against.”
There were 21 contracts on Tuesday’s agenda, though Lee had previously said 22 employees were on the list. The employees include directors of business services and human resources, as well as IT specialists who also provide services for the city of Sartell.
The Sartell City Council addressed the issue at its Monday meeting, where City Administrator Anna Gruber said the loss of IT employees will leave the city in the lurch and suggested they look for a private IT vendor, though it will “inevitably be significantly more expensive than what we have today.”
Gruber said it would be “devastating” for the city to lose their IT colleagues.
“It is really hard to know that we may need to look elsewhere,” she said, “but I just think we have to prioritize the operational stability of the city and our police and fire networks.”
Larson, Smith and Wenshau were elected in 2022. They ran as a conservative slate, leading the district’s teachers union to endorse candidates — three other candidates — for the first time in its history.
The board’s infighting brought Sartell parent Josh Kerkvliet to Tuesday’s meeting to hear about the issue firsthand. Though he said he thinks it makes sense to separate the contracts and look at each one on its merit, he’s more concerned about finding a solution.
“I do think I represent the silent majority of the district. The silent majority is very moderate,” he said. “This — what they have going on — none of us like. We don’t want it. It’s not good for the district. It’s not good for the teachers. It’s not good for the students.”
Others, such as Sartell parent Rochelle Dyer, shared concerns about the slate’s “very clear political agenda.”
“It’s unfortunate that our district is being held hostage,” Dyer said. “Up until this point, even though many people with different ideologies have served as school board members, our school board has never been about the larger political happenings within our nation.”
Meling said Tuesday she will schedule a meeting on Friday to vote on the contracts.
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault as part of a nondisclosure agreement, though he maintained that their encounter was consensual, according to a statement from his lawyer Saturday and other documents obtained by The Washington Post.
Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, said that Hegseth was “visibly intoxicated” at the time of the incident, and maintained that police who were contacted a few days after the encounter by the woman concluded “the Complainant had been the aggressor in the encounter.” Police have not confirmed that assertion.
Hegseth agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to the woman because he feared that revelation of the matter “would result in his immediate termination from Fox,” where he works as a host, the statement said.
The statement came after a detailed memo was sent to the Trump transition team this week by a woman who said she is a friend of the accuser. The memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Post, alleged he raped the then-30-year-old conservative group staffer in his room after drinking at a hotel bar. The person who sent the memo to the transition team did not respond to requests for comment from The Post.
The accuser, whose identity has not been made public, filed a complaint with the police alleging she was sexually assaulted days after the Oct. 7, 2017 encounter in Monterey, California, but the local district attorney did not bring charges. Police confirmed that they investigated the incident. After she threatened litigation in 2020, Hegseth made the payment and she signed the nondisclosure agreement, his attorney said.
The detailed, four-page memo about the incident has set off debate among senior Trump transition officials, but so far Trump has stood behind Hegseth. Spokesman Steven Cheung earlier this week said: “President Trump is nominating high-caliber and extremely qualified candidates to serve in his Administration. Mr. Hegseth has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no charges were filed. We look forward to his confirmation as United States Secretary of Defense so he can get started on Day One to Make America Safe and Great Again.”
The documents from Hegseth’s attorney and the memo to the transition team from someone who said she is a friend of the woman and was “present and involved” in the case tell drastically different stories about what happened seven years ago at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa – although both sides agree that Hegseth had a sexual encounter with a woman there.
Hegseth, whose second wife had filed for divorce the previous month, had traveled to Monterey to speak to a California Federation of Republican Women conference. Afterward, according to his lawyer, he went to the hotel bar with a group of attendees.
The Gophers women’s hockey team contained longtime WCHA rival Minnesota Duluth, winning 3-2 Saturday afternoon to sweep a series at Amsoil Arena. The No. 3 Gophers haven’t lost to the No. 4 Bulldogs since the NCAA regional final in mid-March 2022.
Peyton Hemp, Gracie Graham and Emma Connor scored for the Gophers (10-3-1, 6-3-1 WCHA), with Abbey Murphy getting two assists. UMD’s Kamdyn Davis and Nina Jobst-Smith scored for the Bulldogs (6-55-1, 5-4-1 WCHA).
Gophers freshman goalie Hannah Clark had 31 saves; UMD’s Eve Gascon had 35.
UMD freshman defender Davis scored her first career goal off a backhanded pass from sophomore winger Grace Sadura. Davis skated in from Clark’s left side and lofted it to the right corner in the first five minutes of the opening period. Freshman defender Graham whipped the puck past Gascon midway through the period to tie the game. Peyton Hemp scored a power-play goal in the final two minutes of the first period, poking the puck in low on a rebound of a shot by Nelli Laitinen. The Gophers closed the period with a 2-1 advantage.
UMD’s Sadura left the game near the end of the second period after taking a major misconduct penalty for making contact with an opponent’s head. The Bulldogs were able to kill the penalty to close the period.
Gophers junior winger Connor scored midway through the final period, putting a rebound past Gascon. The Bulldogs had a 5-3 power-play advantage when Jobst-Smith sent the puck sailing high past Clark in the final five minutes of play. UMD pulled Gascon in the final minute but wasn’t able to tie the game.
The Gophers eased past the Bulldogs 4-1 in Friday’s opener, helped by two goals by Ella Huber, one shorthanded, the other an empty-netter, and two assists by Natalie Mlynkova. UMD’s Gascon had 48 saves, tying a personal best.
The Gophers host No. 8 St. Cloud State for a home-and-home series next weekend. The Bulldogs host unranked Bemidji State.
Dassel-Cokato went 79 yards in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, scored on a 5-yard run by Kobee Thielen with 51 seconds left and tacked on a two-point conversion to rally past Pequot Lakes 29-26 in the first Class 3A semifinal game Saturday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Pequot Lakes built a 19-point lead early in the third quarter, then tried to cling to that advantage, but Dassel-Cokato’s rushing attack proved too potent.
The Patriots (11-1) scored the first time they touched the ball, on a 13-pass from Mike Oseland to Bryar Nordby for a 6-0 lead.
Dassel-Cokato (11-1) responded two drives later, Thielen scoring on a 1-yard fourth-down run. Thielen had carried the ball on each of the two previous runs and appeared to have scored on each, but officials didn’t see it that way. Thielen’s score gave Dassel-Cokato a 7-6 lead early in the second quarter.
It was the last time the Chargers had the lead until the final drive.
Pequot Lakes, making its first state tournament appearance since 2017, leaned on the arm of Oseland to build that 19-point advantage. Oseland went 15-for-22 in the game for 196 yards and three touchdowns.
Dassel-Cokato rallied in the second half, getting rushing touchdowns of 30 and 2 yards from running back Caleb Smock, cutting the Pequot Lakes advantage to five, 26-21, early in the fourth quarter.
