April 18, 2024

This email was sent to staff and families.

Sartell-St. Stephen Families:

During the 2023 State Legislative Session, the Reading to Ensure Academic Development (READ) Act was passed that requires school districts in Minnesota to train their teachers (up to 140 hours) in the Science of Reading beginning after July 1, 2024. This training needs to be completed by July 1, 2026. In order to meet this state-mandated requirement, districts across the state are needing to alter their school calendars to allow for the appropriate amount of time for this training to occur.

2024-2025 Calendar Changes
On April 15, 2024, Sartell-St. Stephen’s School Board approved an altered calendar for the 2024-2025 school year to accommodate this training requirement. Over the next two years, our district’s best option will be to utilize a combination of scheduled professional development days and monthly early release days to ensure the required teachers are trained by the state’s deadline of June 30, 2026. The following early release dates - all Wednesdays -  have been added to next school year’s calendar: September 25, 2024; October 30, 2024; November 27, 2024; December 18, 2024; January 29, 2025; February 26, 2025; and March 19, 2025. The calendar is available at www.isd748.org/calendar on the lower left.

Childcare and Transportation Options
In an effort to lessen possible burdens on students and families, the district has partnered with KIDSTOP to provide childcare at no cost for elementary students for the duration of the two-hour early release time period. Families will need to sign up with KIDSTOP in advance in order to utilize this service. 

If families choose to:

• Not to utilize KIDSTOP during the early-release school time period: families will need to either pick up their student(s) two hours earlier or have their student(s) ride the bus two hours earlier. Buses will run two hours earlier than usual on these days and family pick-up will occur two hours earlier if not utilizing KIDSTOP.
• Utilize KIDSTOP: arrangements must be made for student pick up at the end of the two-hour period (regular, end of school day time) or families can pay the regular KIDSTOP rate for an extended period of time.

In short, the following options are available for students on early-release days:

1. Be picked up two hours early
2. Ride the bus two hours early
3. Attend KIDSTOP at no charge for the two-hour early-release time period, then be picked up at the regular end-of-day time (approximately 2:30p)
4. Attend KIDSTOP at no charge for the two-hour early-release period, then stay in KIDSTOP until picked up at a later time beyond the end of the regular school day (paid)

Families will indicate their plan at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year.

Training Program for Teachers
Our district selected Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) as the training program to best meet the state’s first wave of Science of Reading training requirement. LETRS was selected due to its robust, research-based content in an effort to better ensure our teachers receive the best training possible which in turn will have the greatest likelihood of positively impacting our students. LETRS is a two-year program that requires over 140 hours of professional development training. 

Teachers Receiving Training
The following groups of educators will receive LETRS training during the state’s first wave of training requirements: PreK-Grade 5 General Education teachers, PreK-Grade 12 Special Education teachers, PreK-12 Multilingual Learner Teachers, K-12 MTSS Interventionists, and PreK-Grade 5 Administrators.

Please reach out to your student’s building principal if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Tom Lee
Interim Superintendent