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North Dakota’s teacher shortage creating ‘imminent peril’ as board seeks emergency rule

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North Dakota’s teacher shortage creating ‘imminent peril’ as board seeks emergency rule


FARGO — The agency tasked with licensing teachers in North Dakota has made an emergency appeal to the state relating to an urgent teacher shortage.

The request from the Education Standards and Practices Board, or ESPB, approved in a special meeting on Thursday, July 27, said the shortage creates “imminent peril” that threatens public welfare of the education system in the 2023-2024 school year.

The urgency of the teacher shortage has increased in recent months, wrote Becky Pitkin, executive director of ESPB.

Not only rural school districts, but larger districts including Fargo, West Fargo and Bismarck are being impacted with higher than usual numbers of teacher vacancies and in some cases, fewer applicants than in years past.

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The board is asking Gov. Doug Burgum for emergency rules allowing certain college students who’ve finished their education coursework to be the “teacher of record” during their one semester of student teaching.

More simply put, they’d be the only teacher in the classroom while student teaching, but would have a designated mentor in the building they could go to with questions.

Under current state law, a student teacher must have another teacher in the classroom to provide feedback and guidance.

Pitkin acknowledged such a move wouldn’t “open the floodgates” for more teachers, but could be a small step in making the shortage more manageable.

“We just are really convinced that we need to maintain high standards wherever we can, and if this provides for a few that universities have deemed ready, then okay,” she said.

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Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler said while the change could be a short term fix, she’s concerned about possible impacts on teacher recruitment.

“We could lose this whole crop of teachers if we don’t give them support,” she said.

Still, Baesler said she’d stand by whatever ESPB staff and the board decided.

Not many of the students coming out of college and aiming to be a teacher would qualify for the rule change. Under the proposal laid out by the ESPB, there would be stipulations.

The student teacher must have completed all of their college coursework, must receive a positive evaluation from a field or classroom experience and get a letter of recommendation from their university or college.

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“The universities are really going to have to decide who are high fliers so to speak, that could do this,” Pitkin said.

In addition, the school district at which they’re seeking a job would have to submit a letter indicating they were not able to find a regularly licensed teacher, and must show evidence of an onsite teacher who could collaborate with that student teacher.

The request for this emergency rule is now in Burgum’s hands. A spokesperson said the governor has received it and the office is working to collect data and information related to it, but there’s no timeline yet for a response.

The rule change would have a sunset clause, making it effective through June 30, 2025.

Time is of the essence, board members said.

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With the first day of school in Fargo just four weeks away on Aug. 28, the Fargo Public Schools website still lists dozens of teaching vacancies.

There are 37 teaching vacancies district wide, with the biggest challenge coming in the area of special education, said Fargo Public Schools spokesperson AnnMarie Campbell.

The district is offering an additional $6,000 in annual compensation for special education teachers, she said.

As for paraeducators, there are 36 openings in Fargo schools; of those, 22 special education paras are still needed.

A conflict over elementary teachers rather than paras having to supervise recess was a major barrier

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for the two sides negotiating teacher contracts in Fargo Public Schools this year.

Teachers maintain that duty takes away some of their time needed for lesson planning and next day preparation, while the school board maintains recess is not an “extra duty.”

The contract talks officially went to impasse on July 1, with each side having to hire a mediator.

Fargo Education Association President Grant Kraft said there’s been no movement yet, as the mediation panel is still being assembled.

Campbell said the Fargo district is hiring new people every day, and using social media, university partnerships and other avenues to recruit more applicants.

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At West Fargo Public Schools, hiring is also happening on a daily basis, but at least 21 teacher openings remain unfilled to date, including elementary, secondary and special education teachers, the district said.

Like Fargo, West Fargo is using social media and university partnerships, as well as TV ads, billboards and referral bonuses.

ESPB board member Patti Stedman, who is also president of the West Fargo School Board, pushed back on some who said the emergency rule proposal needed to be delayed for more discussion.

“Timing wise, if we want any hope for this to get done for fall, every day that we wait… I don’t know that another week is going to change most of our opinions,” Stedman said.

At least one school district in the western part of the state is in rougher shape in terms of teacher vacancies.

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Williston Public Schools has 64 open teaching positions, according to the ESPB letter to Burgum.

Bismarck Public Schools has 17 teacher vacancies and not a sufficient number of applicants, while Dickinson Public Schools has 12 teacher openings with no applicants.

Pitkin said a number of higher education institutions with student teachers ready for the classroom this fall have already been approached by school districts requesting to have them work alone in the classroom.

They included University of North Dakota, University of Jamestown, Valley City State University, Minot State University, Dickinson State University, University of Mary, Trinity Bible College and Sitting Bull College, she said.





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American Legion Baseball roundup: Willmar leaves Fargo with a win

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American Legion Baseball roundup: Willmar leaves Fargo with a win


FARGO, N.D. — The Willmar American Legion baseball team was able to end its weekend tournament on a high note.

After dropping its first three games of the Jim Pettersen Fargo-Moorhead Invitational, Post 167 clinched a 4-0 victory against Tri-City Red on Sunday.

Tri-City Red is a team composed of players from Mounds View High School.

All four of Willmar’s runs came in the first inning. Cullen Gregory led Post 167’s offense, going 2-for-3. Braeden Fagerlie was 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI. Conlan Carlson, Blake Reiman and Connor Smith also scored runs in the victory.

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Post 167 opened the tournament with an 11-0 loss to the St. Cloud Chutes on Friday. That was followed up by 2-1 losses to the Brookings (South Dakota) Bandits and the Bismarck (North Dakota) Governors on Saturday.

Willmar heads to Green Lake Diamonds in Spicer on Tuesday to play New London-Spicer. Game time is slated for 7 p.m.

Jim Pettersen FM Invitational

Willmar 4, Tri-City Red 0

Tri-City Red 000 000 0-0 7 2

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Hitting – Tri-City Red: Ryan Maylone 1-4, Sawyer Anderson 1-4, Hayden Sperbeck 2-4, Carter Byers 2-3, Robbie Price 1-3 … Willmar: Conlan Carlson 1-4 r, Blake Reiman 1-2 r hbp, Mason Thole 0-3 rbi, Braeden Fagerlie 1-3 r rbi, Connor Smith 1-3 r, Cullen Gregory 2-3, Gavin Banks 1-1

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) – Tri-City Red: Sam Moen (L) 6-7-4-1-0-2 … Willmar: Dylan Staska (W) 6-6-0-0-4-2, Tyler Madsen (Sv) 1-1-0-0-0-2

The Bismarck Governors’ Jace Groseclose and Gavin Lill combined to throw a no-hitter against Willmar.

Mason Thole scored Post 167’s lone run on a groundout by Jaxin Schirmers in the top of the seventh inning.

Hitting – Willmar: Mason Thole 0-0 r bb, Jaxin Schirmers 0-1 rbi … Bismarck: Lucas Vasey 0-1 r bb-2 sb, Charlie Vig 0-1 rbi, Gavin Lill 1-3 rbi, Michael Fagerland 2-3 2b sb, Jace Groseclose 1-2 2b hbp, Hank Barry 0-1 r hbp

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Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) – Willmar: Landon Ogdahl (L) 5-3-2-1-2-2, Thole 1-1-0-0-0-1 … Bismarck: Groseclose (W) 6-0-1-1-5-5, Lill (Sv) 1-0-0-0-0-0

Brookings’ Jack Merrit delivered a two-run single in the bottom of the seventh inning for a walk-off victory against Willmar.

Dylan Staska, Blake Reiman and Gavin Banks each finished with a hit for Post 167. Tyler Madsen scored the team’s lone run in the top of the second.

Connor Smith finished with four strikeouts over 6-1/3 innings.

Brookings 000 000 2-2 7 0

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Hitting – Willmar: Dylan Staska 1-3, Tyler Madsen 0-1 r bb hbp sb, Blake Reiman 1-2, Gavin Banks 1-3 … Brookings: Breck Hirrschoff 1-2 hbp sb, Zach Struck 1-3, David Brink 1-3, Owen Schneider 1-1 r, Tane Friedrich 1-3 r sb, Jack Merrit 2-3 rbi-2

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) – Willmar: Connor Smith (L) 6.1-7-2-2-1-4 … Brookings: Schneider (W) 7-3-1-1-2-6

Glenwood-Lowry 5, Montevideo 3

Noah Jensen’s two-out, two-run RBI single drove in the game-winning run for Glenwood-Lowry as it secured the championship title against host Montevideo.

Nathan Dell pitched a complete game for Glenwood-Lowry and earned the win. He struck out four and walked one, allowing 10 hits, three runs and two earned runs over seven innings.

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Cooper Dack and Ben Gunlogson both went 2-for-4 for Montevideo. Gunlogson added a run.

Glenwood-Lowry 120 200 0-5 9 0

Montevideo 021 000 0-3 10 1

Hitting – Glenwood-Lowry: Jack Majerus 1-4 rbi sb, Alex Panitzke 1-4 r-2 bb 2b, Dylan Alexander 2-4 rbi bb, Noah Jensen 1-3 rbi-2 bb, Riley Dell 0-3 bb, Connor Erickson 1-3 bb, Levi Johnson 1-4 r, Austin Ballhagen 1-3 r-2 bb, Nathan Dell 1-1 rbi bb … Montevideo: Griffin Epema 1-4, Ben Gunlogson 2-4 r, Cooper Dack 2-4, Gannon Reidinger 1-4, Landon Olson 0-3 rbi, Jackson Baldwin 1-2 r rbi, Sam Knoop 1-3, Cameron Kibler 1-3 r rbi, Dan Gunlogson 1-3

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) – Glenwood-Lowry: N. Dell (W) 7-10-3-2-1-4 … Montevideo: Dack (L) 5-8-5-4-4-, Epema 1-1-0-0-3-2, D. Gunlogson 1-0-0-0-0-1

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New London-Spicer out-hit Holdingford 10-3 in a victory at Holdingford.

Nolan Johnson was 2-for-3 with a home run, four RBIs and two runs for Posts 545/537. Chi Schneider was 2-for-3 with a double, two runs and an RBI.

Grant Paffrath tossed all seven innings for the win, striking out five.

Holdingford 210 000 1-4 3 1

Hitting – NLS: Garret White 1-4 r, Luke Knudsen 1-4 r, Chi Schneider 2-3 2b r-2 rbi hbp, Carson McCain 1-3 r bb, Nolan Johnson 2-3 hr r-2 rbi-4 hbp, Grant Paffrath 1-3 r bb, Cole Laughlin 0-4 rbi, Fisher Glauvitz 1-3, Eli Jacobson 1-3 2b rbi-3 … Holdingford: Masyn Patrick 1-4 rbi, Dierks Opatz 0-3 r bb sb, Luke Bieniek 1-4 2b r rbi, Dominick Hoikka 1-3 2b rbi-2

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Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) – NLS: Paffrath (W) 7-3-4-1-4-5 … Holdingford: Chase Lyon (L) 2-5-5-5-2-1, Hoikka 5-5-4-4-0-3

Montevideo 9, Breckenridge 0

Montevideo secured a win over Breckenridge at its home tournament.

Leading Post 59’s offense was Sam Knoop. He went 1-for-2 with two runs and two RBIs.

Gannon Reidinger and Cooper Dack combined to strike out seven and hold Breckenridge to one hit and one walk.

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Breckenridge 000 00-0 1 4

Hitting – Breckenridge: Cooper Roberts 1-2… Montevideo: Ben Gunlogson 1-2 r rbi bb, Cooper Dack 1-3 rbi-2, Landon Olson 0-0 r bb-2 hbp, Jackson Baldwin 0-2 r-2 bb, Brendan Koosmann 0-3 r rbi, Cameron Kibler 0-2 r hbp, Sam Knoop 1-2 r-2 rbi-2 sb, Dan Gunlogson 1-2 rbi

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) – Breckenridge: Gabe Armitage (L) 2-2-5-4-3-0, Alejandro Sanchez 2-2-4-0-2-2 … Montevideo: Gannon Reidinger (W) 4-1-0-0-0-5, Dack 1-0-0-0-1-2

Montevideo 3, Prinsburg 0

Sam Knoop struck out 14 in Montevideo’s victory over Prinsburg in Montevideo.

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Cooper Dack finished 1-for-1 with a double and two runs scored for Post 59. Landon Olson drove in two runs in a 1-for-3 effort.

Payton Meyer had Prinsburg’s lone hit.

Prinsburg 000 000 0-0 1 3

Montevideo 102 000 x-3 3 1

Hitting – Prinsburg: Payton Meyer 1-3 … Montevideo: Cooper Dack 1-1 2b r-2 bb-2, Gannon Reidinger 0-3 r, Landon Olson 1-3 rbi-2, Dan Gunlogson 1-2

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Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) – Prinsburg: Wesley Fussy (L) 6-3-3-0-2-3 … Montevideo: Sam Knoop (W) 7-1-0-0-2-14

Glenwood-Lowry 9, Anoka 8

Noah Jensen led a trio of Glenwood-Lowry players with multiple hits in a victory over Anoka in Montevideo.

Jensen finished 3-for-3 with a double, three RBIs and a run scored. Dylan Alexander was 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and a run. Alex Panitzke was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.

Glenwood-Lowry 231 012 x-9 12 1

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Hitting – Anoka: Sam Poser 1-3 2b rbi bb, Hunter Brunner 0-3 r bb, Brayden Cherry 1-3 2b r bb, Logen Jaeger 0-2 rbi bb-2, Clay Bernard 0-2 r-2 bb-2, Trevor Lang 2-3 rbi, Marshal Rassatt 2-4 2b r rbi-2, Parker Seaman 1-4 r rbi … Glenwood-Lowry: Jack Majerus 1-4 3b r, Alex Panitzke 2-4 2b r-2, Dylan Alexander 2-4 2b r rbi-2, Noah Jensen 3-3 2b r rbi-3 bb, PJ Johnson 1-4, Connor Erickson 1-3 2b r, Levi Johnson 1-3 rbi, Austin Ballhagen 1-3 r sb, Zach Guggisberg 0-2 r

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) – Anoka: Parker Nedland 1.2-6-5-1-0-1, Jackson Provoncha (L) 4.1-6-4-3-1-1 … Glenwood-Lowry: Panitzke 4-5-6-6-3-2, PJ Johnson (W) 3-2-2-2-4-3

Glenwood-Lowry 9, SH/MACCRAY 0

Austin Ballhagen struck out five while giving up just two hits and one walk in Glenwood-Lowry’s win over Sacred Heart/MACCRAY at Montevideo.

Connor Erickson finished 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and a run for Posts 187/263.

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Wyatt Swenson and Trevor Peterson both had hits for the Scarlets.

Glenwood-Lowry 110 7x-9 6 1

Hitting – SH/MACCRAY: Wyatt Swenson 1-1 hbp, Trevor Peterson 1-2 … Glenwood-Lowry: Jack Majerus 1-3 r rbi-2 sb, Alex Panitzke 1-1 r-2 bb-2, Dylan Alexander 0-2 r hbp, Noah Jensen 1-2 r rbi-2 hbp, PJ Johnson 0-2 r bb, Connor Erickson 2-3 2b r rbi-2, Austin Ballhagen 0-2 r bb, Levi Johnson 1-3 2b rbi, Zach Guggisberg 0-1 r bb

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) – SH/MACCRAY: Grayson Ahrenholz (L) 3.2-5-8-8-4-3, Blake Grimsley 0.1-1-1-0-1-0 … Glenwood-Lowry: Ballhagen (W) 5-2-0-0-1-5





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Consecutive Fargo motorcycle crashes leave 1 man dead

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Consecutive Fargo motorcycle crashes leave 1 man dead


FARGO — Two consecutive motorcycle crashes in Fargo left one driver dead late Saturday, June 29, press releases from the North Dakota Highway Patrol and Fargo Police Department said.

According to the North Dakota Highway Patrol, a 19-year-old Wahpeton man was riding a motorcycle at 8:28 p.m. eastbound on 55th Avenue South from 38th Street South, near Walmart, in Fargo. The man lost control of the motorcycle and struck a curb, then was ejected from the motorcycle and struck a light pole.

The Fargo Police Department, Fargo Fire Department and medical personnel treated the injured man before he was taken to Essentia Health in Fargo, where he died from his injuries.

To avoid the first crash, a second motorcyclist, another 19-year-old Wahpeton man, took evasive action and overturned, the Highway Patrol said. His injuries were not considered to be life-threatening.

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Both motorcyclists were wearing helmets, the Highway Patrol said.

The North Dakota Highway Patrol and Fargo Police Department continue to investigate the crashes.

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.





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Ward County pursuit ends in crash

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Ward County pursuit ends in crash


WARD COUNTY (KFGO) – A North Dakota State Trooper attempted to stop a pickup truck for a traffic violation on Highway 2 near mile marker 142. The pickup fled from the trooper along with Ward County deputies and initiated a pursuit. 

The pickup exited Highway 2 and drove west on Ward County Road 12, then turned south onto 156th Street SW. A Ward County deputy successfully spiked the pickup just north of Ward County Road 14 on 156th Street SW. The pickup drove south across Ward County Road 14 and entered a field. Law enforcement set up a perimeter around the field. Law enforcement located the pickup approximately 1⁄2 mile south of Ward County 14 in the field where the pickup struck a large stack of round bales. 

The driver, a 45-year-old man from New Town, ND was not wearing a seatbelt. He sustained serious injuries and was transported to Trinity Hospital in Minot. The driver was charged with driving under suspension, fleeing a peace officer, and aggravated reckless driving. 

The passenger, a 45-year-old woman from Stanley, ND was not wearing a seatbelt. The woman sustained serious injuries and was transported to Trinity Hospital in Minot. Names will be released at a later date. 

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This incident remains under investigation by the North Dakota Highway Patrol.



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