The ISD 200 School Board heard from district building principals for the first time in the 2025-2026 school year on initial behavioral and test score reports as well as on new protocols for distance learning districtwide.

Buildings’ update
In the elementary schools, behavioral referrals are up slightly from last year to 103 in September 2025 from 69 in September 2024. That trend continued into middle school behavioral referrals with 223 last month at the middle school, up slightly from 209 in September 2024.
At the high school, however, behavioral referrals have dropped by more than half down to 119 last month, down from 382 behavioral referrals in September 2024.
“We’re pretty proud of this,” said Hastings High School Principal Scott Doran.
Part of that steep decline was the drop in cell phone offenses which similarly dropped from 114 in September 2024 to 60 last month at the high school.
“Our numbers are significantly decreased from last year,” said Doran.
A similar trend can be seen in the middle school where last month there were only 12 cell phone offenses, down from 34 in September 2024.
For cell phone offenses, that drop might be reflective of the sustained impacts of the district’s cell phone policy which was implemented last year. As the policy remains in place, more students are potentially familiar with the rule which could explain the reduction in cell phone offenses.
Also at the high school was the first set of Fastbridge data for ninth graders. Previously the test was only done K-8 for reading and math. This data is used as benchmarks for student achievement within the district.
Initial tests showed that 64% of ninth graders are at or above standards for math, with 62% at or above standards for reading.
These numbers are both up when comparing the same cohort of students from their fall 2024 test scores in eighth grade. They rose 7% and 10% for math and reading respectively.

E-Learning
The building principals also spoke to new building E-learning plans in the event of inclement weather or sustained periods of no school.
Currently the first day of inclement weather, often but not always snow, will cancel school and not be rescheduled. The second inclement weather day will also be a non-instructional day for students, but student-facing staff will have a professional development day, with all other staff still having a regular workday.
The third inclement weather day and beyond will be E-learning up to five days per school year.
What those E-learning days look like varies across age levels.
For elementary school, the focus is on “meaningful review work with minimal family stress,” according to slides presented at the meeting. What that means is activities will not require technology and can be done independently to reinforce familiar concepts like reading, fluency, telling time and word problems.
The middle school and high school have structures that designate E-learning days into two categories: asynchronous or synchronous.
Synchronous days will have class schedules similar to a regular day of school with teachers beginning class on Google Meet during regular period timing.
“Similar to what we did during Covid,” said Middle School Principal Ryan Wynn.
Asynchronous days don’t have a rigid class schedule. Instead, teachers will post learning activities online by 9 a.m. with students posting at least one “higher-order thinking” response per class. Examples of higher-order thinking posts would include short written reflections, diagrams, video/audio recordings, or peer discussion posts. The goal of these posts is to “ensure it pushes students to think critically,” according to the 2025-26 HMN Asynchronous and Synchronous Learning Expectations document.
“I believe our teachers are far better prepared for a collaborative online experience,” said Wynn.
For classes that can’t really be taught virtually, like many of the industrial classes offered in the high school, teachers will have flexibility even when it comes to simply postponing projects.
“Think about a welding class. You’re right in the middle of a hands-on project. To have something kind of one off just doesn’t feel authentic,” said Doran.
More details on each building’s E-learning plan, including specifics for each grade can be found on the building’s website or at the links below:
Kennedy Elementary
McAuliffe Elementary
Pinecrest Elementary
Hastings Middle School
Hastings High School