Litchfield School Board Meeting

The Litchfield School Board has approved of an assistant FFA advisor position. The action came after FFA Advisor and agriculture teacher Rob Cole composed a letter and also visited with the Litchfield School Board last night.

Cole says with the current level of activity of current FFA members, they lack the capacity to support them in additional opportunities in which the students have expressed interest. He says an assistant advisor would provide for less instructional days out of the classroom for himself, increased advisor time to coach for career development event activities, increase advisor time to support student interests, and the potential for middle school students to participate in FFA.

Board member Darrin Anderson says Litchfield has lost students to other school districts because of the FFA opportunities available in those districts. He says Litchfield currently does not offer FFA activities for Middle School students.

The Litchfield School Board also approved of a level 4 coach for the volleyball program on a 4-to-1 vote with Julie Pennertz opposed. Pennertz questioned why this position warranted higher pay than the FFA assistant position that the Board approved of earlier in the meeting. Head volleyball coach Darin Swenson says there are 41 players in the high school program this year and the addition of a B-squad would allow more of them to be able to play. He says the additional coach would only be for 2024 and then the situation would be evaluated in future seasons.

Also last night, the Litchfield School Board approved of a resolution for the City of Litchfield’s establishment of a tax increment financing district at 415 South Ramsey Avenue.