Photo by Deb Gau Marshall Middle School Principal Paula Wolter Mattson and Marshall Public Schools Superintendent Jeremy Williams shows Sally Reynolds with the Minnesota Department of Education, center, around the new career exploration lab at the school.

MARSHALL — A push for Minnesota Department of Education staff to visit every school in Minnesota continued this week with stops in Marshall and Lynd.

On Wednesday, Sally Reynolds, director of the Career and College Success Division at MDE, met with Marshall Public Schools administrators, and toured part of Marshall Middle School.

School administrators discussed a range of topics with Reynolds, from new career and technical education programs, to concerns about the state’s new laws governing School Resource Officers.

“I’m here to learn from you all,” Reynolds told MPS administrators and school board members.

Reynolds said the MDE staff were trying to visit schools around the state.

On Wednesday morning, MPS administrators showed Reynolds the Practical Assessment Exploration System lab at the middle school, and later had a roundtable discussion about issues facing the district.

One topic MPS Superintendent Jeremy Williams said an ongoing concern was new laws banning SROs from putting students in certain kinds of restraints. MPS has a full-time resource officer, but the new laws have left uncertainties about how she can do her job, Williams said.

Williams said MPS hasn’t had concerns with use-of-force incidents at its schools.

“The fear of liability is where it lays,” he said.

Williams said he was still talking with Marshall’s police chief weekly about the question. Reynolds said the new state law re-state rules that are already in Minnesota statutes. However, MPS officials said it would be helpful to get more clarification on the new law.

Marshall’s SRO was a valuable resource for the schools, and was a person students could come to with their own concerns, Williams said.

Administrators also discussed a range of topics about education in the district.

“Literacy has always really been a focus for us,” said Park Side Elementary Principal Darci Love. Recently, Park Side staff have been looking at the science of reading, and helping train teachers to teach reading skills more effectively.

Love said 13 teachers are currently enrolled in the MDE’s LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) training program.

Principal Brian Jones said Marshall High School students were also improving performance after the school was chosen to be part of a study implementing the BARR (Building Assets Reducing Risks) educational program.

“It’s been a great addition to our school,” Jones said.

This year, Southview Elementary and Marshall Middle School were also selected to implement the BARR program. MMS Principal Paula Wolter Mattson said it should be a big benefit for the two schools.

In the past couple of years, MPS has started to put more emphasis on career and technical education, administrators said. At the middle-school level, students have a chance to explore different career pathways through the PAES lab, agriculture and Family and Consumer Science classes. At the high school level, the district’s new Career and Technical Institute is also planned to open next month, said Jones.