The District 241 School Board heard about the contributions volunteers make in Albert Lea Area Schools at its meeting Monday night.

The board held a volunteer recognition reception and heard reports from principals, parent organization representatives and the community education director about the many contributions volunteers make in the schools.

&uot;This shows our community how many volunteers we have,&uot; said Board Chairman Ken Petersen. &uot;When we tallied it up, there were over 475. I think that says a lot about the community and the value it puts on education.&uot;

In other school news, the Albert Lea Area Schools picked up seven students from the Glenville-Emmons School District who wish to enroll for the 2003-04 school year through open enrollment agreements. The students range in age from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Superintendent David Prescott said there are four or five more students from Glenville-Emmons whose decisions are still pending. In addition, there may be another five or six students from Albert Lea who have enrolled at Glenville-Emmons and have decided to come back for next year.

&uot;By the next meeting we should have that sorted out,&uot; Prescott said.

In other business:

The board accepted the resignations of Jill Hewitt, English Language Learner teacher at Halverson, effective July 1; Marcia Rietsema, special education teacher at the high school, effective June 6; and Cynthia Gandrud, English Language Learner teacher for community education, effective July 4.

The board approved the appointment of Nancy Greiner, special education para-educator at the high school effective April 21 through June 5.

The board approved adjustments for two Spanish teachers. Sarah Veldman will increase from .83 to full time and Gayle Brownlow will increase from .66 to .83.

A maternity leave was granted for Amy White, a paraeducator at Southwest, from September through December.

Contracts for probationary teachers James Parlin, Marty Anderson, Jon Hansen and Sue Jorgensen were not renewed, all due to reduction in staffing and declining enrollment.

The board gave its support to the Albert Lea High School Student Council for an inspirational wall as a way to honor staff and students.