Bismarck Tribune

By LAUREN DONOVBy LAUREN DONOVAN

BEULAH - Shortly after being named the Southwest Principal of the Year, Beulah High School principal Kelly Rasch found himself being named for something quite different.

The 14-year veteran principal may lose his job.

The Beulah School Board voted last week to hold a hearing on whether Rasch will lose his contract for lack of performance.

The board voted 5 to 1, with one member absent, to proceed to a formal hearing to hear both sides. The hearing is at 5:30 p.m. March 29 at the boardroom in the high school.

Rasch, 45, said he couldn't comment on the matter, except to say that he will request that the contemplated nonrenewal hearing be open to the public.

Rasch can make that request, but the school board has to agree, otherwise the hearing is held in a closed executive session, and any official action takes place afterward in a public format.

A full, front-page ad in the Coal Country Dollar Saver, a free circulation shopper delivered to homes in the area Friday, solicited support for Rasch.

Unnamed friends and supporters paid for the ad.

The stated reasons for Rasch's lack of performance are his inability to effectively evaluate high school teachers and his inability to provide effective education leadership in such areas as assuming professional responsibility, improving communication with the staff he supervises, taking control of his building, providing an example to others and exercising common sense in day-to-day decision-making, according to school board minutes.

Beulah Superintendent Wilfred Volesky said the board would determine whether to vote on nonrenewing Rasch at the hearing, or at some later time.

Volesky first raised the possibility of non-renewing Rasch's contract in a professional evaluation plan he wrote in 2002.

Until then, Rasch's annual evaluations largely had been positive, although references to the need for better teacher evaluations, more leadership and being a more "hands-on" principal showed up in evaluations back in 1998 and after.

His first improvement plan did prompt a letter of support signed by many of the school's high school staff, which was included in his personnel file.

Volesky wrote a second professional evaluation plan in 2005, in which he said Rasch would be evaluated twice more and recommended for non-renewal if there were no improvement shown.

In a response included in his file, Rasch said the critical evaluation that led to the contemplated nonrenewal was incomplete, inaccurate and does not reflect his job performance.

He wrote that his relationship with Volesky "fell apart" in the fall of 2002, when he as principal did not back Volesky's decision to cancel homecoming activities because of some discipline problems.

Rasch said his biggest obstacle is Volesky's lack of support.

Whether Rasch stays or goes, the principal's position will continue to be filled, Volesky said.

There are 302 students in high school this year, and 276 are projected to be there next year. Beulah will rejoin the Class B ranks starting next fall. Its high school enrollment had bumped it into Class A, but the reverse trend is now in effect.

The Beulah School Board was to hold nonrenewal hearings Tuesday night on four other positions. The staff cuts are being contemplated because of lack of funding and declining enrollment, Volesky said.

In a newspaper story when his selection as Southwest Region 4 Principal of the Year was announced, Rasch said he is known for consistent discipline.

He said Beulah succeeds with students on both ends of the academic spectrum, having eight National Merit scholars and also consistently meeting Annual Yearly Progress education standards for students with special needs.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511, or lauren@;wes-triv.com.)