NEW ULM – The New Ulm Public School Board of Education received an update on changes to Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) structure on Thursday.

Superintendent Sean Koster told the board that earlier this month, the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) voted on an amendment to the organization to include ninth grade. MSHSL previously governed interscholastic athletics and fine arts programs for students in grades 7-12. However, MSHL typically divided the grades, using different governing rules for seventh, eighth, and ninth grades than used for 10, 11 and 12th grade.

Koster said this structure mirrored the old high school/junior high structure and outdated, with most states in the Midwest already following a ninth-12th grade structure for interscholastic activities. Minnesota was one of the last holdouts. In fact, many Minnesota schools including New Ulm, already organized interscholastic activities with the 9th-12th grade structure.

In recent the years the MSHL has received feedback from member schools asking for a constitutional amendment for the league to govern 9th grade with the rest of the high school. Members schools voted to pass the amendment earlier this month.

“It’s not a huge change per say, but it has some caveats to talk through,” Koster said. The change is not expected to effect New Ulm schools. Most of the changes are technical in nature and don’t change programs.

School board member Christie Dewanz briefly discussed the MSHSL update during the monthly activities committee report. Dewanz said there is still some details about the governance of the amendment that need to be worked out.

“We need to stay on top of these expectations from the state high school league,” Dewanz said. “There will be extra supervision to make sure we are following all the guidelines.”

In other news, it was announced that starting Nov. 1, only New Ulm activity passes will be allowed during New Ulm events. Coop passes from other districts will not longer be accepted at New Ulm events. School board Chair Steve Gag there were multiple reasons for this change. In some cases, coop passes were being used by individual who were not members of coop schools.

“There may have been some sharing of passes,” Gag said. “As a compromise we made a seasonal pass.”

Individuals may purchase a seasonal activity pass instead of pass for a full year.

Supt. Koster said another reason for the change was consistency. New Ulm often hosts six different schools and organizations. It was a challenge for ticket takers to identify which passes should be honored. Some of the passes were simple slips of paper.

The next regular school board will be held at 5 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 21 in the District Boardroom, 414 S. Payne Street.