Staff photo by Fritz Busch New District 88 school board member Sarah Leslie, left, shakes hands with New Ulm Public School Board Chairman Steve Gag after he administered the oath of office Thursday. A New Ulm High School graduate and a pharmacist, she returned to New Ulm in 2008 and is raising a family with her husband Greg.

NEW ULM — New Ulm Public School Board Chairman Steve Gag administered the oath of office to newly-elected school board member Sarah Leslie Thursday.

“I’m excited to be here,” said Leslie, a pharmacist for Vertex Pharmaceuticals, an American bio-pharmaceutical company based in Boston.

A New Ulm High School graduate, Leslie takes the board seat formerly held by Denny Waloch, who served the school district for a decade.

Leslie returned to New Ulm in 2008 and is raising a family with her husband Greg. Prior to her election, she served on the district curriculum advisory and superintendent search committees and the Friends of District 88 Referendum Committee that helped renew a 10-year operating levy.

She is a member of the Heart of New Ulm Leadership Team and New Ulm Human Rights Commission.

In his report, Superintendent Sean Koster said board member Matt Ringhofer was honored at lunch earlier in the day for receiving the 2025 Presidents Award at the recent Minnesota School Board Association (MSBA) Leadership Conference. Ringhofer qualified for the award by earning 300 points in MSBA-sponsored sessions to improve individual performance.

“As board members, we perform duties, attend meetings and training that help you earn hours. People are honored for the amount of time they spend on this. It’s a nice honor. I’ve been on the board 12 years. You don’t realize how many hours you spend until the state school board association comes up and says you’re going to be honored. Serving on the board has been a great opportunity,” said Ringhofer.

New Ulm Public School Board Chairman Steve Gag received the award two years ago.

Koster said New Ulm school board members, administrative assistant Michelle Johnson and himself attended the MSBA Leadership Conference Jan. 16-17.

He said January has been a busy month of the board.

“The school board and I met with our Teamworks consultant Jan. 9 to develop details of their work in parallel to the school district’s three-year operational plan. It included policy development, operational oversight, long-range planning, board self-governance and development, director relations and public engagement,” said Koster.

He said the group met Jan. 21 to refine board meeting structure, workflow and committees to best implement a three-year work plan and continue to tweak operations to optimize efficiency and productivity.

“Work continues with the district cabinet Jan. 28 to refine the three-year operational plan. It’s been a long road this year, but there is positive light at the end of the tunnel,” Koster said.

He said Region 2 superintendents will visit the Minnesota Capitol to meet with House and Senate members to discuss key legislative issues facing rural districts.

“Legislative issues lobby groups agree on are increasing the general education formula, fixing compensatory funding (to further student individualized educational program (IEP) goals) beyond fiscal year 2026, funding summer unemployment insurance that recently went into effect for non-licensed staff, and increasing long-term facility facility maintenance funding and flexibility,” said Koster.

Donations accepted included a $5,200 student mental health grant from Brown County Human Services, $3,000 from Kristi and Timothy Loose for the Otis A. Loose Scholarship, $1,500 from Radburn and Kathleen Royer for the Glenn and Darla Swanson Scholarship, a $1,000 ag literacy (education) grant from Minnesota Ag in the Classroom to Amber Gremmels, New Ulm Middle School, $500 from the Optimist Club of New Ulm for the high school media center.