South metro school briefs

Updike to resign from school boardBelle Plaine school board Member Jeremy Updike will resign at the end of June because his family is moving to Northfield, outside the school district.

Updike's term began in January 2010 and was to have run through 2013, said his wife, Erin, who works at the district office.

The school board was slated to discuss the process for filling Updike's seat at a meeting on Monday. Erin Updike said last week that the board is likely to seek applications and appoint someone to replace her husband until voters fill the seat at the November election.

Morrison to leave school boardThe Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District will hold an open house for school board member Gail Morrison, who is resigning effective June 24.

Morrison was appointed to the board in 2000 and has been elected three times since. Her current term runs through 2014. She said she's resigning because she is moving to a home located just outside district boundaries.

The open house will be held before a board meeting on Thursday, from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m. at the Campus Cup cafe in the Diamondhead Education Center, 200 W. Burnsville Pkwy. in Burnsville.

The board is to decide how and when to fill her position at that meeting.

Otterson will succeed retiring principal Terry Lind, who has worked in Lakeville schools since 1968 and led Lakeview since 1999.

Otterson comes to the school from Moreland Elementary in West St. Paul, where he had been principal since 2006. His new job will be much closer to home; Otterson lives in Lakeville and sends his children to local schools.

New principal named at Jeffers PondThe Prior Lake-Savage school board has hired a new principal for Jeffers Pond Elementary.

Karoline Warner will take over this summer for retiring principal Cindy Solberg. Warner, who is currently assistant principal at Twin Oaks Middle School, has five years of experience as an administrator and another seven teaching in elementary schools, according to the district.

Innovation dollars will pay for iPads, new staffThe West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan school board has allocated $500,000 in Innovation and Equity funding for six schools in the district.

Resulting plans approved by the school district include technology purchases, such as iPad carts. Several schools also plan to hire a staff person with expertise in one or more of the following areas: technology integration, gifted education, and the tailoring of lessons to serve students with a wide range of abilities.

Three schools that received federal funding last year to become magnet schools were not eligible for the Innovation funding, though Heritage Middle School got some Equity funding to lessen the impact of budget cuts.

New principal named at WestviewTami Staloch-Schultz will take over this summer as principal of Westview Elementary School in Apple Valley. She'll replace principal Karen Toomey, who's retiring after 16 years.

Staloch-Schultz has been a magnet school coordinator since 2006 at Glacier Hills Elementary, a magnet school in Eagan that specializes in arts and sciences.

She started out in the school district in 1987 as a classroom teacher at Northview Elementary.