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MHS Chemistry Teacher Resigns, Has to Repay Signing Bonus

I don’t know if Amy Mottl moved from Washington to South Dakota for the freedom, but she evidently didn’t find the right chemistry in Madison. After signing on to teach chemistry at Madison High School this summer, Mottl has resigned effective December 21:

The Madison Central School Board accepted the resignation of a high school teacher during its meeting on Monday.  The board approved the resignation of Amy Mottl as the high school Chemistry teacher, effective December 21st, after a more than hour-long executive session to discuss personnel.  Part of the motion the board approved after the executive session included accepting Mottl’s resignation with contract breakage liquidated damages assessed and the return of her signing bonus per the certified negotiated agreement [staff, “School Board Accepts Resignation of High School Teacher, Approves Other Personnel Action,” KJAM, 2022.12.13].

No word yet on who will take charge of the test tubes at MHS for the rest of the school year. The current job listing promises the base salary of $46,500 per year with benefits and a signing bonus of $500.

11 Comments

  1. larry kurtz 2022-12-16 07:26

    Run, Amy, run! Yes, three day blizzards, bomb cyclogenesis, polar vortices, tornadoes, flooding, habitat destruction, drought, wildfire potential and now another eight month winter is descending on the chemical toilet, sacrifice zone, perpetual welfare state and permanent disaster area.

  2. Donald Pay 2022-12-16 08:35

    Resignations happen for any number of reasons. Mid-year resignations can be tough to fill, especially in chemistry. Good luck to Ms. Mottl and MHS.

  3. sx123 2022-12-16 10:46

    Yes, Larry, I think it was the blizzard. t’ain’t fun outside.
    SD ‘freedom’ comes with some crap weather, although, it’s pretty nice 7-8 months out of the year, kinda.

  4. Darrell Solberg 2022-12-16 13:28

    It is local news, reported by a local radio station, KJAM, that the people of the Madison School District want and need to keep abreast of the happenings and actions of their school board! When a radio station is truly local, the cover school board, city council, and other pertinent meetings in their area! We could use a lot more of truly local radio stations in South Dakota! Thank, KJAM for doing your job!

  5. All Mammal 2022-12-16 14:42

    What doesn’t get covered locally is the death of a young woman in the custody of the RCPD/Pennington Co Jail. Twenty year old Abbey Lynn Steele had just given birth 5 days prior via a very severe surgical procedure that left her recovering and postpartum. A known officer who had already arrested Ms. Steele three times before came to her sister’s house and violently arrested her, leaving behind her 5 day old infant. Within hours at the Pennington County Jail, she was discovered unconscious and not breathing. The jail discharged her without obtaining her signature. She was transported to Monument hospital, where she never regained consciousness. She remained on a ventilator for several days! while her family was frantically trying to locate the young mother. The family members were hung up on by jail staff while trying to locater her. By the time they tracked her down at the hospital, it was too late. Abbey Lynn Steele journeyed to the Spirit World on December 2, 2022. The authorities are covering up and her family is fighting for the release of her body. No jail or body cam footage of Ms. Steele’s final hours of consciousness are being shared and no investigation by RCPD, PCSO, PCJ. Another murdered beautiful Indigenous young woman leaves 2 children behind and a devastated family and uninformed community. The new investigator with the AG’s office has yet to make a statement. Real sad when her death fails to be newsworthy.
    https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2022/12/06/18853300.php

  6. P. Aitch 2022-12-16 16:46

    @All Mammal – That’s highly disturbing. Do any white people care?

  7. All Mammal 2022-12-16 19:01

    It is very disturbing, P. Aitch. It is far too dangerous for a woman to be handcuffed and hauled off with a much bigger man who doesn’t have to worry about rules or repercussions. Ms. Steele could have been a victim and shut up to avoid trouble for an officer. Vulnerable people are not safe alone in the custody of big, mean, racist men. Since white men don’t personally have to worry about such things happening to them, they don’t care.

  8. All Mammal 2022-12-16 19:15

    Senator Rounds and Representative Johnson do get props for writing the Respect Act and getting it to the president’s desk. Laws used to snatch Native children for the assimilation into boarding schools needed to go. Thankful for them doing that.

  9. MBU 2022-12-17 00:38

    All Mammal
    This is the first article I have read concerning the death of Abby Lynn Steel. Would you please keep us posted about Abby and her family. This is so damn tragic.

  10. All Mammal 2022-12-17 11:37

    MBU-
    Thank you for saying her name. SD Searchlight wrote this article with some questions we should all be directing at the entire system. We still aren’t sure Ms. Steele wasn’t murdered by police. On the day of her arrest, she was able to flee her captor temporarily. Six hours later she is not breathing and doesn’t have a pulse. What happened in those hours in police custody? Why was her family not contacted for a week while she remained unconscious on a ventilator? Was the arrest even legal?
    https://southdakotasearchlight.com/2022/12/16/an-addict-and-treated-like-a-criminal-native-womans-death-sparks-questions/

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