Cooper HS Coach Charged With Having Sex With Student

From WCCO-TV:

Prosecutors charged a high school hockey coach with third-degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly sexually assaulting one of his players.

Nathan Antrim, 35, of Rogers, Minn., was the victim’s hockey coach at Cooper High School for the past two years.

The victim’s father told the school his daughter was not home last weekend and he believed she was with Antrim.

The victim told police Antrim had given her a cell phone and an iPod and frequently drove her home from hockey practice. She told police Antrim took her to his house on Nov. 30. She then called her father and told him she was staying with a friend.

When questioned, Antrim told police he had sex with the girl last weekend, the criminal complaint said. Antrim said he had given the girl the iPod and cell phone as gifts.

If convicted, Antrim faces up to 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine.

Cooper H.S. Assistant Girls Hockey Coach Detained And Under Investigation

This letter was sent to parents of Cooper High School students December 6:

Dear families of Robbinsdale Cooper High School students,

New Hope Police have notified us that an assistant girls’ hockey coach for Robbinsdale Cooper High School has been detained and is under investigation for inappropriate behavior.

District 281 Schools’ Self-Funded Insurance Program Causes Big Hike in Premiums

This plan was supposed to “combat skyrocketing health care costs,” according to the MN Sun-Post 11/29/07 edition:

In an attempt to combat skyrocketing health-care costs, the District 281 School Board voted in October 2006 to implement self-funded insurance beginning in 2007.

After one year, however, the future of the self-funded insurance program appears to be in question, as employees complaining about 125-percent increases in health care premiums, and at least one employee union threatening to strike over the issue.

281 Office Employees Set To Strike

From the MN Sun-Post 11/29/07 edition:

The 90-member AFSCME office employees union in Robbinsdale District 281 filed an intent to strike Nov. 21 with the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services.

AFSCME is the abbreviation for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a national union to which the local union belongs. The union includes clerks, building secretaries and some other clerical employees that work in Robbinsdale Area Schools.

281 Teachers Protest Increased Health Insurance Costs

From the MN Sun-Post 11/29/07 edition:

A 125-percent increase in 2008 insurance premiums brought a standing-room-only, overflow crowd of more than 100 teachers to the Robbinsdale District 281 School boardroom on Nov. 19.

Though no official listening hour was scheduled, the teachers were given 40 minutes prior to the board’s regular meeting to state their case. Additionally, a 45-minute meeting on the issue was scheduled for Nov. 26 at Cooper High School, after this edition of the Sun-Post went to press.

Brian Dahlen, a social studies teacher at Cooper High School, told the board Nov. 19 that full-time employees will be paying 125 percent more – as much as $1,660 per month for some – for health insurance in 2008.

“This is a gigantic insurance crisis for employees,” Dahlen said. “It will be impossible for many of us to continue working here.”