MAS teachers recognized, Veterans Day program set Nov. 11
News | Published on October 24, 2022 at 12:13pm CDT
By Melanie Stegner
Several staff members were recognized at last week’s Minnewaska Area School board meeting for their hard work and creativity.
High School Agriculture teacher Nick Milbrandt was recognized for being helpful and a team player. “Nick goes above and beyond the contract, always helping and working with other staff, activities and students. He does an amazing job engaging students in class and connecting with local businesses in his classes,” said Superintendent Rankin.
Kasey Douvier, Interventionist for MAS, was honored for her hard work in building the intervention system at the district. “Kasey worked hard with a staff member who was completely new to intervention and has already worked on starting Targeted Services programming for our students, ensuring we have the grant written and communication with parents and staff set up. She is a self-starter, and we are lucky to have her working on behalf of our kids,” Rankin stated.
“Jennifer Erickson, Mary Johnsrud, Megan Greene and Deidre Williams have developed Wonder Wednesdays. The media center at the elementary school is turned into a maker space on Wednesdays. Each class gets to visit the media center to explore science, technology and the arts through inquiry-based activities,” mentioned Rankin.
“Nicole Meissner is an irreplaceable member of the WIN staff. She goes above and beyond in providing teachers with academic support to run a successful classroom. She is a member of the crisis response team, teacher mentor, on the BLT/DLT committees, a PBIS guru, Special Education due process genius, a certified CPI trainer and the lead for intake and recruitment at WIN. She has the best interest of the kids at heart and cares about the staff and does it all with a smile on her face,” voiced Rankin.
The school board had their district advisory meeting prior to the school board meeting and discussed adding a student to the school board in an effort to gain a student viewpoint when making decisions. Technology privacy and safety were also discussed which triggered a discussion during school board regarding privacy practices. “For administration to even be allowed to go on a student’s device there needs to be basically a life-threatening situation. Our system has trigger words that send alerts to the principals when they are used (i.e., suicide, massacre, etc).
The Veteran’s Day program will be held on November 11 at 9 a.m. Staff development is happening on October 24. Enrollment increased by two children since the last meeting. There are 82 kids in the district that are homeschooled. Teachers will be getting new PCs for their classrooms. Donations and financials were reviewed and accepted by the board.
A resolution was passed to establish the school as a combined polling place for multiple precincts and to designate hours during which the polling place will remain open for voting for school district elections, much the same as it has been in previous years.
Elementary Principal Scott Lempka was at the board meeting to present information on the World’s Best Workforce summary. The goals of the WBWF program are to have all students ready for school, third grade students are achieving grade level literacy scores and closing the identified academic achievement gaps to name a few.
Minnewaska students are showing proficiency in vocabulary and oral language, phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge in kindergarten. In an effort to have more children reach the goals, this has been revised to include students leaving Little Lakers Preschool knowing all 26 letters of the alphabet in upper and lower case as well as the numbers 1-10.
Third grade literacy in MAES has nearly 60 percent meeting proficiency in reading despite the pandemic. Of twelve schools of similar size and other demographics, this number ranks Minnewaska 5th. This goal is revised for MAES to rank number one among the benchmark school districts.
Another goal is that all students are either career or college ready. 76.5 percent of seniors took three or more college course, CHA or co-op apprenticeships. 53 percent fell into the three or more-college credit basket.
The benchmark schools of similar population are identified as Luverne, Zumbrota, Howard Lake, Elko, Melrose, Pine Island, Perham, Pine City, Watertown, New London-Spicer and Glacial Hills Elementary is included in the benchmark group.
Of incoming kindergarten students, 90 percent attended preschool. 60 percent of them attended with Minnewaska Area Schools. The others attended other programs whether they were programs close to their parents’ work, a structured daycare program, a religious program or special needs.
Lempka also presented a program being implemented at the elementary school. The Laker P.A.L.S. program goals are to provide positive role-models, enhance school safety and allow parents and guardians an opportunity to experience the day-to-day operations at the school. “It’s a proven fact that children with emotionally available dads do better in school, have better relationships with their peers and relate better with their teachers,” said Lempka.
Duties of the P.A.L.S. helpers are supervising arrival/dismissal, monitoring the cafeteria and playground, supporting teachers in the classroom and acting as Heroes in the Hall. They are required to complete a background check. Information about the program is available on the school’s website as well as the form to fill out to express interest.
Several policy updates were approved as presented from the curriculum committee and then upcoming dates were discussed. The general election is on November 8, November 17 is set for canvassing at 7:30 a.m. in the district board room. The next school board meeting is scheduled for November 21. The Truth in Taxation meeting will be held on December 19 at 6:30 p.m. in the district office board room followed by the regular school board meeting.
