Superintendent's Scoop

The Christmas Holiday has nearly arrived.

It was such a blessing to walk around both schools and see all the smiling faces on the Friday before Holiday Break. The other element that is so impressive is the effort both staffs went in celebrating this week with students. Staff brought the energy all week long and students truly benefited.

Reminder, students will return to school January 2, 2025. Elementary and High School offices will be closed over the holiday break. The District office will be open by appointment only.

For those who find it helpful, there is a TRANSLATE button. It is a white button at the very top.

Have a great week as we move into Christmas and Holiday Break from December 23 - January 1.

Below is the Gratitude Walk from November. Enjoy.

For this month, I want to begin by sharing my experience with Mr. Barclay's Habitat for Humanity Construction class. From the high school, take a right and go east. The houses our students built are just up the road. This is such a fantastic opportunity for kids. For most of my life, I was awful at anything connected to swinging a hammer. After building our lake house, I am marginally better. On this visit, students learned how to insulate a roof, install plywood for walls, and generally work as a team. The students were attentive and kind while working as teams. Imagine being able to drive past these homes as an adult and know you helped build it from the foundation up. That's darn cool. Mr. Barclay, thanks so much for offering this opportunity to our kids and community. The skills you are teaching will forever be used; they just may not know it yet.

Next, I was fortunate to watch Ms. Perrizo teach A Delicious Story to some antsy little ones. Though I did work in an elementary library many moons ago, I am pretty sure I did not have the patience Ms. Perrizo demonstrated. Several times Ms. Perrizo effectively supported appropriate behavior while exposing students to inferences and making predictions. In addition, the book fair was happening. Lots of excited faces were able to fill a bag with books - warms the heart to know stories are filling young minds.

Finally, I was fortunate to visit Mrs. Lovrien's AP Biology class. I love so much the idea creating dynamic learning opportunities that are not textbook driven. Mrs. Lovrien challenged these students to investigate phospholipid structure (if you can say pronounce it you are ahead of me). I've seen this strategy in the elementary classrooms as well, but it was not one I employed. These students were tasked with working in pairs to define and summarize what to expect with this experiment. They were then tasked with predicting potential results. What I loved about this experiment is though there is a correct'ish solution, the groups who did not get there had to ask why. Mrs. Lovrien did not try express where she thought the group may have gone wrong. There are just too many factors - after all, it's the scientific process: 1. Ask a ?; 2. Do background research; 3. construct a hypothesis, and 4. test hypothesis through an experiment and analyze the results before trying again. It is a great reminder that not everything is figured out on the first try. What's important is risking failure in the pursuit of learning something new and valuable.

At this meeting, the School Board "organizes" for the next calendar year. Elements that get decided include time and place of board meetings, accept newly elected board members, assign board members to important committees among so many more items. It is a focused business meeting that sets the stage for the rest of the year.

The Board is sad to see John Brogan walk away from being a fantastic member of this team. He will be missed. I found John to be honest and straightforward. If he thought I needed to hear him, he made sure I did. It was not combative nor demeaning, but conversations of instruction. You will be missed, John. Thank you so much.

With John leaving, another joins. Please welcome Ramona Reisdorf as the newest member. Ramona and I had a chance to go to the MSBA Phase 1 training together. It was a great way to get a feel for how Ramona may react to Board business and discussions. Ramona is thoughtful and analytical. She has two elementary students that she is very proud of and wants the best for them. This is one of the main reasons she is excited to be a school board member. Ramona, I very much look forward to making St. Charles the beacon school district in Minnesota.