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Thirty-six school district employees are participating in the Northfield School Leadership Development Academy. The academy has representation from a variety of employee groups and is helping develop leaders across the school district.

Dear Northfield Public Schools Families:

As good Minnesotans, we navigate these winter months together with a sense of shared pride and a little bit of shared suffering. I thought this presented an opportunity to highlight some recent successes by our students and staff:

• Andy Amundson and Makayah Petricka recently qualified for the Nordic skiing state meet.

• The Alpine ski teams recently competed in conference and section races. The girls team won the Big 9 Conference title for the third year in a row and finished third at the Section 6 championships. The boys finished in second place at the Big 9 Conference meet and fourth at the Section 6 championships. Clara Wilson, Madison Loritz, Bode Bulfer and Tommy Cahoon qualified to compete in the state competition.

• NHS hosted over 200 athletes at the Olympic Weightlifting meet recently. Stephen Feig set three school records!

• NHS Raider Speech won first place in the small school division at the Rochester John Marshall Speech tournament. Elizabeth McCormick won the Great Speeches competition and Aki Gupta won the Discussion category.

• NHS teacher and coach Jody Saxton West has been named the NFHS Outstanding Speech and Debate Educator for Minnesota. Jody has coached Northfield’s speech team and judged competitions since 2002.

• NMS students Kadence Bowens and Grayson Mertesdorf advanced to the February 18 Southeast Minnesota Final Spelling Bee. The grand champion of the final will advance to the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

• The Gator-Raider Boys Swimming and Diving Team finished third at True Team State.

• The Business Professionals of America (BPA) team will be sending eight students to the state competition in Minneapolis in March. Those students are Zane Engels, Nick Eschen, Josh Goerdt, Caley Graber, Aki Gupta, Makena Malecha, Olivia Voigt and Tristan Westergren.

These are just a handful of examples of the excellence present in our schools each day. Congratulations to these Raiders for their hard work and resilience that yielded such success!

As always, don’t hesitate to contact me directly with feedback or questions about the school district.

Sincerely,

Matt

--

Matt Hillmann, Ed.D.

Superintendent

mhillmann@northfieldschools.org | 507-663-0629

The priority-based budget reduction teams met for the first time on Tuesday, February 11. Over 60 parents, community members, staff, and students are involved. The roster of participants can be found here.

The first meeting agenda included:

• All participants heard a district budget presentation. This grounded participants in the reasons for the committees' work.

• The five teams (elementary, district services, middle/high school activities, secondary, and special services) met. There was an introduction of committee members.

• There was a review of the 2022 priority statements and a discussion about the team's reflections on the priorities.

• There was an overview of what is included in the budget package.

• Substantial discussion followed, including questions about the budgets, suggestions for reductions, and conversations about those suggestions.

• The teams' next meeting is next Tuesday, Feb. 18. Further team discussion of reduction suggestions, their impact, and associated cost savings will be the primary agenda topic.
  
  

Here is the rest of the timeline:

• February 18 & 25 — Priority-based budget reduction team meetings

• March 11 — Public meeting reviewing preliminary proposed reductions (6 pm, Northfield High School)

• April 14 — The board formally hears the budget reduction proposals.

• April 28 — The board will be asked to finalize budget reductions.

These discussions are painful. And, we are not alone. Approximately half the districts in the state are having similar conversations. These are difficult decisions, but we are grateful for the community’s support and engagement in this process. If you have questions, feedback, or budget reduction ideas, contact Superintendent Matt Hillmann or Director of Finance Val Mertesdorf.

One of our strategic plan benchmarks is that all parents report satisfaction with their children’s educational experience. As part of that commitment, we conduct an annual parent/caregiver survey. The survey responses identify areas of success and areas for improvement. We use the feedback you provide to improve our school district. The survey also allows you to recognize our educators’ great work through the “shoutout” question and provide open-ended comments. Thank you in advance for your feedback.

»Take the survey now!

• Your input helps us improve our school district.

• It can take less than 10 minutes to complete this survey.

• The survey window has been extended through Friday, February 21.

• Please complete one individual survey for each building your students attend.

From now until March 15, the Northfield Arts Guild will feature the artwork of students in Northfield. This show includes both two-dimensional and three-dimensional works of art. The gallery is open from 12-5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 11-4 p.m. on Saturdays and is located at 304 Division Street.

The state of Minnesota is in the process of creating statewide K–12 Academic Standards in Health and is seeking feedback on these standards. To learn more about the proposed health standards and to make a public comment, visit the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) rulemaking webpage. Comments must be submitted via the ecomments system (Discussion 40585). The public comment period will close on Friday, April 4 at 4:30 p.m.

There will be no school for students on Monday, February 17, due to a staff development day. Classes will resume on Tuesday, February 18.

At the school board meeting on Monday, February 10, the board approved the calendar for the 2025-2026 school year.

Click here to view the 2025-2026 school year calendar.

You can follow the process for reimagining Northfield High School on the district’s website.

• Board packets, table files, and meeting videos are located on our website.
• You can listen to Superintendent Hillmann’s update on KYMN radio.

The Northfield School District does not discriminate on the basis of sex and prohibits sex discrimination in any education program or activity that it operates, as required by Title IX, including in employment. You can learn more at: https://northfieldschools.org/about/departments/human-resources/ under the Title IX tab.