⏰ Reading time: Four minutes, 42 seconds

Dear Northfield School District Families:

The Northfield School District is celebrating its sesquicentennial — our 150th anniversary of educating students! Over the course of the school year, I will share anecdotes from the district’s history. The anecdotes will (mostly) be from Bruce Colwell’s excellent book “City of Schools.” Mr. Colwell’s book is a comprehensive history of the Northfield School District.

Officially founded in 1874, there were earlier versions of public education in Northfield:

• In 1856, 20 Northfield settlers pledged $300 to construct the schoolhouse on the corner of Union and 3rd Street.

• That same year, the precursor to the Northfield School District was established with Ira Fields, Meril White, and John North serving on the first school board.

• The first tax to support the school was initiated that year and other financial decisions were made: those who lived outside of the village were to be charged three dollars for five months and those who had not contributed toward the building of the schoolhouse were to pay four dollars. That school year, 73 students attended.

• Reference: “City of Schools” pp. 3-4.

We are proud of our past but more excited for our future! As always, please contact me with any feedback about the district.

Sincerely,

Matt

--

Matt Hillmann, Ed.D.

Superintendent

mhillmann@northfieldschools.org | 507-663-0629

The Northfield School District seeks members of our community to serve on advisory committees. The district uses advisory committees to get input from the community about educational and operational topics. We want your perspective! Please consider expressing an interest in one of our committees.

A description of each committee and its meeting dates are included in this interest form.

The interest form will be available until Sept. 30.

• Next NHS Tours:
• Saturday, Sept. 14, 9am - 11am
• Monday, Sept. 16, 4pm - 6pm
• Enter at Door No. 10 and meet in the media center.
• Join us for a tour of Northfield Community Education Center (former Greenvale Park school) and Greenvale Park Elementary on Thursday, Sept. 19! The tour will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the NCEC, and finish with a tour of GVP. The tour is intended to demonstrate, at a smaller scale, how the Reimagine Northfield High School bond referendum could improve the NHS student experience. No registration is required. We hope to see you there!
• Visit our Reimagine Northfield High School website, which contains detailed information about the bond referendum.

The student citizenship handbook is the district’s board-approved discipline policy. Approved annually, it outlines the district’s student discipline philosophy and the consequences for violating discipline guidelines.

Why is it important?

• The purpose of student discipline is to ensure a learning environment that prepares every student for lifelong success by developing critical thinkers who are curious and ready to engage in our society. Discipline is a teaching tool.

• The school board sets reasonable policies and rules for maintaining a safe and supportive school environment.

• It provides clarity for students, families, and staff about the potential consequences for handbook violations.

What is different this year?

• A work team that included teachers, administrators, and the district’s law firm reviewed the student citizenship handbook in its entirety. Some work team members are also parents of district students. District parents were invited to serve on the work team.

• The district offered parent focus groups to get feedback on the student citizenship handbook.

• Very few changes were made to the consequences for violating the discipline guidelines. However, significant changes were made so that the list of potential consequences is more explicit than in previous versions. These changes were intended to improve clarity.

How is it used?

• Principals and assistant principals consider all evidence in a disciplinary situation and use the handbook to guide their decisions about the consequences for discipline violations.

• Our principals are steadfast in using the student citizenship handbook to guide the consequences they assign for discipline violations. They strive to be fair, consistent, and free from bias when assigning consequences.

• Depending on the circumstances, discipline for students with disabilities may be modified based on their individualized education plan.

State and federal data privacy

• In almost all situations, the consequences assigned to students for violating discipline guidelines is identified as private educational data. This means that the district is prohibited from sharing consequences with people other than the offending student’s parent/caregiver.

• Others can use the student citizenship handbook to identify what consequences were likely assigned in any discipline situation.

Questions

• You can direct questions about the student citizenship handbook to your school principal or assistant principal(s).

Rice County Emergency Management is commencing work on the update of the Rice County Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP). Public input is requested.

Attached is a news release for your information.

Each year districts are required to provide annual notifications to parents, students, and staff. You can find these notifications on the district’s website. All district policies are also on our website. Please familiarize yourself with these notifications and policies.

• 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.