We held our regular school board meeting in the small group forum room at the high school for the last time. Until further notice, all future school board meetings, regular and work sessions, will be held at the district office. We said thank you and goodbye to Hailey, our student school board member who is graduating this year. She is a gem and we all agreed that she will continue to do very well in college and in life! Our new student school board member was introduced and she will be taking Hailey’s position in the fall 2023. We look forward to working with another talented Owatonna student!
Mr. Elstad used Mission Moment to recognize our speech team finalists and state champion, our Knowledge Bowl state champions, and our Robotics team that competed in nationals in Texas. We are proud of our students!
As per usual, we reviewed the enrollment report. It is well known that Lincoln school is bursting at the seams with enrollment at about 110% capacity. Mr. Elstad noted that attention to this will be brought to the board likely later this year. Seven years ago, Owatonna had to change its school boundary lines because of the shifting population of housing, and this may have to be done again. He recognized that this is never an easy process for families.
Our district policies are on a 3-year cycle review which starts with our policy committee who reads, updates and makes changes if needed, then presents the policies to the board. Revisions often come from changes at the MN Legislature. The board has a first and second reading of each policy and then a vote is taken to approve them. All district policies are on the website.
Owatonna Online school with principal Jamie Bates will be acquiring students from Albert Lea and Northfield this fall as their online programs are closing.
Mr. Elstad gave the Administrative report with a focus on recent MN Legislative decisions, though at the time of the board meeting, were not completely finalized. More to come on this topic because there are multiple new statutes that will be affecting our school district and I expect that the board will be discussing these and the impact they will have. On the bright side, Owatonna was approved for a 1 million dollar grant for Learn to Earn programming.
During board forum, I noted that I would like a discussion around school safety. After a recent talk with my mother who is a Harding High School graduate from St. Paul (where the fatal student stabbing occurred earlier this year) I realized that I am not sure what Owatonna schools are doing to ensure safety of our students, teachers and staff. At Harding High School, they had many students roaming the halls between classes, and I’m not sure what security measures they had in place. Our Chair made note to bring this to a future board meeting, likely a work session, where we can discuss, and information can be obtained. Meanwhile, I also listened to a podcast about schools in Minnesota and was startled to hear about occurrences in schools not far from Owatonna, even in small towns. This is from Alpha News, Sheila Qualls hosts a series of podcasts titled Trapped!: Chaos in the Classroom https://www.buzzsprout.com/2158819
I share this not to instill fear, but to provide awareness. My goal is to be proactive for protecting our students, teachers and staff rather than reactive when a concern or problem arises. It seems that these stories mean more when they are closer to home rather than in urban cities in other states.
I am curious to know what Owatonna community members, parents, students and teachers are concerned about. Has something happened that worries you? Have you heard about something in another district and wonder if it’s happening in Owatonna? Have you had trouble finding answers? Would you be interested in a type of open forum to ask questions? School board members’ contact information is listed in The People’s Press, and it’s also on the district website https://www.isd761.org/our-district/school-board.
Thank you, teachers, administration and school staff, for doing the work, day in and day out, for our children this year. I hope your summer months give you some rest and rejuvenation!
Elizabeth for Owatonna Schools 