Author Archives: ElizabethHedlund

The school board Regular Meeting started at 530pm at the district office on Bridge Street. As the meeting began, all members were given a laminated card, each side clarifying and asking the relevant questions: Governance: Why? To what end? At what cost? Through what policies? (School board’s role) Management: What? When? How will this getContinue reading “9/25/2023 Regular Meeting”

I’ll be writing a summary of tonight’s board meeting, but first I wanted to provide you with a copy of a statement I made tonight at the meeting…  I’ve been on the school board for 9 months, and during this time we’ve reviewed several policies.  The policies are updated by the policy committee to reflectContinue reading “9/25/2023 Statement to the Board”

Governor Walz recently signed a new law regarding the use of restraints in Minnesota schools by School Resource Officers. Many have felt that this law is confusing, lacking clarity, and therefore places our SROs with too much dangerous liability. As a result, several school districts in Minnesota are now without any SROs. In our lastContinue reading “SRO Update”

The school board work session occurred on Monday September 11, 2023. Please take a moment to pause and remember 911, and talk about what happened to our country on that day. Thank you to all of those that have made significant sacrifices on that day and since that day. The majority of the work sessionContinue reading “9/11/2023 Work Session”

I just received this email and wanted to share a great resource for anyone who knows children starting a new school year. This resource is called Success at School Handbook 2023-2024 and was created by the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism. Lots of helpful information is here to assist you in navigating and finding answersContinue reading “FAIR: School Handbook”

Since I was not able to connect to the school board meeting to attend virtually, I watched the video recording and will summarize the meeting here. Here is the video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUyyCxhP5w0. Most of the audio is difficult to hear but I will do my best to accurately report on the meeting. First, the SchoolhouseContinue reading “8/28/2023 Regular School Board Meeting”

First, my apologies to the Owatonna community. I had prepped and planned to be virtually present for the school board meeting on 8/28/2023 while my family was spending a long weekend in Wisconsin Dells. When I attempted to connect to the meeting with the Google Meet invitation received last week, the wheels were turning butContinue reading “Update/News”

The application process is open for anyone to apply for the District Curriculum Advisory Committee. This committee allows up to 25 members and will meet once monthly during the school year. Membership is one year, but could possibly be longer if desired and space allows. District meetings are “closed” meetings, meaning that the general publicContinue reading “Curriculum”

The school board met on August 7, 2023 for a four-hour retreat at The Learning Zone and again on August 14, 2023 for our monthly work session at the district office. The retreat was led by Dr. Ray Queener from TeamWorks (https://teamworks4ed.com/). We engaged in a team building exercise and Ray led us in discussionsContinue reading “Retreat and Work Session”

The only school board meeting for July was held in the school district office, 5 school board members attended. I was not able to attend this meeting but have listened to the recording on the district website. The link to the meeting video: https://youtu.be/_fBdhY9RVRE As per all regular school board meetings, public forum was anContinue reading “July 10, 2023 Regular Meeting”