Category Archives: Blog

The first meeting of 2025 began at 5:30pm with the annual organizational meeting. However, the most important announcement was given at the end of the evening work session with Superintendent Elstad’s announcement of his retirement at the close of the school year in June 2025. The announcement was heartfelt. Thank you Mr. Elstad for pouringContinue reading “1/06/2025 Organizational Meeting and Work Session”

Our school board meeting began on time with all 7 members present, plus our two student representatives, and Superintendent Elstad. MISSION MOMENT: We had many students and parents present for the meeting as Superintendent Elstad recognized our elementary school patrols for their hard work and commitment to safety. The patrol captains from each elementary schoolContinue reading “11/25/2024 Regular Meeting”

Our work session began just after the CACR presentation ended, at approximately 6pm. Two main topics were reviewed: current and future enrollment at OPS and Superintendent Elstad’s 90-day action plan update. Lori Volz, our director of finance and operations gave the enrollment presentation. The slides can be reviewed from the School Board page, then BoardContinue reading “11/12/2024 Work Session”

At 5pm, just before the start of school board work session on 11/12/2024, the board and Superintendent Elstad received the Comprehensive Achievement and Civic Readiness (CACR) presentation by our director of teaching and learning, Julie Sullivan. Also assisting with the presentation was Ken Griswold, Wendy Eggermont, and Kelly Kruger. The World’s Best Workforce (WBWF) guidelineContinue reading “11/12/2024 CACR presentation”

On Thursday November 7, 2024, the school board received a presentation prepared by Superintendent Elstad and Ken Griswold, our district’s data and assessment coordinator. The 3-hour retreat covered four topics: demographic data, academic and accountability data, perceptions data (from the Desired Daily Experiences survey created by Ken) and “other” data. Much of this data canContinue reading “11/7/2024 Data Retreat”

Our regular meeting began per usual at 5:30pm at the Charles S. Crandall Center chambers on the West Hills Campus. As a reminder, regular meetings are recorded and can be found on YouTube, work sessions are not recorded. The public can attend any open work session or regular meeting but can only speak at theContinue reading “10/28/2024 Regular Meeting”

Meetings this week were held at the district office on Tuesday at 5:30pm beginning with a Special School Board Meeting. The purpose of the special meeting was to review and vote on the contractor awards for construction of the previously approved storage facility that will be built next to the current maintenance building on theContinue reading “10/15/2024 Special Meeting-Work Session”

In follow up to my last post regarding blocked access to the Owatonna Public School online libraries, I was able to meet with Superintendent Elstad and discuss. He noted that as of 10/11/2024 (if not that date, then soon following), parents will be able to access the library system by using the student ID numberContinue reading “10/5/2024 Update”

In efforts to keep this report a reasonable length, I am going to be succinct in my meeting summary notes but expand on my comments, thoughts, and opinions. Remember, this is my personal blog, with my personal interpretations and perspectives. I am not speaking for the whole Owatonna School Board. The Regular Meeting (these areContinue reading “9/23/2024 Regular Meeting”