Thanks to West St. Paul Chiropractic and Inver Grove Ford for their support.
Fundraising efforts for an accessible playground at Pilot Knob Elementary took center stage at last night’s school board meeting, which also included a statement on the shooting at Annunciation Church and first-day attendance numbers.
Statement on Tragedy
The meeting opened with a brief statement from the board on the recent shooting at Annunciation Church and School in Minneapolis. The board made it clear that they’re doing all they can to keep students safe, but asked state and federal leaders to take action to address this problem. There was a brief moment of silence after the statement in honor of the victims.
Pilot Knob Accessible Playground
The board recognized the PTA from Pilot Knob STEM Magnet school for their work to raise funds for a fully accessible playground at the school. Principal Tom Benson spoke for the group, giving special recognition to Mitzi Tetzloff, who led the charge on this project on behalf of her daughter.
- They were inspired by Somerset Elementary’s playground, and motivated by Pilot Knob’s rising enrollment numbers, including more students with unique physical and sensory needs.
- They currently have raised $140,000 of the necessary funds from individual and business donors, which will be enough to get the playground started, but they need another $40,000 to complete the project.
- Visit the website to learn more about the playground plans and make a contribution.
Superintendent’s Report
Superintendent Peter Olson-Skog gave his regular report on the start of the school year, which began with the lowest grades in each school (Kindergarten, sixth grade, and ninth grade) getting a day to get acclimated before older children started on Wednesday. Olson-Skog emphasized the way that school staff focused on building relationships with new students on the first day.
- Other events included an all-staff pep fest at Two Rivers High School, and the induction of new members of the Warrior Hall of Fame, honoring Two Rivers alumni and former staff who have achieved great things in life.
- Olson-Skog welcomed Rhys Walsh and Evangeline Fuentes, both seniors at Two Rivers High School, who will be serving as student school board representatives this year.
- Olson-Skog also formally recognized the school board itself in honor of national school board month, and pointed out that their stipends amount to 13 cents per hour when all of their duties are considered.
First Day Enrollment Report
Assistant Superintendent Peter Mau reported on enrollment numbers from the first day of school.
- He emphasized that these numbers will fluctuate quite a bit as students attending other schools are dropped from official records and new students are added through open enrollment.
- The first day enrollment numbers this year were 5,203 students, compared to 5,256 last year. This is 13 students over their projection for this year of 5,190.
- Official attendance numbers on October 1 will give a more accurate count of actual student enrollment, and these numbers will be used for allocating some state and federal funding.
- Overall, numbers are lower than expected for kindergarten and elementary school, but higher for middle and high school.
Engage
- More: Agendas and minutes for ISD 197 School Board meetings are available online.
- Watch: You can watch this meeting online. There’s also a video recap with Board Members Sarah Larsen and Jon Vaupel, plus the new student representatives.
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