FMS @ a Glance
February 18-22, 2019
Proud to be.
Shout out to Drew Tinaglia! He does a fantastic job in this building and his prompt response to my room saved the day! Thanks Drew!
Kim Knott and the kitchen crew for providing three square meals a day for students.
Steve Franck and his team for their work keeping the vending machine stocked.
Minda, Judy, and Laura for running the offices and all that goes into the daily business of the middle school.
Team Leads for their work with CPTs.
Shout out to Diane Pilcher and Mary Pankonin our wonderful EL paras! Thank you for all you do to support our EL students. FMS is so lucky to have you both!
Shout out to Nick Tackmann. Thank you for being so accommodating for all your math students.
Shout out to the Music Department! Thank you for coming up with a great idea to bring our 5th graders over to the middle school for a concert. Your creativity and organization is awesome! We are so excited for February 28th!
Shout out to Nikki Hagedorn, Marcia Helgeson, Lisa Transburg, and Steve Franck. Your support of our special ed. students is appreciated. We are thankful for your advocacy for students and your willingness to go above and beyond to teach the expected behaviors! We are very grateful for the Sped Triage plan you've put together.
Shout out to Char and Alicia for your support of all the testing. Thank you for communicating with all and trying to meet everyone's needs.
Week @ a Glance
Monday, February 18
Curriculum Day - No School
Tuesday, February 19
SLC (4 - 8 pm)
7:30 am Finance Committee
Wednesday, February 20
9:00 am PST
12:00 pm Restorative Justice Sessions
3:00 pm Development Day meetings
Thursday, February 21
Choir Concert
7:00 am Department Chair meeting
9:00 am Admin PLC with Ryan K.
Friday, February 22
9:00 am Falcon for Change trip (Coppess)
11:00 am 9th grade Academy Banquet
5:00 pm Youth Connect Activities Fair
A look ahead:
2/25 Admin visit CPT
2/25 Student Services
2/25 Spring Celebration Committee meeting
2/26 Band Concert
2/26 Admin meeting
2/27 PST
2/27 Development Day meeting
2/27 Restorative Justice Sessions
2/28 Ski trip
2/28 Racial Equity Conference (KM)
2/28 Community School Advisory Committee
2/28 5th grade Music Concert / Presentation
2/29 Polar Plunge
2/29District Principal meeting with Mr. Sesker
By Joe Feldman
January 23, 2019
Legislative Update
This was a busy week of committee hearings at the capitol.
For the education community, each week begins at 3:00 on Monday with the Senate Education Committee. This week, the committee had a full agenda with bills focusing on school safely and student life. Senator Nelson presented a key bill on school safely revenue (S.F. 7) This bill was passed last year but was caught up in the veto food fight between the Legislature and the Governor. (Much of the legislative agenda from last year is being passed again this year.) Senator Nelson also moved her bill on suicide prevention training for teachers.
Alternative fire drills were discussed (S.F. 389 Pratt). As one of the experts testified, few if any students are injured in fires and emergency drills have to cover other dangers. A good example of this is the Parkland shootings, where the activation of the fire alarm put students and teachers in the deadly path of the shooter. Senator Pratt’s bill would allow schools to train for circumstances where students and staff shouldn’t move to a different location if it puts them into danger.
The committee also heard SF 177 (Bingham) on school safety assessment teams. This is largely the same bill as last year. (We discussed this extensively in the legal workshops last fall.) Most districts already do this but there is always room for improvement and school safety teams are coming to your district if you don’t already have them.
On Tuesday, the House Tax Committee heard a bill making the MSHSL tax exemption permanent. (HF 382 Marquart). The current exemption expires in 2027—so early bird gets the worm here!
On Tuesday afternoon, the House Policy Committee heard a bill authorizing school boards to continue expiring referendums without going to the voters. (HF 116 Freiberg) This is always an interesting discussion given that almost all of the renewals pass. Both sides use this argument for and against their positions. The bill was the first roll call of the year. Republicans no, Democrats yes. It was sent from the Policy Committee to the Finance Committee.
On Wednesday, the same committee heard the labor-day start bills. (HF 314 Youakim and HF 351 Christensen.) The tourism industry testified resorts would close if we start before labor-day. Even the state grocery association sent a letter in opposition. And of course the Minnesota State Agricultural Society (aka the State Fair Board) voiced opposition as well. Two principals testified on our behalf, Bret Domstrand of Lake Marion Elementary and John Bezek of Prior Lake High School. The labor-day start statute has been in effect since 1985. Youakim’s bill is an outright repeal while Christensen’s bill allows schools to start before labor-day during 2020-21 and 2021-22. While it shouldn’t be, this bill is always a tough call for legislators.
While the House was debating labor-day the Senate was exploring the wonderful world of special education legislation. Significant work was done on Special Ed. during the interim and the proposed legislation reflects some of that work. Six major bills on multiple aspects of special education were presented to a room full of advocates, parents, school officials and legislators. Paperwork reduction, conciliation conference requirements, dispute resolution and due process were all discussed. These issues become so specialized, it is difficult for several legislators (and lobbyists) to get a clear picture of where the dispute is. Really, the issues involved in special education are not well managed by the legislative process. The structure of complex mandates with little local control results in a general lack of confidence in the system. This is despite the best efforts of legislators and others involved.
At the federal level, we avoided another government shutdown this week. The President has announced he will issue a National Emergency Declaration in order to build the wall with Mexico. (As you may recall, Mexico was going to pay for this wall but apparently this will now come out of other governmental budgets.) In effect, the emergency declaration will allow the President to divert money from other projects (the military budget for example) to his favorite project the wall with Mexico. It will give cable news a lot to talk about. Democrats in congress are considering suing. (Good work for lawyers.) Fortunately, we are 1,377 miles from El Paso so the issue doesn’t feel as compelling here as it might somewhere else. This certainly will keep cable news very busy for the future.
Glad we are here in the North.
On Tuesday the Governor’s budget will be released. This will begin the second phase of the legislative session. As the budget is presented to the various finance committees, the legislators will look over all aspects of the budget and craft a legislative response over the next 45 days. Reality will begin to set in for all concerned.