Thursday, March 28, 2024

Area school boards welcome new officers

Area school boards are welcoming new officers this month, with incoming chairs, vice chairs, clerks and treasurers reporting for duty.

School board officers have turned over at Kasson-Mantorville, Byron and Hayfield. At Triton, the school board officers remained the same for 2021-22, with Rebecca Knutson staying on as chairperson, Melissa Kubat as vice chairperson, Dale Jensen as clerk and Duane Bartel as treasurer.

At Kasson-Mantorville, outgoing school board chair Kent Harfmann reflected on his seven years as chair and said his replacement, Angie Richards, will serve the community well as incoming school board chairperson. Steve Alvarado is serving as incoming KM clerk and Brandon Madery as incoming KM treasurer.

“They will do a great job,” Harfmann said. “We’re very excited to have them in those key leadership positions.”

Richards has been engaged with the school district since first moving to the area in 2010. She served first as a volunteer for the Early Childhood Advisory Council, then later as chair of the Vote Yes Referendum in 2014 and finally on the school board. She is now in her seventh year on the KM school board. She’s served in the past as board clerk and board treasurer, and is eager to take the helm as chairperson.

Harfmann will remain on the board and said the greatest accomplishment during his seven-year tenure as chair was the referendum that passed in 2014.

“I don’t think people know that in 2012 the referendum for $9 million failed at a rate of 70 to 30,” Harfmann said. “Seventy percent of the people voted no. Two years later, after really doing an investigation of what the needs were for the district, they passed about a $40 million dollar referendum. Sixty-five percent of the people voted yes on a $40 million dollar bond referendum, whereas two years previous 70 percent voted no on $9 million. That comes down to leadership.”

Harfmann credits Superintendent Mark Matuska with helping lead the district in the right direction. The school board, he notes, has one staff person to oversee: Matuska. “He’s an incredibly good, strong leader,” Harfmann said of Matuska. “The school board has done a good job of hiring the right person and letting them lead.”

Harfmann said the school board and Matuska have always had the community at large and the KM students at heart when making decisions.

“If you look at the district, you’ll see that over the last 10 years it has drastically changed,” he said. “It went from a district that was in need of upgrades to being one of the nicest and well-kept facilities in southern Minnesota. We’ve had school boards that have had vision. I’m talking 15, 20 years ago, that did stuff like purchase land north of the school, years ago, to get that campus setting we have now. If you look around southern Minnesota, I don’t think anyone has that setting like we do.”

Richards intends to keep the forward momentum going as incoming chair for KM. She is pleased with how schools have risen to the challenge during what she calls a disrupted period for public education. She said the pandemic has changed school life as we know it for students, their families and educators. “During the past ten months, school districts have had to offer several different learning models, pivoting staff and students quickly to keep the focus on safely providing outstanding student learning opportunities,” Richards said. “Wrapping around these opportunities are additional supports provided through education, structure, meals, special education, mental health and more.”

“Uncertainty around the pandemic will continue,” she went on. “This unpredictability is creating a great deal of stress on students and families. Our board, and all districts in the nation, is faced with safely returning students to in-person learning five days a week. And in doing so, meeting students and staff where they are while modeling standards for excellence – vision, ethics, structure, equity and inclusion, accountability, advocacy and communication. Collaboration, transparency and communication will continue to be themes this year.”

In Byron, new school board chairperson Harvey Bergh referred media inquiries to Superintendent Joey Page. Page referred media to the district’s operational plan, which is available for community review online.

Page went on to say the challenges and worries of our school district families during this pandemic are very real. “The return to in-person and hybrid instructional models, the increased ability to test for the virus, and vaccines’ availability are good news,” he said. “But for all the difficulties of now, there are so many good stories unfolding – everyday, teachers are learning new things, flexing their creativity to keep our students engaged. Our students and families have been incredibly patient and understanding with model changes, quarantining and activities’ impacts.”

Also in Byron, incoming school board vice chairperson is Jan Reed and incoming treasurer is Craig Fuchs. Emma Harvey is incoming clerk.

Within Hayfield Community Schools, Greg Peterson left the school board. Incoming 2021-22 officers are Patrick Towey Jr. as chairperson, Kathy Hegna Zelinske as vice chair, Justin Holtan as treasurer and Chad O’Connor as clerk.

 

 

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