Welcome to the 2017-2018 School Year!

I hope that you had an enjoyable summer and are excited for the upcoming school year!  My role in the district has changed a little bit with the district moving back to a more traditional administrative structure.  I enjoyed my four years as a K-12 principal and I will really miss working with the elementary staff.  I will especially miss working with the students!       

I’m very proud of our great high school here in Minneota!  We have teachers who are passionate about their jobs and offer modern instruction accompanied with high expectations.  We have students who are well-behaved and aren’t afraid of working hard in the classroom. We have a school board who holds us all to high expectations and strives to provide a first-class school for the town of Minneota.  I believe a high school is only as good as its teachers.  We have GREAT teachers!  They teach the MN State Standards with intensity and make meaningful connections with our students.

The newest data is in and I’m excited to let you know:

We are #1 out of 28 area schools in our High School Reading MCA scores.

We are #2 out of 28 area schools in our High School Science MCA scores.

We are #4 out of 28 area schools in our High School Math MCA scores.  

Ever since I got here four years ago, I frequently heard: “Minneota is where you go if you want to excel in sports.”  Each year that goes by, I’m hearing less and less of that and more and more talk about, “what a great school” we are.  The goal is to be the best in everything we offer/do here at Minneota High School.  The students deserve a school that is well-rounded and strong in all areas, not just athletics.  

We’ve had remarkable stability the last few years here at Minneota Public Schools in terms of teacher turnover.  We have only two new teachers out of 46 for the second consecutive year!  Having this stability is beneficial for a school district for many different reasons!  We welcome Matt Buysse (Shop/FFA) and Emily Citterman (Jr. High Math) to our team.  They are both excited to get started and will no doubt do an excellent job for our students!  You can learn more about them on our school Facebook.  

In the coming days, I will be updating this blog frequently with important information/changes for the 2017-2018 school year!  Each time I update this blog, I will send an e-mail to let you know it has been updated.  

I hope you are as excited as I am for the school year to start!  

Have a great day,

Jeremy W. Frie

High School Principal

Minneota Public Schools

February News and Notes - High School Edition

Spring has agreed to give us a sneak preview over the next 5-10 days!  I see multiple days of 60 degree weather coming our way!  What a great gift in the month of February!  It won’t be long and the grass will start to turn green and we’ll see leaves on the trees!    

Our juniors took a practice ACT today here at school.  We made the testing environment as authentic as we could!  We turned off the bells, set the scoreboard timer, and got a good practice session in!  The REAL THING takes place on 2/28!  

I want to wish our Wrestlers good luck tonight and hopefully on Saturday!  Show them what Vikings are made of!  

Good luck to the girls and boys basketball teams as they head into the postseason!  Both teams have had great seasons and will be feared in the playoffs!

A special congratulations to Lydia Sussner for scoring her 1,000th point the other night!  Lydia is a good basketball player, a great student, and an even better person.  Many young Vikings look up to her!  Well done, Lydia!  

I got the opportunity to mock interview roughly ½ of the Class of 2017 over the past two weeks as part of an assignment in Language Arts 12 with Mrs. Opdahl.  They worked on everything from the handshake to asking follow-up questions at the end of the interview.  I asked some tough questions and they handled them quite well!  I’ve been impressed with the maturity and overall behavior of this senior class!  It won’t be long and they’ll be walking across that stage in May with their caps and gowns!

We are still searching for an Ag/Shop teacher/FFA advisor for the 2017-2018 school year.  We’ve interviewed a few candidates but we are finding that many of the recent college graduates are very Agriculture-based with their skillsets and are lacking in the shop skills.  Most of our class offerings here in Minneota are shop-related and I believe we should offer SHOP and AGRICULTURE to our students.  We will continue to advertise and will continue to be aggressive in our search.  We want the very best teacher we can get for our students...they deserve it!  

Registration season is quickly approaching!  There will be information on registration coming your way during the month of March.  

Did you know that 93 of our 7-12 students made either the A or Straight A honor roll at semester?  Did you know that 51 of our 7-12 students made the B honor roll?  It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to accomplish these feats!  I’m proud of how hard our students work.  

The last day of the 3rd quarter is March 10.  

You can follow Minneota Public Schools on Facebook and on Instagram...simply search for:  minneotapublicschools  

Enjoy the weather and enjoy rooting for our Vikings as they enter the postseason!

February News and Notes - Elementary Edition

It’s February but it looks and feels more like March!  We’ll take it!  I know the kids prefer getting outside for recess vs being crowded in the gym on those cold days.  

I Love to Read month is in full-swing here in the Elementary School!  The kids are having fun with the reading-related activities!  A special thanks to Nancy Dilley for organizing all the fun activities!  Are you taking time to read to your child at night?  I know in my house, I’m down to one kid left who likes Mom and Dad to read stories...they grow up so fast!  Enjoy those moments with your child, they will look back fondly at those moments of Mom and Dad reading stories!         

The lost and found collection is starting to grow once again.  When you are in the building, take a walk and check out the lost items and claim your child’s clothing!  The lost and found will be reset at the end of the school year.  

We applied to have MN Reading Corps for the 2017-2018 school year.  We applied for ½ time and a ½ time preschool emphasis.  Once we are approved, we’ll be advertising to find people to fill those roles!

There will be Community Ed Volleyball Forms coming home soon.  I will e-mail a digital copy and send home a hard copy very soon!  

The Cheerleading Camp hosted by Andrea Knutson and Melinda Drietz was a success!  The girls performed at halftime of the girls game last night and had a blast!  Over 40 girls participated!

Remember, there is NO SCHOOL on Friday, February 17, and there IS SCHOOL on February 20 (due to a snow day makeup).

Thanks for sharing your child with us at Minneota Public Schools!  

Jeremy W. Frie

K-12 Principal

A thanks and a transparent explanation...

I want to extend a sincere “thank you” to Matt Myrvik (Head Athletic Director) and Wade Gillund (Assistant Athletic Director) for all their hard work and efforts as they continue to lead the athletic department for the remainder of the school year.  A special “thank you” goes to Matt for taking an already successful department and making it better.  Matt is excellent at communicating to all stakeholders, thorough with all his duties, and he has approached the job with the utmost professionalism.  It was for the above reasons that we offered to remove the interim label by offering Matt a full-time Activities Director/Groundskeeper position for the 2017-2018 school year and beyond.  After deliberation, Matt has decided it wasn’t the right position for him going forward.  He leaves big shoes to fill in our school district but I appreciate the fact that he’ll still be working with our student athletes as an assistant coach on the football field and with our youngest wrestlers in the youth wrestling program.

Why did we decide to combine the Activities Director Position with a Groundskeeping position?  

The current structure was a band-aid for our school district and it was determined that the structure wasn’t an ideal one, especially for Matt.  He works a full-time job in Marshall, coaches football and youth wrestling, and was serving as Head Athletic Director. Did I mention he has a family too?  It was a structure that simply had to change.  School districts our size simply don’t have a full-time athletic director.  We, along with many other districts, don’t believe that the job is big enough to warrant a full-time, year-long position. When doing our research we found that schools our size combine the Activities Director Position with something to create a full-time position.  Some schools combine it with the principal position, some schools combine it with a teaching position, and others combine with with something different.  We have a need for an Outdoor Groundskeeper here in our district and we have a need for an Activities Director.  I believe we can do much better in terms of making our outside more beautiful...it just needs some TLC and a person who will accept the challenge.

So...we are posting a full-time Activities Director/Groundskeeper position in hopes of finding the right person to come in and fill big shoes in our Activities Department and someone who is willing to improve the outside aesthetics of our campus.  We’re hoping that the full-time position will attract someone to the job, and that person will stay for a while, slowing down the current turnover rate of the position.  We don’t know if the right person will apply...if not...it’s back to the drawing board!

What is a Paraprofessional?

       This week was deemed Paraprofessional recognition week by the State of Minnesota!  We here in Minneota Public Schools realize just how important and essential our Paraprofessionals are to the success of our school/students!  As a small token of our appreciation, we've tried to spoil our Para's as much as possible this week with donuts/juice, meat/cheese trays, treats, and pizza/pop!  Below, you'll see just how important Paraprofessionals are to our school district.  

“A paraprofessional is multi-talented!  In my classroom a paraprofessional will be found…. guiding a struggling reader, encouraging practice with math skills, instilling the confidence to share opinions, and helping children develop friendship skills.  A para-professional is the glue that cements  students’ learning into that art project called  “Life”  Thank you to all the paraprofessionals for being that binding force at Minneota Elementary School.” - Mrs. Sue Buysse

“Paraprofessionals are the backbone to great and effective teachers. They "fill in" the empty spaces of the school by providing support and guidance whether it's helping students with academics or teaching them important social and life skills. They are an integral part of a child's life and future sucess! Thank you to all paraprofessionals that make a difference each day!” - Ms. Melinda Drietz

“Paraprofessional are the heart and soul of Minneota Public Schools.  They teach, they encourage and they believe in the students they work with every day.  Children count with you, but Teachers count on you!  Thank you for all you do for our school!” - Mrs. Heather Webskowski

“It is invaluable to be able to collaborate with a paraPROfessional that is in the classroom every day. They are tremendously flexible in that they have to jump from subject to subject on an hourly basis. They definitely enrich the students’ education here at Minneota Public Schools. Thanks for all that you do for the kids” - Mr. Keven Larson

“A para is my second set of eyes, ears and shadow in my shop classes and a barometer in the classroom of student motivation levels.” - Mr. Bill Delaney

“Paraprofessionals are the lifelines of the school.  We rely on them to be great communicators and advocates for students.  They are patient, kind, resilient and willing to help in any way they can.  Paraprofessionals build important and lasting relationships with students and teachers.  Without them, we could not do our job.  Thank you for all you do!” -Mrs. Nicolle Johnston

Paraprofessional assist in the discovering of creating ideas on how students will apply what is being taught and has been taught. - Mr. Scott Hanson

A paraprofessional is an advocate for students. - Ms. Renae Hanson

Have you ever read three books at once?  Paraprofessional, Maggie Williams can! 

January News and Notes - High School Edition

*Reminder that there is NO SCHOOL on 1/16.  Our teachers will be participating in a joint staff-development day with several other area schools.

*The district Spelling Bee is scheduled for January 18 from 9-11 am. 

*There will be a slight delay in announcing the 1st Semester Honor Roll.  We are waiting for the MRVED classes grades to be reported, which won't be for a couple of weeks.  It should say on your child's report card if they made an honor roll.  When we can, we'll be announcing the honor roll in the Minneota Mascot and on the school website.  You haven't seen your child's report card?  You can access it anytime on the parent portal.  

*Please check our High School Announcements, updated and posted on the school website each day by 1 pm.  There will be timely information posted there each day.  You can find the High School Announcements on the left-hand side of the front page of the school website.

*The next scheduled grade check is January 18.

*I'd like to thank those High School students who are gave their time to help ref or keep the scoreboard at youth basketball.  I'm proud of you for giving back to your school and to the youth athletes! It's said a lot here but it's true...we have good kids here at Minneota Public Schools!  

*Last week several 2016 graduates came back to meet with our teachers.  We invited them to come and tell us how their 1st semester of post-secondary education went!  We want to know what we can do better as a high school to better prepare students for post-secondary education.  The meeting was entertaining and educational for us! It certainly looks like the class of 2016 is off to a great start!

It's going to be a great month here at Minneota Public Schools.  I invite you to come and watch our Vikings in action this month!  The Girls Basketball team is home 6 times this month, the Boys Basketball team is home 6 times this month, Varsity Wrestling is home on the 19th, and our Dance Team performs here on the 10th at halftime!  It's cold outside but it's a balmy 72 degrees in the Comp Gym!  

If you ever have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me here at school!

Jeremy W. Frie
K-12 Principal

January News and Notes - Elementary Edition

Elementary News and Notes

*Reminder that there is NO SCHOOL on January 16.  The teachers will be participating in a joint staff development day with many other school districts.

*The district spelling bee is scheduled for January 18 from 9-11 am.  

*Please send warm winter clothes to school with your child.  Our students play outside unless the temp/wind chill is below zero degrees.  We've had indoor recess many days this winter but it looks like the weather will warm up a little bit here in the near future.  Hats, snow pants, mittens, boots, and a warm coat will keep your child nice and warm during recess! 

*If your child is missing clothing, please check in with the lost and found (located just past the Viking Hallway).  Many nice sweatshirts go unclaimed each semester!

*Elementary Cheerleader Camp flyers went home on Friday.  If you lost it and need another copy you can e-mail andrea.knutson@minneotaschools.org or find a copy of the form on our school Facebook.

     
*You can follow Minneota Public Schools on Instagram!  Simply search for: minneotapublicschools and give us a follow!

It's going to be a great month here at Minneota Public Schools!  If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me here at school!  

Jeremy W. Frie

K-12 Principal