FAIRMONT– The Fairmont School Board held its August meeting on Tuesday during which it reviewed its readiness for the upcoming school year.
The meeting began with a celebration of success from Fairmont’s school activities from Activities Director Mat Mahoney.
“I looked back at our school year we had, it was phenomenal from the activities standpoint. Our number of participants that we had from kids in activities in general, the number of activities we have, it’s mind boggling how well things go and operate here,” said Mahoney.
Overall six Fairmont athletics teams made it to state; girls tennis, girls soccer, girls track, football, wrestling and baseball. Members from Fairmont’s speech, golf and robotics team also made it to state tournaments over the course of the past school year.
Overall the district has 22 athletics programs and another 20 fine arts programs.
“I think it’s important for our public to be aware of all the other things that we offer for our students. Not only just classroom, but the other opportunities we offer for our students to make them more of a wholesome, rounder individual,” said Board Member Julie Laue.
Mahoney also stated the high school’s new football scoreboard is expected to be delivered by the end of August. The current board has been in use since 1994.
In his report superintendent Andrew Traetow began by stating the school had completed its back to school registration process earlier this week. According to preliminary enrollment numbers there are now 1,749 students enrolled in the district, up from 1,694 at this point last year. This number is a reflection of all students registered in all buildings at any portion of the day.
Traetow then presented a series of updates on infrastructure projects. The rooftop HVAC units for the high school’s career and technical education center are now scheduled to arrive on Thursday. Some work is continuing on the center’s dust collection and a drainage basin located nearby needs to be analyzed to ensure it’s working properly.
The new playground at Fairmont Elementary has completed installation and is now fully operational. The high school’s new commons furniture is tentatively expected to arrive next week and one of its science classrooms has completed refurbishment. The high school’s refurbished weight room is now operational but is awaiting delivery of some final pieces. Work on the new entrance to the athletics center has been pushed out to summer 2023 due to a resource shortage.
Traetow also discussed ways the school district is collaborating with the community.
“Over the past few weeks and months we’ve been included in several meetings and conversations regarding the development of community assets connected to ideas and concepts with the community center,” said Traetow.
He stated the district has been in communication with the Fairmont Area Community Center Foundation, the YMCA, Citizens for a Strong Fairmont and the City of Fairmont. Traetow said one benefit of these conversations is highlighting the connection between the school district and Community Education and Recreation (CER); an entity within the district, but also noted CER’s limited fiscal and staffing resources currently prevent it from expanding its operations beyond their existing scope.
Traetow also said the district has met with the community center foundation and the YMCA concerning a school age care program the school could start before it would be taken over by another entity.
Traetow then gave an update concerning COVID-19 safety protocols. He said in accordance with guidance from the Minnesota Department of Health the school district will now report COVID-19 cases on a facility level. This means the district will not report on every individual case but will submit aggregate numbers of cases from each building.
Traetow said, “we will continue to be mindful of the impact that any level of impact illness has on our learning settings and will respond promptly and appropriately to ultimately keep our students, staff and anyone engaging in our student activities safe.”
After the superintendents report the board accepted a $5,500 donation from Fairmont 3M for STEM and robotics programming.
Later the board renewed its agreement with Counseling Services of Southern Minnesota (CSSM) for the upcoming school year. Board member Mari Myren highlighted the value of the service for the district’s students and noted there is no cost for the district.
“That support is wonderful and we’ve had a great working relationship with (CSSM). We have someone that’s onsite in our district serving our students, there’s always parental communication that has to be part of that and all the paperwork that goes with it. Those services are always engaged with family prior to any of those services being granted to students, and it’s just a wonderful asset as we work to provide the best learning environment we can for all of our kids,” said Traetow.
The board also renewed the district’s joint agreement for school nutrition programs with St. John Vianney and St. Paul Lutheran Schools for the upcoming year.
When discussing personnel the board accepted the resignations of art teacher Terri Linse and three paraprofessionals; Barb Brady, Heidi Steuber, and Shayna Wolfe. The board approved employment contracts for agriculture teacher Nick Pease, art teacher Sherry Carlmark, substitute teacher Katherine Osborn, substitute teacher Thad Abel, business teacher Audrey Nawrocki, preschool teacher Chelsey Jenson, elementary education teacher Chelsea Thayer, and girls head hockey coach Eric Householder. The board noted the district has now filled all of its openings for the upcoming school year.
Before the board adjourned they reviewed their evaluation of superintendent Traetow. The board’s report was very positive.
“Everyone was immensely pleased with the work that he’s done. Our decision to (have) him in this position was completely validated. We have a few suggestions going forward but overall we’ve been very pleased,” said board member Rufus Rodriguez.
“The learning curve was steep. It was a very productive year, it wasn’t without its challenges, it wasn’t without its bumps in the road. I think that’s going to come with every school year and how we navigate this collectively as a board, with our staff, and with our community is of the utmost importance,” said Traetow.
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