Scott Co. Tennis Team Football Team Deputy Even After First Opens at New Ulm Six Matches Thursday Night Hurt in Page 19 Page 19 Rollover Page 7 ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTIETH YEAR BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, AUGUST 31, 2011 75¢ SINGLE COPY NUMBER 35 Chatfi eld One of Five Schools in State to be Validated as School of Excellence Chatfi eld Elementary School, serves around 390 students, in Belle Plaine is one of fi ve with 25 percent meeting the schools in Minnesota to be requirements of free/reduced validated as a 2011-2012 Min- lunch, and 12 percent in special nesota School of Excellence. education. The Minnesota School of Ex- Adams said that “staff mem- cellence Program promotes bers at Chatfi eld are committed excellence through a rigorous to excellence by keeping the evaluation process that show- whole student at the center of cases dynamic schools of the all decisions. When new pro- 21st century. gramming is researched by and MESPA endorses schools presented by staff, such as Re- whose principal, staff, students, sponse to Intervention, Daily-5, and community – working as Responsive Classroom, Char- a team – demonstrate the de- acter Education, Simulating sire to strengthen education Maturity through Accelerated by successfully undertaking by single-purposed high stakes Reading Training (S.M.A.R.T.), The new staff at Belle Plaine Schools for the 2011-12 school year includes (back row, from left) the research-based Minnesota tests. Elementary and middle Reading Corps and others, they Candace Dockter, Alicia Smith, Nicole Poshkoff, Erik Waller, Katie Zimanske, Luke Audette, learn, plan, implement and School of Excellence school level schools provide the foun- Brandon Gaikowski (front row, from left) Sara Bungarden, Tim Kampa, Jill Morreim, Tim monitor progress. There are improvement process. dation for children’s lifelong Stowe, Laura Nelson, Jennifer Jungwirth, (not pictured) Liann Hanson and Jill Provancha. Chatfi eld Elementary’s School learning, and the Minnesota meaningful conversations that of Excellence Team that con- School of Excellence program take place to ensure successful ducted the application process clearly connects the education implementation. We are proud involved the following leaders process to student learning,” to boast such dedication.” Area Classrooms, Schools – Ariana Wright (music), Beth Storti continued. Staff actions hold true to the Satterlund (special education), “The MESPA Minnesota school’s mission statement: Ready for Back to School Melanie Fogarty (kindergar- School of Excellence Program “We will work together as a ten), Stephanie Moore (kinder- is a valuable, standardized pro- unifi ed community with mutual by John Mueller respect to achieve academic garten), Shawn Carlson (fi rst cess that engages all stakehold- When Belle Plaine Schools’ Estimated Public School Opening Day Enrollment grade), Janel Eischens (second ers in meaningful conversations and co-curricular excellence, develop lifelong learners and staff and students return to grade) and Adams (principal). about their school and is a pro- class next week, they’ll enjoy Aligned with six national gram in which all schools have productive citizens in a safe Class ’08-09 ’09-10 ’10-11 ’11-12 and supportive environment.” the benefi ts of a summer of standards (Learning Cen- the opportunity to participate,” technological enhancements in K 126 134 131 135 tered, Diverse Communities, said Laura Pierce, Minnesota Chatfi eld Elementary embod- their schools. 21st Century Learners, Qual- School of Excellence Program ies a culture of shared leader- 1 115 129 133 124 ship that builds on the align- Belle Plaine’s public school ity Instruction, Knowledge chair, and principal of Akin buildings enjoyed a summer 2 103 110 129 127 and Data, Community Engage- Road Elementary, Farmington ment of varied leadership styles, skill and experience. All with no outward construction, 3 107 100 114 127 ment), the Minnesota School of Public Schools. “Utilizing the but they did see plenty of wir- Excellence Program includes a self-study process provides in- staff members are involved in 4 132 106 105 118 one or more school-wide com- ing and hardware added to systematic self-study, develop- structional leaders with the data, the junior-senior high build- 5 120 127 111 107 ment of a school improvement knowledge and tools to increase mittees: Building Leadership Team, Problem Solving Team, ing, Oak Crest and Chatfi eld 6 108 119 127 116 plan, and implementation of the capacity of collaborative elementary schools. All three the plan. data driven decision-making Child Study Team, School 7 133 110 132 136 Spirit Committee, Curriculum buildings now have a wireless “These schools represent a with an outcome of increased Internet system arguably head 8 106 136 112 138 vanguard in Minnesota edu- academic achievement.” Teams and Responsive Class- room Team. and shoulders above any facil- 9 113 108 136 115 cation,” said P. Fred Storti, Bill Adams is the principal of ity in town. According to Adams, “the 10 116 110 110 130 MEPSA executive director. “In Chatfi eld Elementary School, The new system – a $278,000 this time of high stakes testing which transitioned to a K-2 fa- team approach to problem solv- 11 111 117 114 114 ing allows us to share insights investment – will allow more and federal Race to the Top te- cility in the 2007-2008 school students more reliable access to 12 114 110 112 114 nets for reform, the quality of year, due to the building of the Internet than they enjoyed a our school communities can far a new grade 3-6 elementary Chatfi eld School year ago. The new system uses Total 1,504 1,516 1,566 1,601 too easily be misrepresented school. Chatfi eld currently (continued on page 6) a widespread system of routers Source: Belle Plaine School District retrofi t into the existing build- ings, allowing more staff and riculum. It also completed its year. students in more classrooms accreditation process through The school needs to restock its wireless access than was pos- Wisconsin Evangelical Luther- preschool program. Last year, it sible a year ago. an Synod School Accreditation. The new system will also al- Trinity is also up for accredi- Schools Open low visitors to the high school tation through the National (continued on page 8) facility to log onto the system Council for Private School Ac- as a guest after they provide the creditation (NCPSA). district their e-mail address, al- Principal Dan Whitney says lowing them a level of access the accreditations are “a stamp that does not permit access to of approval” that the school is district fi nancial, personnel or providing a quality education. academic records. Trinity is expecting 70 stu- The district welcomed 13 new dents in kindergarten through full-time staff – 12 teachers and eighth grade this year, three a building principal. Twelve of more than a year ago. the 13 are newcomers and one It is expecting 30 pre-school- of a returnee making the transi- ers, a half-dozen more than last tion to full-timer status. They’ll year. work in all three buildings. The school hired Samuel Those 13 new staffers will Korth of Bay City, Mich., as a participate in the district’s new third/fourth grade teacher. professional learning commu- nity (PLC) initiative. The PLC Our Lady of the Prairie Washing History program is intended to help Samuel Korth, a third/fourth- building staff – teachers and The Catholic Elementary Wyatt Wyman, with hose, and Daniel Wyman, both of whom attend school in Belle Plaine, grade teacher at Trinity Lu- learned some history at this past weekend’s Le Sueur County Pioneer Power Association Gas non-teachers alike – do their School is expecting 40 students in kindergarten through sixth theran Elementary, is the ad- and Steam Engine Festival. They helped spruce up this antique miniature Case steam engine job at a higher level to help stu- dents learn better. grade Tuesday, nine more than dition to the school’s staff this tractor for the daily parade on Friday. Thousands of people again attended the popular festi- fi nished the 2010-11 school fall. val, more photos of which appear on page 2. On the enrollment front, the district’s latest estimates call for 1,601 students arriving Sept. 6 – about 35 more than City Proposing 2.7% Levy Increase fi nished the 2010-11 school year, 85 more than in the 2009- The Belle Plaine City Council in that some of last year’s hike off (LGA) because we knew it 10 school year and 97 more next Tuesday night is expected is being used to offset the fact wouldn’t be coming,” said Mur- than the 2008-09 school year. to approve a 2012 preliminary that the city is receiving some phy, adding that the $300,000 The district expects about 747 property tax levy of $4,299,637, $300,000 less in local govern- reduction in LGA represents students in the junior-senior an increase of $112,711 (2.7 ment aid (LGA) this year and about 8 percent of the city’s high building, 31 more than it percent) over this year’s levy will again in 2012. general fund balance. had a year ago. Oak Crest El- of $4,186,926, which was a 9.4 For a second straight year, Meyer said the city has un- ementary School will have 458 percent increase over the 2010 Belle Plaine, due to state bud- dertaken other cost-saving third through sixth-graders, one levy. get cuts, will get $54,473 rather measures, including staff reor- more than last year. Chatfi eld Belle Plaine Finance Director than $352,218 in LGA. ganization, to keep this year’s will be home to 386 kindergar- Dawn Meyer said the 9.4 per- Earlier this month, City Ad- and future property tax levy in- teners, fi rst- and second-grad- cent increase last year helped ministrator David Murphy ex- creases as minimal as possible ers, seven less than last year.