Saturday, April 6, 2013
A study by the Minnesota Campaign for Achievement Now graded all St. Michael-Albertville schools in the categories of student performance, subgroup performance, performance gains and achievement gap.
St. Michael-Albertville schools are doing relatively well in terms of student performance, but students of color are doing worse than white students, according to a new study. St. Michael-Albertville High School also received a "B+" for its graduation rates. While Minnesota's public schools excel in test scores, the achievement gaps between white kids and students of color, and between low-income and high-income students, are still significantly larger than national averages. Statewide, black and Latino eighth-graders lag 37 percentage points behind their white peers in math. Low-income eight-graders trail their richer classmates by 32 percentage points. In a March report, the Minnesota Campaign for Achievement Now (MinnCAN) sliced and …
Friday, March 8, 2013
Find out how the food service staff in the St. Michael-Albertville School District is working to address student concerns.
Everyday, Dolores Helgeson, director of the food service program for St. Michael-Albertville School District, works to make sure students are happy with their food. And in addition to satisfaction, Helgeson wants to curb the obesity epidemic washing over America. “Besides serving nutritious meals, the goal of the school nutrition program is to help change unhealthy eating habits and reverse the obesity epidemic that threatens the health of children and ultimately their health as an adult,” Helgeson told Patch. “We are committed to serving meals that students will eat and enjoy despite the challenges of getting students to try different fruits and vegetables, changing recipes and reducing calories.” It’s no secret that some St. Michael-…
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Icy roads have pushed back school this morning and cancelled classes for morning kindergartners.
The St. Michael-Albertville School District released this update Tuesday morning, after icy rain fell on the community. "School will be two hours late Tuesday, January 29 due to the weather conditions. There will be no am kindergarten, pre-school or ECFE. Thank you."
A new B-squad team is expected to form this spring.
The growing interest in girls lacrosse at St. Michael-Albertville High School was met with approval of a third team by the St. Michael-Albertville School Board last week. The board at its regular meeting Tuesday evening approved partially funding a B-squad team, in addition to the current varsity and junior varsity teams. "We have interest from more girls than we first anticipated," said St. Michael-Albertville School District Superintendent Jim Behle. The district will contribute $950 for transportation to away games and for game officials. The lacrosse booster club will pay for the rest — such as the cost of a coach and equipment — through fundraising efforts and registration costs. When girls lacrosse was added as an official high …
Monday, January 28, 2013
St. Michael-Albertville School District Superintendent Jim Behle explains the funding system's impact on local schools.
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Monday, January 28
Imagine ordering a pizza. The person in front of you orders a large pizza for $10, but when you order the same large pizza, it costs you $20 or $30! That is how the Minnesota property tax formula works for schools. Taxpayers in low property wealth school districts pay two or three times more than taxpayers in high property wealth districts to support the same level of levy funding for their schools. If St. Michael-Albertville School District and the Hopkins School District both requested operating levy referendums for the same $1,633 per pupil, it would cost $497 per year for the owner of a $100,000 home in STMA compared to just $153 per year for the owner of a $100,000 home in Hopkins. The unfair tax system does not just affect STMA…
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
The current funding formula disperses state money to Wright County schools at a lower level than other districts.
St. Michael-Albertville School Board Chairman Douglas Birk told a crowd of Wright County school officials and legislative representatives that he’s “mad as hell and I can’t take it anymore.” It’s an old movie line, he said, but it fits the situation facing St. Michael-Albertville Schools and other area school district. He and other district officials from around Wright County held a joint legislative meeting earlier this month with state legislators representing the area to discuss equity in school funding. Minnesota House Representative David FitzSimmons, who represents the St. Michael area, participated in the discussion, and says the issue is one of his priorities this legislative session. St. Michael City Council members also …
Monday, January 7, 2013
Basketball players grades three through eight were shown drills and skills from the NBA and WNBA.
Drills from the National Basketball Association hit St. Michael-Albertville High School Friday at a Timberwolves clinic for girls basketball players. More than 60 girls basketball players, grades three through eight, from St. Michael-Albertville Schools, honed skills as they learned about positioning, dribbling, passing, and shooting. Minnesota Timberwolves & Lynx Basketball Academy Manager Steve Brown coached the girls at the St. Michael-Albertville High School activities center. "This hopefully shows them things they can take home that'll help them with their basketball performance as we move forward," Brown told St. Michael Patch at the school before starting the clinic. "We'll show them drills that we do in the NBA and WNBA, and at …
Monday, October 1, 2012
The school district is asking parents to complete a math survey this month.
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Monday, October 1, 2012
From October 1 through October 26, St. Michael-Albertville Schools will seek parent and community input in the curricular area of math. Though the district cannot promise to fulfill all wishes due to graduation requirements, time, and financial limitations, it is their hope that by hearing from parents, our partners in education, the district will get new ideas on how to improve our curriculum. To take the survey, visit the district website. Thank you for taking the time to make a difference in the education of our kids.
Monday, September 24, 2012
It's Homecoming week and every day this week is a spirit day for students.
It's dress up week for St. Michael-Albertville students. Here's a run down of each of the dress up days at each school. Upload your pictures of Spirit Week. Albertville Primary Monday: Hat Day Tuesday: Favorite Sports Team Shirt Wednesday: MisMatch Day Thursday: Crazy Sock Day Friday: Spirit Day Big Woods Elementary Monday: PJ/Crazy Hair Day Tuesday: Clash Day Wednesday: Sports Hat Thursday: Beach Day Friday: School Spirit Fieldstone Elementary Monday: Hat Day Tuesday: Twins Day Wednesday: Sports Day Thursday: PJ Day Friday: School Spirit St. Michael Elementary Monday: PJ & Wacky Hair Day Tuesday: Book Character Day Wednesday: Kids And Teachers Switch Day Thursday: Twins Day Friday: Blue and Gold Day Middle School East Monday: …
Thursday, September 20, 2012
St. Michael-Albertville's school board discussed the district test results Monday evening, but said the state's scoring methodology makes analysis difficult.
The St. Michael-Albertville School District’s vision is to perform at or above the top 25 percent of schools in the state, and director of curriculum and instruction Ann-Marie Foucault said in Monday evening’s school board meeting that all staff development goals and strategic goals flow from that overarching vision. So you can imagine the district’s frustration that their MCA math rankings appear to have taken a big slide last year, showing that only one grade level scored above the 25th percentile on last year’s MCA exams–out of the seven grades who take the state math test. Just last year the district had five grade levels scoring in the top 25th percent for math. So what gives? The issue, superintendent Jim Behle said, lies with a …
Bill
11:39 am on Saturday, April 6, 2013
What qualifies these people to grade our schools? Check out the profiles of the executives, http://minncan.org/who-we-are/staff. The executive director, Daniel Sellers - "During his second year in the classroom, Daniel was given the “crazy” (his words) opportunity to interview with Teach For America’s Founder and CEO Wendy Kopp to be the Founding Executive Director of Teach For America – Twin … more ›