Districts honor school board members

The Minnesota School Boards Association deemed the past week as Minnesota School Board Recognition Week to build awareness and understanding of the vital function elected school board members play in our society. Cloquet joined other school districts from across the state to celebrate and honor board members for their commitment to students.

“Strong schools help build strong communities — and school board members devote countless hours to making sure our schools are helping every child learn at a higher level,” Cloquet superintendent Michael Cary said. “School board members make the difficult decisions every month — and spend many hours studying education issues and regulations in order to provide the kind of accountability our citizens expect.”

Cary said the key work of boards is to raise student achievement by:

Creating a vision for what the community wants the school district to be and for making student achievement the top priority;

Establishing standards for what students will be expected to learn and be able to do;

Ensuring progress is measured to be sure the district’s goals are achieved and students are learning at expected levels;

Being accountable for their decisions and actions by continually tracking and reporting results;

Creating a safe, orderly climate where students can learn and teachers can teach;

Forming partnerships with others in the community to solve common problems; and

Focusing attention on the need for continuous improvement by questioning, refining and revising issues related to student achievement.

“Even though we’re making a special effort to show our appreciation this month, school board members’ work is a year-round commitment,” Cary said.

Here are members from the various county school district boards:

Barnum

Beth Schatz, Jamie Fuglestad, Jessica Unkelhaeuser, Paul Coughlin, Louis Bonneville, Beth Dinger, and Steph Ferrin.

Carlton

Julianne Emerson, Sam Ojibway, Sue Karp, Tim Hagenah, Ann Gustafson, Eryn Szymczak

Cloquet

Ted Lammi, Nate Sandman, Dave Battaglia, Gary Huard, Melissa Juntunen and Ken Scarbrough

Cromwell-Wright

Tim Homstad, Walter Collman, Brian Granholm, Shayne Korpela, Tom Anderson, Tristan Johnson

Esko

Jerry Frederick, Leona Johnson, Steve McConnell, Todd Rengo, Jeff Salo, Margaret Sunnarborg

Fond du Lac

Debra Johnson-Fuller, Jeffrey Tibbets, Joyce LaPorte, Robert Peacock, Carol Wuollet, Michael Diver

Moose Lake

Ben Anderson, Lisa Anderson-Reed, Steven Blondo, Kim Bohnsack, Jerry Pederson, Julie Peterson

Wrenshall

Michelle Blanchard, Jack Eudy, Debra Washenesky, Nicole Krisak, Misty Bergman, Alice Kloepfer