Amy Guenther, a 20-year educator working with Access Point, attended the Houston School Board meeting October 6 to present a student opportunity. Access Point helps connect high school students beginning their senior year with jobs that will begin at $50,000 to $60,000 a year. Working with community colleges, Access Point trains students for jobs that have already been set … [Read more...]
Grand Meadow welcomes new teachers
This school year found Grand Meadow welcoming five new teachers to its staff. Read on to get to know those new teachers. Kandise Drinkall will be teaching 7th, 8th, and 10th grade English at Grand Meadow this year. She was drawn to teaching because she never stops learning. She had debated between teaching English and agriculture for most of her high school years. … [Read more...]
A night of bids and purchases at Houston City Council
The Houston City Council approved participation in a program to purchase a John Deere skid steer with broom and a zero-turn commercial lawn mower for $41,735.93 at their October 11 meeting. This program is similar to the program in force for the city maintenance truck. After the initial purchase, the skid steer will be traded in for a replacement each year; if the program is … [Read more...]
Chatfield Center for the Arts remodel: the result of persistence
Saturday, September 24, was a big day for Chatfield; the long-awaited reopening of the Chatfield Center for the Arts finally occurred. From a committee sitting around a table with a vision in 2009, to construction beginning in 2015-2016, to fruition in 2022, a lot of people worked persistently to make the reopening happen. At the ribbon cutting Saturday morning, Mayor Russ … [Read more...]
New teachers at Houston
This year, Houston Public Schools welcomed six new teachers to their staff. Here is a little introduction to each of them. Lisa Skifton Lisa is the new special education teacher at Houston High School. Lisa grew up in South St. Paul, Minn. She has a plethora of teaching experience including teaching elementary special education in Winona (1995) and at Houston … [Read more...]
Positive start to the year at R-P
The theme at the R-P School Board meeting September 19 was “positivity.” Superintendent Ben Bernard commented, “It feels nice to be back to a ‘normal’ school year!” He shared that the new menus in the lunchroom have been a hit with students, deemed “one of the best parts of the new school year” by many. Bernard has helped in the lunchroom taking student lunch numbers while a … [Read more...]
R-P welcomes new teacher, Matt Myszewski
Matt Myszewski was recently hired as a social studies teacher for seventh and eighth grade students at Rushford-Peterson. While he’s a new teacher at R-P, he’s a familiar face to most of the staff and students. Mr. Myszewski completed his student teaching in Mr. Aug’s room at R-P in 2020. Matt is originally from Milwaukee, Wis. He moved to this area to work on his bachelor’s … [Read more...]
Museum proposed for Houston’s old community center
Shelly Jerviss appeared before the Houston City Council at the September 12 meeting to ask permission to explore the possibility of creating a museum in the old community center. Representing Jim Skree and herself, Jerviss explained the museum would be a non-profit run on grants and donations. It would collect the history of the city, accept items for display, and only hold … [Read more...]
Houston School goodbyes and hellos
As the new school year began, it was time for the Houston School Board to welcome their new assistant principal, Angela McQuinn, as she attended her first school board meeting September 1. McQuinn has her office in the East Building and serves as the principal onsite for the Summit Learning Center, but also works in all the other brick and mortar buildings of Houston School. … [Read more...]
Chatfield welcomes Carly Mae’s Bakery and Cafe
After being bakery-less since 2005, Chatfield residents are thrilled to welcome their new bakery, Carly Mae’s! Local residents and sisters Jerralyn Dieter and Jalyssa Houdek used their middle names to create the name of their new business. Tantalizing items in the display case on a recent Thursday included ham and Swiss scones as well as cinnamon ginger scones, sourdough and … [Read more...]
Back to country school
With all the hype about back to school — the sales, the “necessities,” the preparation — you might wonder what school was like in the simpler times of the old country school. The following people were willing to share their memories of their country schools: Kathy Eide, Wilton Center near Harmony; Audrey Cremer, Florenceville in Iowa and Granger in Minnesota; Georgia … [Read more...]
R-P offers more choices in menu
At their regular meeting August 15, the Rushford-Peterson school board heard an update from Kari Blum, head of R-P food service. Many options will be offered on a daily basis this year to students in grades 6-12. The main menu for the day will be posted at the school and on the school’s website. A second option will be either a boxed salad or peanut butter and jelly. A new … [Read more...]
Solar panels coming to Houston Schools
The Houston School Board made the decision to move forward with the installation of two solar panels, at their August 4 meeting. Originally, the plan was to put one on the elementary building and one on the high school. When the elementary roof was deemed incapable of supporting the panels, a decision was made to put both panels at the high school. On inspection, it was … [Read more...]
Lanesboro seeks elementary teacher
At their regular August 10 board meeting, the Lanesboro School Board accepted the resignation of Chris Hanson, an elementary teacher. With school quickly approaching, Superintendent Matt Schultz informed the board there would be interviews conducted the next day. The board approved the hiring of Crystal LaDoux and Melissa Fahrenholz as paraprofessionals and Darcel Reker as a … [Read more...]
Winston County Gravel Cup returns to Houston area
Paul Reardon visited the Houston City Council regular meeting August 8 to discuss details of this year’s Winston County Gravel Cup. According to Reardon, last year’s event brought in 80 to 90 riders and raised around $2,000 for the community. This year, he anticipates that around 200 people will attend the event tentatively planned for September 24. The bike “race” will … [Read more...]