Caledonia Area Public School board members met Monday, May 19 at Caledonia Elementary School in room #162. Board member Mike Peterson called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. and led with the Pledge of Allegiance. Board members present included Derek Adamson, Julie Augedahl, Chad Harms, Leigh King, Melissa Marschall, Spencer Yohe and Peterson. District employees present included Superintendent Craig Ihrke, Middle/High School Principal Nathan Boler, Elementary Principal John Wahlstrom, and Community Education Director Gretchen Juan.
Board member Adamson moved, seconded by King, to adopt the Agenda as presented. Motion carried.
The board graciously accepted monetary donations from the following: Eitzen Lions Club for the seventh grade class Eagle Bluff Field Trip, Caledonia ESP for the Elementary Field Day and Eagle Bluff Field Trip, Backstage Boosters for stage floor paint, and the Caledonia Fire Department Gambling Account for kleenex and sanitary wipes.
Prior to the meeting, school board members watched a brief YouTube presentation in regards to the Minnesota State High School League.
The evening’s board meeting was high school senior Addie Fruechte’s last meeting. Peterson told Fruechte, “Thank you, Addie, for your years of service.” Principal Boler shared that he is working on finding a junior class student school board representative as the current junior representative, Samantha Peters will be the senior school board representative.
No Public Comment took place.
Board member Peterson moved, seconded by Adamson, to approve the Consent Agenda. Motion carried. The Consent Agenda consisted of the following: Approval of the April 21 regular school board meeting minutes, the treasurer’s report, the cooperative agreement for athletics between Houston Public School District and Caledonia Public School District for the 2025-2027 school years, and the authorization of the bidding of bread, dairy, and petroleum products for the 2025-2026 school year. In addition, the resignation of Kayline Schechinger as special education paraprofessional, the resignation of Mitch Mullins as assistant football coach, the hiring of Paige Carmack as a full-time CAPS (Caledonia Area Public Schools) Care aide, and Maria Inglefield as a full-time middle/high school special education teacher all received full board approval.
Yohe moved, seconded by Augedahl, to approve the 2025-2026 resolution for membership in the Minnesota State High School League. Motion carried.
Principal Boler shared what was going on at Caledonia Middle/High School. Boler noted, “There’s a lot going on this week!” The seventh grade class had their Eagle Bluff Field Trip while the sixth grade class visited the state capitol. MCA (Minnesota State Comprehensive Assessment) testing has been completed. Tuesday, May 20 would be the senior class awards night with Friday, May 23 the senior class high school graduation ceremony.
Principal Wahlstrom presented his board report in regards to the elementary school. The elementary school held their end of year assessments with Wahlstrom being excited to share the iReady data at the June board meeting. Wahlstrom commented, “I really like the iReady assessment!” The fifth grade class will have their awards day in addition to their fifth grade promotion ceremony. Staff completed anonymous surveys, with the surveys back the board will view such at the June board meeting in hopes of looking at areas of growth and improvement.
With no further questions for Wahlstrom, Superintendent Ihrke began to share that middle/high school science teacher Dan Winkler was awarded the Fillmore County Journal Teacher of the Year. Winkler received the Golden Apple Award as well as a few other prizes. “Congratulations to Dan!” praised Ihkre, in addition to acknowledging this being the second year in a row Caledonia Area Public Schools has had a teacher be Teacher of the Year with last year’s recipient being third grade teacher, Shannon Kochie.
Ihrke moved on to explain that Wahlstrom will have information on the local literacy plan in June. Ihrke briefed everyone about the district’s staffing. There is vacant position for a high school mathematics teacher for the 2025-2026 school year. In addition, a few paraprofessional positions are available. Ihrke touched on MCA data in that the elementary reading scores remained the same while the math scores increased. “Thanks for all your support,” shared Ihrke.
The board briefly touched on both updates for their Strategic plan and the HVED (Hiawatha Valley Education District) project for Old Business.
The school’s early start renewal beginning the 2026-2027 school year was brought up for New Business.
Caledonia Public School’s board meeting adjourned at 5:56 p.m.
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