Minnesota School Board Recognition Week

The Minnesota School Boards Association has set Feb. 22-26 as Minnesota School Board Recognition Week to build awareness and understanding of the vital function elected school board members play in our society. The Eden Valley-Watkins School District is joining other public school districts from across the state to celebrate School Board Recognition Week to honor local board members for their commitment to EV-W and its students.

“Strong schools help build strong communities – and the EV-W School Board devotes countless hours to making sure our schools are educating every child for the future. This school year has been especially difficult, and the demands of the COVID pandemic has presented many challenges. 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 EV-W citizens expect.”

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

• Creating a vision and goals 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,” Messman said.

I’d like to express appreciation to our committed EV-W school board members:

Sarah Kuechle – Board Chair

Julie Wendroth – Vice Chair

Lisa Ludwig – Clerk

Jay Brovold – Treasurer

Ann Lemke – Director

Chelsie Heuring – Director

Jennifer Evens – Director