By Randy Bruer
Prom and Graduation
The school is entering a new stage with no COVID 19 restrictions and students will be able to have Prom on Saturday, May 7, 2022 and Graduation on May 28th. Masking will be optional. We are planning for a Grand March and Post Prom party at the school. Graduation will be as normal as possible, like in pre-Covid years.
MCA Testing
Our mission at school is to help all of our students reach their full potential, and that is our commitment to students from the district in all classroom levels. We know our scores will reflect the lack of knowledge gained due to the pandemic, but the scores will not be used against the district. MCA testing began last week and the Win-E-Mac School District students generally perform better than state averages on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, “So we need to celebrate the proficiency of the majority of our students, while addressing the achievement needs of students who are struggling.”
Summer Programing
The school district will again offer a Century 21 program for 1 more year along with a re-energized summer rec program, from 7:30 am till 5:30 pm, with a free breakfast and lunch for all kids. There is a fee for the summer rec activities and a quarterly fee for the extended day supervision after the programs until 5:30 pm, through the summer. The District will offer a busing service to the cities within our district. There will be an informational meeting and sign-up for all who are interested on April 20, 2022 from 5:00-6:00 pm. If you would like to find out more about the program, please call the District Office @ 218-563-2900.
Understanding CRT in Relation to our PreK-12 Education System
A current topic across the country is Critical Race Theory. There is belief around communities that we teach this in our system. It is important to note that Critical Race Theory is just that, a theory – in the academic sense. Scholars in the university develop and use theories in an effort to interpret and understand the world and systems around them. Win-E-Mac does not teach Critical Race Theory to our students. Itās a theory that was developed over 40 years ago by lawyers, activists and legal scholars and may be taught in some collegesā Masterās or Doctoral programs. We examine our curriculum and materials via our curriculum review cycle to ensure that students are exposed to people and their ideas and lived experiences from all backgrounds just like we have over the past 30 years. Nothing has changed. We review curriculum important to our community and culture to give students opportunities to learn and develop to their fullest potential. If you have questions or think otherwise, please speak with our Social Studies Dept. teachers or your childās teacher. Staff members have training in Cultural Competency for an understanding of all cultures, as part of the mandatory requirements for re-licensure in the state of Minnesota. MN Rule 8710.7200.
Millions of children will miss healthy school meals when pandemic relief expires this year
When schools pivoted to virtual learning early in the pandemic, the National School Lunch Program was thrown into chaos. Millions of children rely on school meals to keep hunger at bay, so school nutrition directors scrambled to adopt new, creative ways to distribute food to families. Some of these changes were improvements on the status quo, they say. And as part of pandemic relief legislation, the federal Food and Nutrition services agency waived the requirement that schools serve meals in a group setting, increased school-year reimbursement rates to summer levels for school food programs and granted more flexibility in how food is prepared and packaged. The Win-E-Mac School will serve free meals during the summer months but when school begins for the 2022/2023 school year, students will be charged for the lunch program, unless the MN legislature approves a bill to pay for meals. Parents should keep this on your radar for the next school year.