MEMBERS PRESENT – Please bring a guest at any time we have plenty of room We want to see everyone at the YMCA! On this date we only had 23 Rotarians present.
ROTARY MINUTE: Our own Bob Russell led us with a Rotary Minute - Reminded us of the Dist. Governor visit for this week on September 18th - and customary to stand when the Governor is introduced.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Just that Ditch Clean Up is looking to be scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 25th and please contact Anthony if you can help starting at 3:30 pm - and he also reported that his son is doing well.
BRAGS AND FINES: Quickly -
Greg D. - his daughter helping move a big project with the Alerus Center
Steve A. - headed to New York for a few weeks.
Keith - What about Bob R. and Steve A. as our own Past Dist. Governors who did a great job during their terms.
Buzz - sitting next to the wife of a Past Dist. Gov. our own Elaine Olson
Bob R. - thanks to Hal L. for reminding us of the observance of 9/11.
Elaine Olson - got a text from her granddaughter to say hi to our Pres. Dan
Scooter buck for Lois J.
PROGRAM: President Dan had the opportunity to Introduce our Program - OK - so our program had to cancel at the last minute - Dan asked ME, (Dean Monke) if I wanted to share any news from the School District - and my thought was - well I have to write the Rounds anyway, so maybe this will make it easy. Of course now I sit down to write these Rounds, and I can’t remember what I said!!!! Oh well, here goes. I think I have logged 55 First Days of School in a row - and have enjoyed each and every one of them. This year has been a great start for the Fergus Falls Public Schools. We have a very talented new leader in Superintendent Jeff Drake. I have known Jeff for over 15 years, and we are extremely lucky to have him serving as our new Superintendent of Schools. He is a man of great integrity, tireless worker, and came to us as a past School Counselor, Principal, Curriculum Director, and for the past 9 years as the Supt. of the Battle Lake Schools. He is interested in doing some extensive strategic planning for our schools and will be seeking comments and feedback from all the stakeholders in our school district. Please welcome Jeff the first time that you have a chance to meet him and we will for sure invite him to speak at Rotary sometime soon.
Enrollments are very stable for the school district. Our 11th and 12th grade classes are a little smaller than what we have seen at least together in the last few years, and our Kindergarten numbers are slightly below projections - but with that said we are like down 10 students across the school district and that will grow over the course of the school year. Our IQ Academy online school continues to grow with over 600 students to start the year and expected to end the school year at near 900 students. So the enrollment and thus the financial situation of the school district remains very strong.
We have a new Work Experience and Internship program just getting going at the FF High School. We piloted three students last Spring and expect to have over 20 of our juniors and seniors placed within the community for a semester this year to gain valuable experience within our local businesses and agencies. Mrs. Kathryn Enderson is leading this initiative for us - so if she comes knocking on your door please welcome her and see if there is a way your workplace could benefit from hosting a high school intern for a semester.
Our Activities Program remains very strong - we are a medium sized school district that is attempting to offer a big school program. We have numerous activities that we directly support or at least have independent provider status with the high school. This means that we need each and every student to find an activity outside the school day to get involved with and enjoy. These programs will not survive if we only have one sport or one activity students - we need our students to try everything and stay involved!!
The Target Building is now Lincoln School. We are in the design phase at present, and will start the remodeling midyear, and expecting to open the doors next Fall housing our early childhood and Otter Preschool at this location. The school district has also purchased 8 acres of land next to the building for further expansion possibilities.
Our FF High School Career Expo Day is Thursday, Oct. 10th this year and we have all of our high school students involved in this day. We send all of our 11th and 12th graders out into the community for site visits to learn about various career opportunities and we greatly appreciate the cooperation that we receive from these local employers to make this all possible.
Hey, whatever I missed in this summary, I guess you just should of been there!
Have a great week, and see ya on Wednesday!
Yours in Rotary,
