Steele County Free Fair Update!

Happy Steele County Free Fair, everyone!

Building Progress:
Overall, the building is coming along!  Just a couple updates:

• Classrooms: Kindergarten and 1^st Grade classrooms are carpeted, painted, and have whiteboards in them.  Smartboards will begin to be installed this week.   The existing building was having flooring laid yesterday.  There will be minor work to occur after September 5- but the rooms will be ready! 
• Furniture:  Most of the new furniture has been assemble.  When the building gets completed, the furniture will be brought from the gym into your classrooms & resource areas.
• Work in Progress:  The building will not be 100% complete on day one.  As you know, our goal is to get a certificate of occupancy.  We will have crews in the building (after hours) working in the month of September to finalize the building. 
• Furniture Storage:  I was at the old Walmart last week to meet with our moving coordinator, Nikki.  I was very impressed with how our boxes and furniture are being stored this summer.  Our stuff is being taken care of!
• Temporary Office:  Lorri and I are working at Wilson until we can move to the new building.  If you need us, check Wilson School!

A huge thank you to Bob Olson for all his hard work around construction.  He’s done a great job of keeping me in the loop on things, but also keeping the work moving forward. If you see him, give him a huge thank you for his work around our building progress (and check to see if he’s gotten any gray hair from the summer stress😊!). 

Please remember that the building is a construction site until we get the certificate of occupancy.  As much as you are excited to see it, we can’t have people in until we get the certificate of occupancy.  I will let you know immediately when I hear this date. 

New Teacher STEM Training

We had our new McKinley teachers in this week learning about STEM.  These two days are so empowering - it's great to see our McKinley Staff serve as facilitators of this learning.  A huge thank you to Dr. Meagher, Libby Zeman, Jen Koziolek, Michelle Simon, Amanda Gislason, Lori Huisenga, Kayla Davis, Kate Seifert, Justin Lang, Mark Langlois, and Karla Wilke for leading our learning.  We have such a passionate staff focused on learning and all kids.  Makes me smile!  

Enjoy your time at the SCFF, everyone!  

Justin

Summer Update- Aguust 1, 2017

Happy August, everyone!

Have you had a great summer?  Are you relaxed, rejuvenated, and ready to head back?  I hope so!  

A couple updates:

• Our new school is on schedule!  When I know of an occupancy date, I will notify you immediately.  Please remember, the school will not be 100% ready on the first day.  There will be minor changes and finishes that need to occur at that time.  We will be flexible and focused on students, like always! 
• Later this week, you will receive your two welcome back letters - one from Superintendent Elstad and the other from me.  I will be doing this through email - so please check your email later in the week to know details of our first week back. 
• Site Leadership Team meets this Wednesday to start planning for the year.  After this point, I will have more to share on building goals and our direction for the year. 
• New STEM Teacher training is next Monday & Tuesday.  This training is for new McKinley staff and is part of our STEM sustainability plan.  I love these days so much - they are filled with passion.  It's awesome to see our staff serve as facilitators to the work we are doing! 
• I'm sad to report that, as of today, Katie Randall has resigned.  Katie has been a wonderful addition to our team in serving our students' health needs.  Katie is going to spend some time with her children and work more on-call.  She will be greatly missed.  I have requested that the position be posted this week.  

#mckinleystrong Neighborhood Night
We had a great night at our Neighborhood Night on Thursday, July 27.  It was fun to get around to see our students, families, and friends!  Thank you to all the staff who participated! 

Building Project Update:
I toured the new building on Friday with Superintendent Elstad and Bob Olson.  If you have driven by recently, it is still 100% a construction zone!  However, when you get inside, you can it's becoming our school.  It will be ready for us! 

Entrance to new Kindergarten Room

Jen Koziolek's new Kindergarten Room

Jen Koziolek's new Kindergarten Room

The new Learning Center (Nystrom & Denn will program out of this space)

1st Grade sinks/restroom area

New 1st Grade Room

Paige Gilligan's new 5th Grade Classroom

5th Grade Team Area - looking into Eric Oppegard's Room

New entry way into school (still awaiting doors & windows!)

I hope you are enjoying your start to August.  Continue to "sharpen your saw" and enjoy time with those you love!
-Justin