ALEXANDRIA — Questions on the Minnesota Student Survey have sparked debate in some school districts across the state. The anonymous survey is given out every three years (between January and June) to students in fifth, eighth, ninth and 11th grades.

According to the Minnesota Department of Education , the survey asks students about their activities, opinions, behaviors and experiences. Students respond to questions on school climate, bullying, out-of-school activities, healthy eating, emotional health, substance use and connections with school and family. Questions about sexual behaviors are asked only of high school students.

At the March 17 school board meeting, Superintendent Rick Sansted told board members that he, along with Assistant Superintendent Darcy Josephson, have had discussions with Horizon Public Health and also provided feedback to MDE about the survey. He thanked school members for having thoughtful conversations with each other about whether or not the district would administer the survey.

Maureen Eigen, school board member, made a motion for the district not to administer the test this year, but instead direct administration to gather information to create a survey for District 206. Laura Knudsen, school board member, seconded the motion.

After some discussion, Alan Zeithamer, school board member, made a motion regarding the MCA tests that are administered to students each year, as an amendment to the motion made by Eigen. Elizabeth Paul seconded his motion.

Zeithamer said the district should take local control over the testing as he believes the MCA tests are not an accurate measurement of student growth. After some heated discussion, Board Chairperson Angie Krebs asked for a roll call vote on the amended motion as requested by Knudsen. All school board members voted yes on the amended motion except Knudsen. The motion passed.

After some more discussion and some clarification on the amended motion, both motions were read back to the board before they took a final vote. The original motion made by Eigen was “to not administer the Minnesota Student Survey this year, but direct administration to gather information to create our own survey for our own district.” The amendment to the motion made by Zeithamer was “to take local control of student testing by evaluating and studying alternatives to MCA testing.”

Another roll call vote was taken with all members of the board voting yes. This means that the district will not administer the Minnesota Student Survey and instead will create one specifically for Alexandria students, as well as to take local control over MCA testing and study alternatives to the test instead.

District has a lot to celebrate

Celebrations and fun/interesting presentations from students and staff were plentiful at Monday evening’s Alexandria School Board meeting.

To start, there were five pages for the District 206 Points of Pride. Sansted said he believes this was the most he has ever read at one meeting. The students, staff, coaches and others who were recognized during the Points of Pride portion included a number of elementary spelling bee winners, runner ups and finalists; Mathcount Chapter competition winners; ExCEL Award recipients; Tri-College math team competition winners; State Brain Bee winners; numerous DECA students who competed and placed at the MInnesota State Career Development Conference; and students selected to participate in the Minnesota Band Director’s Association in the northwest region.

There were also many names listed for sporting activities, including wrestling, boys swim and dive, hockey, girls basketball and several coaches of the year. All together with both academic and sports achievements, Sansted read off more than 240 names.

To view the entire Points of Pride list, go to the online story on the Echo Press website, echopress.com.

At the March 17 meeting, school board members heard presentations from three different elementary schools – Garfield , Miltona Science Magnet and Carlos . Troy Wunderlich, principal for all three schools, was also at the meeting.

Garfield Elementary School presentation

Four fifth grade students from Garfield, who are some of the members of the student leadership team, introduced themselves to the board. The students, who provided just their first names were Jackson, Levi, Avery and Lauren. The students then showed a video, which was put together by the student leaders. The video explained the purpose of the leadership team and what the Garfield Leaders (this is what they call themselves) do for the school.

Being a member of the team provides an opportunity for students to have fun, make decisions for the school and help the staff and students in creative ways.

One of the projects the team of student leaders put together is the Lending Locker. This is a place to store extra winter gear for students who may have forgotten to bring their own. They can borrow something from the locker to use when playing outside. The Lending Locker is also a place for the student leaders to organize all the lost and found items.

Another project the student leaders did was create kindness posters to hang all around the school to spread positive messages. One other project the students shared is how they help with the morning meeting that is held each day. One of the student leaders will share what cycle day it is, if there are any special announcements such as birthdays along with leading the Pledge of Allegiance for the entire school.

In the video, the students also share what they liked about being on the student leadership team. A couple of the things mentioned were being able to show leadership to themselves and others around the school, as well as having an opportunity to “feel like a bigger person.”

The four student leaders present at Monday’s meeting also answered questions from the school board. One of the questions pertained to how the student leaders are chosen. The students fill out a form and submit it to their teacher. Questions included what does it mean to be a student leader, what areas of the code of conduct are their strengths and why they thought they would make a good student leader.

Because there ended up being so many students who were interested, three leadership teams were chosen with each one getting their own turn to be the leaders.

Wunderlich shared that when he was at the Garfield school earlier that day, there were already students who were campaigning for next year’s student leadership team.

Miltona Elementary School presentation

With more than 200 combined years of working in education – more than 130 of those years working at Miltona Science Magnet School – eight teachers presented to the school board. The teachers were Kimra Boogaard, Christine Converse, Donna Evink, Denise Jorud, Tricia Mages, Jennifer Needham, Katlyn Plecity and Amy Revering.

There were many other comments applauding and praising the teachers, staff, opportunities for students, curriculum, skills that are taught and for being a positive and safe learning environment.

Carlos Elementary School

Kristen Ziemer, a teacher at CES, told the board about the school’s weekly jamboree. It is led by Paula Dougherty-Davis, the school’s dean and social worker, along with the Cardinal Flyers.

The Cardinal Flyers, a group of student leaders, start off the jamboree with a grade level “roll call” and then birthdays are celebrated, along with Code Kids, Code Classes and school-wide events where interactive games are played to promote a positive school atmosphere.

Shelly Wevley, who teaches fourth grade at Carlos, explained that the Cardinal Flyers are a group of students who organize and lead events or other school-related items. The groups are switched up every six weeks.

Wevley said the Cardinal Flyers started last fall. All students were asked if they wanted to participate. She said some students asked what they had to do and if they had to stand in front of people and speak. The expectations of being a Cardinal Flyer were shared with the students and Wevley said there were some who were hesitant to join.

However, she also said that it has been fun to watch how the ones who were reluctant at first grow and thrive. She also said some of the students who are typically shy have really stepped up.

“It’s given them an opportunity to find their voice and has given them an opportunity to lead and be in front of the whole school, which has been super, super fun,” Wevley said.

Three students – Sylvia (fifth grade), Hayden (fourth grade) and Dylan (fifth grade) – talked about the Cardinal Flyers. Slyvia explained that each grade level created their own unique “roll call,” which she and Hayden demonstrated. In unison, they said, “1, 2, 3, 4, Cardinal Flyers stomp the floor,” as they both stomped the floor.

“I like to be in leadership to be a good role model for younger students,” she told the board.

Sylvia was asked if there has been a skill she learned or something the Cardinal Flyers has helped her and she imediately said, “Public speaking.” She said it has helped her not be as nervous as she usually is because she has had to do it every week for six straight weeks. She also said she kind of likes not being as nervous about it anymore.

Hayden shared why he wanted to be a flyer, saying it was because younger students look up to those in a leadership role.

“Teachers also depend on you to make good choices and impact others,” he said.

Dylan also shared why he wanted to be a Cardinal Flyer.

“I want to be on the leadership team because I like public speaking and performing,” he said, adding, “Cardinal Flyers get to decide the activities that occur at the jamboree. I also like to give peer to peer code chips to encourage a good mindset and a positive behavior.”

Dylan also gave an example of what peer to peer code chips are. He said that when Cardinal Flyers are out on the playground and see another student doing something “very good” they can give them one of the code chips. The code chips are based on the district’s Code of Conduct, which includes respect, honesty, kindness, responsibility and fairness.

A video of the board meeting can be viewed on the Alexandria Public School’s YouTube channel 10 at youtube.com/@APS-Channel.