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I want to extend a warm and memorable Thanksgiving wish to all the families and friends throughout our communities. We are having a successful school year and have much to be thankful for. Our parents and staff have worked through the challenges that the pandemic has created to a point where it has not, for the most part, disrupted educational access and support. We, like many industries, struggle to recruit staff for new positions and to find substitute employees when staff are not able to come to work. We all owe thanks to our district employees who pour out their energy each day to meet the needs of 1200+ children, as well as motivating and supporting children to put their best foot forward each hour of each day. Certainly, we continue to need parent support; staff and administration need to continue to feel the support of parents as we work with your children. We are thankful to work in a community so supportive of schools, family values, and social values. This support is what makes our community and schools highly successful and respectful.
I took a moment to thank our staff today. It is truly impressive to be out and about at Pioneer Elementary School on any given morning to witness the whole process of busing, breakfast, recess, getting to lockers, getting books and Chromebooks, getting to class, and getting students ready to learn. Each school day, 600+ elementary children arrive, smiling and happy to see a loving adult help them with anything they need. Whether it’s a bus driver, a para, a custodian, a teacher, a cook, an office staff—everyone is here to help and to serve the needs of our students. It is amazing to see it all work. At Healy, it is impressive to see so many teenagers waking up early to work out, or play an instrument, or practice singing, or meet a teacher to talk about studies they need help with. It is impressive to see so many kind high school students living their best life and helping fellow classmates to do the same. That is a testament to our parents as well as the staff who go out of their way to engage children in and out of the classroom. Thank you—to all reading this. I hope each of you partakes in some wonderful food and time with immediate and extended family, to be able to pause and take notice of the blessings and values we have around us, and to celebrate the things that make this a great place to be a family. —Superintendent George Weber  For the past year, teachers, administrators, and school board members at Pierz Schools have been meeting and now have a plan to update the industrial technology classrooms at the high school. These areas, consisting of the wood shop, welding shop, and agricultural classrooms, will be seeing some exciting changes in the very near future.
The plan in place is a phased plan as much of the work will need to be done in the short summer months, as the rest of the year brings high demand for those teaching spaces. Phasing this rollout is also necessary now due to the challenges the construction industry as a whole faces right now—availability of product as well as the availability of engineers, contractors, and the backlog of licenses and permits at the state level make any new construction project an extra challenge for districts. With these challenges, the exact timeline of each phase is still to be determined. However, when all phases are complete, the results will be as follows: The current special education space (aka the old choir room) will be combined with the current health classroom (aka the old drafting room for those of a certain age) to transform it into a large multi-use Ag Classroom. One side will be designed for Bio-Ag: the classroom will have counters, running water, a very large stainless steel sink, and large south-facing windows for growing seeds and starter plants for the greenhouse. The other larger side will support other Ag-Related instruction: animal care classes, wildlife, etc. A new classroom and office space will be added to house special education services. The wood shop will also see a complete remodel. All current storage rooms will be opened up, creating a large teaching and work space with additional new equipment. A new anti-dust vacuum system will be installed. In addition, a large storage room will be added to the east side of the wood shop. The welding/metal shop is also ready for an update after tirelessly serving our students over the years. The remodel will include new hoods for venting of all equipment. A storage room will also be added to the east side of the metal shop to open up more classroom space. The current agriculture classroom will be remodeled and made larger with removal of all four smaller rooms to make a large technology space. This new Tech room will house high-tech, industry-standard tools like 3-D printers, laser engravers, laser printers, plasma cutters and other equipment with updated HVAC. This room will have large windows on both sides with door access to the metal shop on one side and the wood shop on the other side, making it easily available and accessible to all three industrial technology teachers throughout the day. Lastly, new bathrooms and water fountains will be added to this area as well. It’s an exciting project and one that’s been in the making for a long time. When all phases of the project are completed, the industrial technology area will provide industry-standard resources that will equip our students with career-ready skills to bring with them after graduation. |
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District Office112 Kamnic Street
Pierz, MN 56364 320-468-6458 DO Fax: 320-468-6408 |
High School112 Kamnic Street
Pierz, MN 56364 HS Fax: 320-468-6577 |
Elementary66 Kamnic Street
Pierz, MN 56364 EL Fax: 320-468-2841 Copyright © 2015 ISD 484 |