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Parents, Staff and Community Members of the Pierz School District:
Thank you so much for your understanding and support of the challenges we were dealt yesterday and today. Much of last night and today was spent working with law enforcement in our area to seek information and clarification on what our next steps would be. We are lucky to have high-quality local law enforcement who have a terrific working relationship with county law enforcement. Minutes ago, we received an official statement from the Sheriff Office related to our schools which is as follows: On December 16, 2021, the Royalton Police Department received information regarding potential threats involving Little Falls Schools, Pierz Schools and Royalton Schools. The Royalton Police Department, along with the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office, Little Falls Police Department and the Pierz Police Department have initiated an investigation regarding the potential threats. This information was shared with local school districts and out of an abundance of caution, a decision was made to close schools in Morrison County on Friday, December 17, 2021. This investigation remains ongoing, however, at this point law enforcement feels there is no ongoing threat to our students, schools or residents. Law enforcement takes these threats very seriously and continues to follow up on any new information that is reported. Shawn Larsen, Morrison County Sheriff At this point, there is no evidence to indicate any Pierz students were involved in inappropriate social media behavior related to this event. Beginning Saturday, December 18th, schools will again be open for events. School will be in session as normal on Monday morning. We are thankful for the judgment and the values that have been instilled in our children that lead to good choices. It is challenging for them and for parents to navigate the various ways in which social media connectivity can lead to inappropriate content. Again, we are thankful. At the same time, we must continue to be vigilant. Any parents, caregivers, or adult role models should consider carefully what social media applications are being used by your child(ren). Many of these social apps give full access to inappropriate content and give no oversight or management of pictures, videos, and suggestions that are forced in front of your children and teens. Consider any opportunity you can, including this event, to confront that issue on behalf of the child, rather than place them into the position of being inundated with it. Encourage communication. Be aware of what your children are posting, to whom they are posting, and what they are being exposed to. Thank you so much for your ongoing help and support and being part of a team that makes our schools great! —Superintendent George Weber Today all schools in Minnesota were informed of a potential national Tik Tok challenge threatening schools. This nationwide challenge has now affected us locally.
At one point today, a student in Morrison County reported that he saw a post on Tik Tok that specifically referenced several schools in our region as part of this national threat, and one of them was Pierz Schools. At this point, Law Enforcement is investigating details into that report. Given that threat, and with utmost safety of our staff and students in mind, Pierz and a couple other schools in our area are taking action to close schools tomorrow. Our decisions for now are as follows:
Please continue to speak with your children regarding responsible social media usage and encourage them to report inappropriate behaviors. —Superintendent George Weber Kiara OleschBand President Hello everyone! We are overjoyed to finally get back to a normal year and back to concerts, performances, and other fun activities. In October, we had our first concert of the year, Epic Adventures, and this month we look forward to your continued support as we present our holiday concerts on December 7, 9, and 13. Our jazz ensembles have also been very busy this fall. Our Jazz I ensemble has been working on Christmas music to perform at the Pierz Senior Center on December 16th at 3:30 PM. Our Jazz II ensemble will be performing at the December 7th concert as well. Both jazz ensembles will be performing at our Annual Jazz Night on April 29th—mark that date in your calendar now! With sporting events opening back up to the public, the pep band will be attending more games to support our Pioneer Athletics. We had a blast playing at Football and Volleyball games this fall and look forward to our first Winter Pep Band at the Girls Basketball game on December 16th. We will also be at the December 21st Boys Basketball game before Christmas Break. Another exciting event we have coming up this year is our band and choir trip to San Antonio. We will depart by plane on January 22nd and will return on the 26th. Some of our planned activities are a River Canal Cruise, Six Flags, and a trip to the Enchanted Springs Ranch and Corpus Christi beach. We will also be performing at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. We have a great group of officers leading our band this year. Caleb Kuske is our Vice President, Lynn Skiba is our secretary, and Lance Otremba is our treasurer. We also elected Alyssa Thesing as our official photographer. It’s an exciting time to be a Pioneer. Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you at our concerts and athletic events: Go Pioneers! —Kiara Olesch, Band President |
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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 |