Taking a vacation from God this summer?

Great posting on one of my favorite Blogs, "Aardvark Alley" on the subject of taking a vacation from God. For a direct link go to the right of the page.Please read the July 28th Blog

Comments

I have been receiving favorable comments on the letter to the editor I wrote on the school district. I have not heard from any school board members. This weekend will be a big one for Princeton as Crazy Days will be going on downtown and the Oulaws Sprint cars will be racing this weekend.

Letter to the Editor Princeton Union Eagle

My letter to the editor was published today. They printed it in its entirety. I was not happy with the headline written as that was not to be my main focus. The letter was basically the same thing posted here.

July 18th School Board Meeting

At the June school board meeting the board voted unanimously to combine the cheerleading and dance team. It was reported that the board could expect criticism of this decision. Well at the July meeting the criticism came. Most of the anger was focused on the Activities Director at the high school and communication issues. Even calling for his firing as he lied to the parents. One item I found very troubling was the he told the parents the decision had already been made when the school board was voting on it that evening. The school board did announce that they had reversed themselves and cheerleading and dance will not be combined. It was pointed out that the school boards actions had already created a mess and a lot of damage. This seems to have damaged the dance team much more than the cheerleaders. I am not sure how the school board reversed themselves as I saw no vote to do this taken.

The new principal for the Middle School was introduced he is Rick Lane, he comes from the Sartel Middle School where he was an assistant principal. He has been working with middle school students since 1989 and has turned down several promotions to principal at the elementary school level due to his commitment to the middle school age children. He does seem to be a good choice.

According to the South Elementary School Principle the number of student this fall are as follows so far: 248 Kindergartners, 270 1st graders and 254 2nd graders. The high school principal reported the transition to trimesters has been well received and that the reinstatement of the incentive program has had the desired effect, tardy and unexcused absences were down last year.

There will be another levy referendum vote this fall although the amount and number of years has not been determined as of yet. It was also stated that with the increased funding provided by the state this year of the 9 positions cut this summer 4 1/2 may be reinstated.

School Board Meeting

School Board meeting is Tuesday July 19th, 7:00 PM. I will be reporting on it.

20% pay increase for Princeton School Administrator

According to this weeks Princeton Union/Eagle newspaper the Human Resources Director for the Princeton School District has received a 20% pay increase. This in a time of severe budget crunch in the Princeton School District, and a 3rd attempt at passing a levy coming this fall. This is a position that did not even exist until 2003. Why should we be giving a 20% pay increase to anyone in the district at this time of budget restrictions. We are going into salary negotiations with the teachers and para professionals, and I am confident that they will be told we cannot afford a salary increase. Watch out the band program will be cut next www.princeton.k12.mn.us/do/board/highlights.html check under the heading of April 26th, 2005 Meeting Highlights PROPOSING TO PLACE LICENSED STAFF ON UNREQUESTED LEAVE OF ABSENCE

Due to budget cuts, action was taken proposing to place the following tenured staff on unrequested leave of absence: Eric Bjurman, Jane Miller, Lee Peterson, and Jesse Zimmer. Notice the 3rd name Lee Peterson. Now when the cuts came down Lee Peterson's name was left off.

Watch for the band program to be the first to go in the next round.

Response to my email by school board

The response came from Superintendent Mark Sleeper, I get the impression that none of the school board members want to go on record. According to Superintendent Sleeper "it will be several weeks before we get any detailed information from the state." He did say that the school board will be considering the additional revenue before deciding how much to ask for in the upcoming levy referendum. I was asked to remember that they factored in a 1.5% increase in revenue, they still had to make $900,000 in cuts.

I also understand that they do plan to discuss with the teachers union the possibility of moving toward a performance pay system, and according to Superintendent Sleeper both the teachers and the school district administration have an interest in exploring this new method of teacher compensation. I will continue to watch developments on this as there is increased funding incentives that come with this plan.

Meeting Tonight

Tonight is a busy night The Lee Peterson Quartet and the organizational meeting for a LCMS congregation in Princeton both at the Historical Museum (Old Depot) at 7:00 PM. The LCMS meeting is meeting in the front of the Museum for the interested. Also no response as yet from any member of the school board on my email to them. I am still waiting.

Q-Comp (Teacher Pay for performance)

I recently sent an email to all school board members encouraging adoption of the Q-Comp pay for performance pay plan for teachers. Never heard of it, neither had I until the new funding plan for education put together by the state included $86 million for the so called "Q-comp" program that is designed to reward teachers for student achievement, not just for years on the job. My understanding the $86 million is being used as an incentive to get more districts to adopt the plan and that the funding is first come first serve. This would be additional funding above what would normally be given to the Princeton School District. Private business has been using performance based pay for years for professionals, it is about time we do that for teachers too.

Per the MN Department of Education web site, "Under the increase for QComp, school districts will now be eligible for up to $260 per student, up from $225 under the original proposal, if they agree to move away from the traditional steps and lanes pay system." http://education.state.mn.us/html/087469.htm

Lee Peterson Jazz Quartet

Those of you who live in Princeton, MN and are familier with the Highschool Band program will recognize the name Lee Peterson as he is the band director at the highschool. Princeton is very fortunate to have his talent in the school district. His jazz quartet will be prefoming at the Music in the Parks series on Tuesday, July 12th at the Historical Museam (Old Train Depot) at 7:00.

New Lutheran Church Missouri Synod Congregation in Princeton

A small group of people have been meeting in for the last couple of months talking about the possibility of planting a Lutheran Church Missouri Synod congregation in the city of Princeton. An organizational meeting is set for Tuesday July 12th at the Historical Museum (old train depot), all are welcome.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog. The purpose of this new blog is to get people thinking and to publish new in the city of Princeton, MN that the Union Eagle may have missed or not found news worthy.

I recently attended a school board meeting, as you may know the school board is planning on asking the citizens of the Princeton School District for the third time for passage of a operating levy. The first two times the citizens said no. Here is a link to the Minnesota State Auditors Web Site so that you can read the auditors report and see financially how the Princeton School District stacks up against the rest of the state. http://www.osa.state.mn.us/default.aspx?page=rptGid04SchoolDistrict

Interestingly with all the budget problems and cuts in the school district they did find money to give the Human Resourses Director a large raise. With Whitcomb being the only board member to vote against the raise.