FREE PRESS MESSENGER AMERY
TUESDAY, JUNE 5,33, 2018 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2222
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SPORTS: Softball team falls in Sectional final PAGE 20 COUNTRY
Serving Marine-on-St. Croix, Scandia, May Township
SENTINEL BURNETT COUNTY
Music on the River returns June 15 The sixth season of Music on the River gets underway Friday, June 15. THURSDAY, Stage SEPTEMBER 33, 2222Michael Park is the The Danielson in Amery’s VOL.for 131 NO. www.moraminn.com $1.00summer, occurlocation the19three concerts this ring on the third Friday of June, July and August. The concerts are presented by the Amery Community Club with the generous help of over 60 sponsors. Tom Bensen, Ed Flanum and Sally Klevgard run the committee that organizes the event and have done so since the event began in 2012. The theme for this year is “Rock the River” with three concerts. The music gets underway at 5 p.m. June 15 when the Studebakers perform. Headlining the first concert is The Whitesidewalls. The Whitesidewalls has been
A community reading event that records people from students to community members reading books in front of a green screen where the book pages are displayed is one of the many projects funded by the Amery School Board with help this year from the Amery Woman’s Club.
SEE MUSIC ON PAGE 2
Mini grants fuel innovation BY TOM STANGL TSTANGL@THEAMERYFREEPRESS.COM
Each year, the Amery School Board invites staff members to apply for innovation grants to fund new or innovate programs in classrooms. Every May, the recipients of the grants make presentations to the board about how the money
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was used and the results of the programs. This year, grant recipients received double the normal grant, thanks to a generous donation from the Amery Woman’s Club. Instead of getting $300 for their programs, five educators received $600 in grant money. Sharon Paulson of the Amery
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Woman’s Club explains that the $1,500 that the club donated came from the group’s Harvest Moon Hootenanny, which raised $3,000. “Our organization had a great time holding this event which allowed teachers to double their requests for money to do these projects above and beyond the curricu
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SEE GRANTS ON PAGE 9
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The Whitesidewalls will headline the first Music on the River Concert June 15.
Staff gives Amery schools high marks
BY TOM STANGL TSTANGL@THEAMERYFREEPRESS.COM
A survey of staff at Amery schools reveals a great amount of pride in the district as well as the need to improve communications. The Amery School Board heard a presentation at their May meeting from School Perceptions about the results of a survey taken by 75 percent of the staff in March. Staff members received a unique email access code to take the survey.
The perceptions of the staff were drawn from responses to questions in the following categories: change readiness, engagement, communication, culture, work environment, collaboration, technology, development and recognition, compensation and benefits, professional development and job satisfaction. Respondents agreed or disagreed with statements in the survey, with a 5 indicating strong agreement and 1 indicating strong disagreement. The
Over half – 52% percent of the survey respondents have been employed by the district for more than 10 years, 9 percent have worked 6-10 years, 13 percent 3-5 years and 19 percent 1-2 years.
numbers were averaged and responses given an average ranking and compared to identical questions from the last survey. Numerical changes of .2 or above should be evaluated, according to School Perceptions’ Sue Peterson, who gave the presentation remotely. Peterson cautioned the board not to read too much into the average scores. “Sometimes the negative numbers are not about performance, but about communication,” Peterson said.
THE SUN Serving Polk County’s St. Croix Valley since 1897
Change readiness Our District is committed to making needed improvements as they are identified. 78 percent strongly agreed. Our District has a culture of open dialogue. 60 percent strongly agrees. SEE ENGAGEMENT ON PAGE 2
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