A SCHOOL ON A HILL Church Hill is easy to find in Lanesboro. The highest point in town, its two classic church steeples bookend an impressive three-story brick building that used to be the Lanesboro School. Erected in 1917, that building is where local kids went to school until the early 1990s when a new facility at the base of Church Hill replaced it. Today it’s a refurbished condominium, but where that red brick building sits and what it did for so many years still tells a key part of the story of why this town is a great place to live.
that on the same campus you’ll see toddlers and graduating seniors, it all adds up to a familiar, supportive “feel.”
The old school—sitting at the town’s focal point—illustrates the priority this community places on education. School matters in Lanesboro. Always has. One of the first things its earliest settlers built was a school. When it burned down, they built a bigger one. When that caught fire two years later, despite the cost of labor and money, they immediately rebuilt it. This is a community that has never turned down a school referendum. Today the Lanesboro School— Independent School District 229—is a K-12 facility (with its own daycare) providing a quality education on a single campus to more than 400 students.
“The Lanesboro School is a small school, family environment,” Rick says. “People know each other. Students participate in whatever activities they choose—sports, band, choir—with no extra fees. There’s a strong Board here, too. I worked with remarkable members during my time here; almost 80% of them were Lanesboro grads themselves. Yes, Lanesboro is definitely a great school.”
One of the reasons Lanesboro is a great place to live is because it has a great school.
In 1987 Rick, that board, and the Lanesboro school staff created the very first on-site daycare facility at a Minnesota school. What that means, in the words of current superintendent Matt Schultz, is that “…a child can literally start their Lanesboro Public School journey as an infant in our daycare and walk across the stage as an LPS graduate steps away from that daycare center 18 years later.”
Why is it a great school? There are some practical, “measurable” reasons for that. Small class sizes make a difference. (Current ratios show 1 teacher for every 13 students.) Quality staff and curriculum standards matter. Lanesboro School students consistently score in the top 10% of state standardized tests. Opportunities make a difference—sports, music, drama, and more—round out the educational experience. Great facilities sure help. A major expansion completed just last year—the result of a $8.3-million dollar bonding bill—is making the Lanesboro school experience—being a “Lanesboro Burro”—the best it’s ever been. All of that and more goes into making the Lanesboro School a great school. There’s another intangible that can’t be overlooked. “The Lanesboro School is a family,” you’ll hear people say. The small town, the small class sizes, the fact
Rick Lamon knows that “feeling” well. Rick served as the Superintendent of Lanesboro Schools for 25 years, from 1980 until his retirement in 2005. (He also taught a class every year. “That was my choice,” he says. ‘I wanted to get to know the kids.”) He says the connection that students and staff feel to each other strengthens the school.
Another obvious sign of that is current “open enrollment” numbers. Students from nearby towns who are choosing to come to Lanesboro are nearly 35% of the student body.
Lanesboro is a great place to live for many reasons. Having a great school—a quality place for young people to learn in a caring environment, opportunities for them to grow through extracurricular activities, employment for teachers and staff, the community spirit it builds—all comes together here. You hear people talk about “Burro Pride” in Lanesboro. Even more important, you know people feel it. For more information about Lanesboro Public Schools, visit their website (Lanesboro.K12.mn.us) and/or their Facebook page, or call Superintendent Matt Schultz at (507) 467-2229.
2022-23 EDITION
|
LANESBORO.COM
|
35
