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Statewide television ads feature District 15’s commitment to all day every day kindergarten Education Minnesota St. Francis Local 1977
a division of Independent School District 15 Community Education | St. Francis, Minnesota
October 2014 | Volume 22, Issue 3
PAGE 20
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October What’s Inside Schools in Action..........................................2 Community Education...............................9 School Board Highlights......................... 12 Community & Business........................... 14 Sports & Outdoors.................................... 24 Life.................................................................. 26 Meetings & Events..................................... 28
East Bethel Community School kindergarten teacher Michelle Roy (below) was one of the Independent School District 15 teachers featured in Education Minnesota’s “PreparED” television campaign focusing on the benefits of all day every day kindergarten. To view the commercials, visit www.isd15.org/media. Once on the ISD 15 YouTube home page, click on Playlists. The ISD 15 School Board approved the no fee all day every day kindergarten for the 2012-13 school year. Submitted Photo
Students, parents and educators across the state are excited and inspired by the debut of free all day every day kindergarten for every student in Minnesota. Independent School District 15 (ISD 15) educators and students helped lead the celebration this fall by being featured in a statewide television campaign sponsored by Education Minnesota, the state’s educators union. East Bethel Community School (EBCS) teachers Leslee Kleinke-Yseth, Susan WallaceNelson, Shelly Roy and Kathy Priebe, as well as the kindergarten class of 2014, were featured in television ads titled, PreparED, which touts the benefits of all day kindergarten. The ad debuted August 11 and ran through September 7 on broadcast and cable television statewide. It was part of Education Minnesota’s -ed Moments campaign, designed to highlight the moments when education comes alive for students. The ad is available to view at Education Minnesota’s YouTube page at www. youtube.com/user/EducationMinnesota. More information and extended videos from East Bethel are available at www.edmoments.com. The idea for the ad was sparked last spring, when Education Minnesota was searching for stories of inspirational classrooms and community commitment to student achievement for the “-ed Moments” campaign. The ISD 15 educators union, Education Minnesota St. Francis Local 1977, contacted Education Minnesota about the developments with preschool and all day every day kindergarten
programs. These commitments included extended class time for students in kindergarten and dynamic programming in preschool. Education Minnesota selected ISD 15 educators to be the focus of a back-to-school feature on students being PreparED to succeed. During the final week of school last May, Education Minnesota visited EBCS and spent time with the kindergarten classes to document and record events in the classroom. In July, Education Minnesota returned a second time to film preschool programming. The kindergarten recordings were developed into the television ads and videos for the website www. edmoments.com. “We worked to make sure that an opportunity to showcase our students and educators on a public stage like this occurred. This was a great look into the classrooms of our school district. The educators involved with this project worked hard to make sure our students were able to shine in the unique event,” said Ryan Fiereck, vice president of Education Minnesota St. Francis Local 1977. Education Minnesota officials report that the PreparED ad gained a high profile around the state during the weeks leading into the 201415 school year. Additionally, PreparED became a part of the news cycle of back-to-school and election 2014 issues and it generated a great buzz among the public and political candidates to talk about all day every day kindergarten. In addition to the television and web videos, EBCS is featured on online banner ads on various websites and in 15-second snippets that precede online videos viewed on YouTube and other sites.