St. Francis High School Graduate List Page 7
Community Celebrations & Events
Track & Field Athletes shine at State Meet
Page 15
JULY 2017 | VOLUME 24, ISSUE 10
Page 23
FREE
The Courier Outcome of Bond Results KATRINNA DODGE
STAFF WRITER
On June 12, Independent School District 15 (ISD 15) received an official memo from Anoka County Elections & Voter Registration stating revised numbers of total persons voting. The final number of persons that voted on May 23 was 4,522; 1,591 from Precinct One, 1,684 from Precinct Two and 1,247 from Precinct Three. The outcome of the election did not change as a result of the revisions. School District Question 1• $92,280,000 Bond Yes No Precinct 1: Central Services Center 702 884 Precinct 2: Lifelong Learning Center 795 889 Precinct 3: East Bethel Community Center 517 729 Totals: 2014 2502 School District Question 2 • $15,520,000 Bond Yes No Precinct 1: Central Services Center 591 997 Precinct 2: Lifelong Learning Center 703 980 Precinct 3: East Bethel Community Center 437 802 Totals: 1731 2779 Cindy Reichert, Anoka County Elections manager, reported election results provided on May 23 and canvassed by the school board on May 26 were a transcription error. Anoka County staff had mistakenly transcribed Line B (total numbers of unused ballots) instead of Line C (total number of counted ballots) in Precinct 1 and Precinct 3 on the Precinct Summary Statement. This mistake was sent to ISD 15 and canvassed by the school board on May 26. CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
St. Francis High School commencement ceremony was held June 2. (Pictured, L-R) Emily Hennen (not facing the camera) and Emily Hewitt wait to be seated. The Class of 2017 were ceremonially handed their diplomas on a toasty 90-degree afternoon. This was the first commencement ceremony held outdoors in several years. A total of 380 students graduated this year from SFHS, Saints Online and Saints Academy.
THE COURIER PHOTO
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Independent School District 15 Communications Department St. Francis, Minnesota Serving the communities of Andover, Athens Township, Bethel, East Bethel, Linwood Township, Nowthen, Oak Grove, St. Francis and Stanford Township
Technology Department is the nerve center for ISD 15 KATRINNA DODGE
STAFF WRITER
From a structural standpoint, computers, cellphones, software programs, internet access and security can be metaphorically related to the nervous system in the body— connecting different devices and areas to work seamlessly. “We support the community, students, teachers and administrators to communicate and complete their daily jobs,” stated Jeff Kienitz, technology coordinator at Independent School District 15’s (ISD 15) Office of School Technology (OST). The Technology Department works with all school district department branches and employees in support of educational achievement. These efforts can take the form of creating transcripts, regulating cyber security, syncing databases, managing Google and Office 365 domains, ensuring cloud security, and updating hardware and software. Other areas of support include sound systems, security cameras, print center and district calling system. To prioritize jobs, each day the technology specialists and administrators meet to create a top ten list. At St. Francis High School (SFHS), there are currently 76 jobs to complete. These duties come from all different access points that need to be maintained and strengthened to ensure software is running correctly for protection of staff, faculty and student privacy. “Every day we do roughly the same thing, but not the exact same tasks,” commented Kienitz. The range of work can create challenges, i.e. outdoor graduation, that technology coordinators work together to overcome. “When you don’t know who we are, we are doing our job.” OST works with faculty, staff, students and community members to continue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) integration through student support. During the summer, students from local colleges work with staff in maintaining and updating district infrastructure, such as rebuilding district networks. Another example of STEM integration supported by the OST is SFHS Today. SFHS Today
is a student-run weekly broadcast that reports on news important to students happening at SFHS. Staff from the Technology Department help maintain the high-level production equipment so that students interested in pursuing a professional career in broadcasting, reporting, videography and related degrees have relevant experiences. Kienitz and his team work throughout the year to keep costs down. They succeed by applying for grants and being innovative in improving day-today tasks. Last year OST was awarded $160,000 in grants to improve ISD 15 internet networks. Another cost reduction is streamlining maintenance and circulation of technological devices throughout ISD 15. Operational programs from various data management systems are programmed to communicate with each other to reduce time and human resources needed to produce mandatory reports. One of the larger cost minimizers is the success of streamlining the printing process. The creation of the Print Center within ISD 15 allowed cost of printing class materials and documents to be reduced from $0.33 to $0.17 per page. By June, 14,494,368 pages had been printed through the Print Center for the 2016-17 school year. Keeping costs down with little disruption to the daily work environment are forefront criteria for OST. From replacing catalogues, building networks, maintaining electric systems to repairing Chromebooks, iPads and desktops, OST staff keeps the nerve center at ISD 15 running smoothly, continually connecting devices, people and software to work seamlessly. Kienitz summarized his department’s support and the range of the work, simply stating, “We like what we do; it keeps us motivated at work.”
Inside Schools in Action..................................... 2 Community Education......................... 11 Community & Business........................ 13 Sports & Outdoors................................ 23 School Board Highlights...................... 25 Meetings, Events & Benefits................. 27 Life........................................................... 28