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Shawn Bakken of ‘Beauty and the Geek’ fame starring in Lakeville community-theater show See Thisweekend Page 7
A NEWS OPINION SPORTS
Thisweek Farmington-Lakeville
Secti Special issue is th e id ins
NOVEMBER 12, 2010 VOLUME 31, NO. 37
www.thisweeklive.com
Announcements/5A
Opinion/6A
Sports/9A
Puzzle Page/8A
One of Lakeville’s two newest city council members has big expectations for the future
Little goes a long way by Aaron Vehling THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
“How old are you?” It was a question heard often during the early months of Lakeville council member-elect Matt Little’s campaign this year. He said people saw his campaign as a long shot. His age was getting in the way of the issues. But as he and his supporters went on a door-knocking blitz, more and more people put Little signs up in their yards. “In September and October when I was knocking on doors,” Little said, “people would say ‘We’ve heard of you, we’re voting for you.’ The age factor went away.” Voters elected the 25-year-old, Lakeville-born man on a platform of low taxes, increased public safety and bolstered youth involvement. When it comes to such involvement, Little is no stranger. Little helped start the downtown Lakeville branch of the Eagan Resource Center’s food shelf after 360 Communities moved its food shelf out of downtown and its headquarters to Burnsville. He counts the Lions among his forays into community involvement. He received the 2010 Lion of the Year award for his efforts. “I love being in them,” he said. “They do so much for the community.”
A world away A bit more than a year before he became one of Lakeville’s youngest elected city council members, Little was living in Pa-
Photo by Aaron Vehling
Matt Little, 25, of northeast Lakeville, is one of two residents elected this month to serve on the city council. He seeks to preserve public safety and improve youth community involvement. tagonia in southern Chile, “the second major stop on the way to Antarctica,” he said. Living in a community that existed despite modest financial means, Little taught English, navigated the complexities of Chilean Spanish and endured the constant Seattle-like weather patterns. “They say if you can understand Chilean Spanish, you can understand all different kinds of Spanish,” he said. Sometimes relativity is key in a person’s life to provide the purest form of self-assessment. Little found some truth in this during his time in Chile. “It made me appreciate to a large degree what we have and how we live,” he said. “We live
very well in comparison. We have to be thankful for what we have.” Little parlayed his experiences in Chile into a position teaching English as a foreign language here in Minnesota. He is able to use his Spanish with some of the students, but also tutors a lot of Karens, an oppressed minority group from Thailand and Myanmar. “One lesson I’ve learned is that if you want to teach someone another language, it has to be through immersion,” he said.
Police advocate Little had considered a city council run at least a year ago. “I have such an attachment to my hometown and when you have See Little, 5A
Public Notices/11A
Classifieds/12A
192 board votes to investigate Burke by Aaron Vehling
about what they alleged were extensive information Months of disrequests and misagreements between treatment of adminthe Farmington istration staff. School Board and At the Nov. 8 district and board meeting, Singewald member Tim Burke Tim Burke said she was recomhave come to a head. The board voted at its mending a third party out Nov. 8 meeting to hire an of fairness to everyone inindependent investigator volved. Three school board to determine if Burke has violated the board’s code members (Singewald, Juof conduct and has been in- lie McKnight and John appropriate in his dealings Kampf) voted in favor of the investigation. Two with his colleagues. Board member Julie board members (Craig DaSingewald spearheaded the vis and Veronica Walter) call for the investigation abstained. Burke was the following the Oct. 11 board sole dissenting vote. During the discussions meeting in which members publicly confronted Burke See Burke, 16A THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Farmington council renews call for city to cut two jobs Board rejects several other budgetcutting options by Laura Adelmann THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
On Monday, Farmington City Council members rejected parts of City Administrator Peter Herlofsky’s $400,000 budgetslashing proposal and reiterated the need for staff cuts, an option Herlofsky opposes. Council members eliminated some of the latest proposed cuts, and requested review of certain revenue projections based on concerns they were unrealistic. Consensus was reached on some of the options, but a $140,000 gap remains to
meet the new council direction to cut $425,000 from the $9.2 million 2011 budget, which must be adopted next month. Options city officials will consider to close that gap will include staff reductions, City Finance Director Teresa Walters said Tuesday. The City Council may review the options at a Nov. 22 workshop or at a special session that may be called. Herlofsky has opposed the council’s recommendation to solve the budget problems by eliminating two positions: the economSee Jobs, 16A
Lakeville has multiple senior Achievement gains living campuses in works spurred by staff development strategies by Johnnay Leenay SPECIAL TO THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Board, school district, and buildings to set goals that tie together, Link said. “We’re all reaching for the same goal while being unique,” Link said. For example, the board set a goal to increase student achievement during the 2009-10 school year. The district then set a goal to use research-based techniques and resources to deliver quality instruction to improve achievement for all students. Finally, the buildings set specific goals that focused on increasing student achievement within a specific population, or in a specific subject. Link said professional learning communities, testing, literacy coaching, new curriculums, and other strategies are then implemented to achieve those goals. The district then collects data on activities and analyzes the findings, Link said. “Basically we all are looking at what we can do as teachers and professionals to increase our knowledge, our ability to communicate, and our ability to work towards improving students’ achievement,” Link said.
Lakeville’s teachers aggressively focused on student achievement by way of professional development in 2009 and 2010, and raised student achievement levels as a result, district administrators said. Lakeville Area Public School District administrators outlined teacher professional development strategies from last school year, as well as goals for the future, in a report to the School Board on Oct. 26. According to Susan Link, the district’s secondary teaching and learning coordinator and staff development plan leader, focused staff development led to large achievement gains in 2010. She said the goal is the same in 2011. Link pointed to students increasing reading proficiency by more than 5 percent on last year’s Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment test at Crystal Lake Elementary School, and Kenwood Trail Middle School students increasing their MCA math test scores by 3.6 percent, as examples of specific achievement goals linked to professional development that were achieved in 2009-10. “The results are very significant Johnnay Leenay is an intern and special contributor to Thisweek for our district,” Link said. The process requires the School Newspapers. General 952-894-1111 Distribution 952-846-2070 Display Advertising 952-846-2011 Classified Advertising 952-846-2000
Hosanna! Lutheran Church moving forward with senior facility; second group eyeing Lake Kingsley for campus by Derrick Williams THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Lakeville, already home to one senior-living facility that offers a spectrum of care to its residents, could have two more such facilities by 2012. Hosanna! Lutheran Church’s congregation on Oct. 31 overwhelmingly approved a plan to construct a senior-housing development to be built on the west side of Hosanna’s 58-acre property, located at 9600 163rd St. W. In addition, a separate seniorliving project from different developers to be located on Lake Kingsley, near the Chart House Restaurant, was expected to be presented to the Lakeville Economic and Development Commission on Tuesday, Nov. 9. Both projects would offer more than 80 units for seniors looking for independent- or assisted-living homes, as well as memory-care suites. The Lake Kingsley project would be developed by Southview Senior Living Management and offer 32 memory-care units, 46 assisted-living units, and 23 independent-living units at the proposed 35,000-square-foot campus. The facility would be directly adjacent
Photo by Rick Orndorf
Hosanna! Lutheran Church is looking to bring a 98-unit senior-housing facility to its campus. to the Chart House, located at 11287 Klamath Trail. According to Hosanna, its facility is envisioned to have 20 independent-living units, 47 assistedliving units, 24 memory-care units and two guest suites. That said, the exact mix is still in flux and could change as plans are finalized, according to the church. Lakeville City Administrator Steve Mielke confirmed that Hosanna and its potential partner, Ebenezer, have shown the city a concept for the development. “In concept, it looks pretty good,” Mielke said. “But we haven’t seen a proposal that’s ready
to be turned in to the city or that can start the formal processes.” Hosanna’s congregation approved moving forward with the project at its annual meeting, 92 percent to 8 percent, according to the church. According to reports, the Lake Kingsley project has been in the works for a number of years. Frank Schoben, Chart House’s former owner and the current property owner of the land the facility would occupy, didn’t immediately return a phone call seeking comment. Reports suggest ground breaking for the Lake Kingsley project See Senior Housing, 16A
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