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Caponi Art Park goes medieval.
NEWS OPINION SPORTS
Thisweek Farmington-Lakeville SEPTEMBER 16, 2011 VOLUME 32, NO. 29
See Thisweekend Page 6A.
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Teachers union, district agree on contract Settlement terms will likely influence future negotiations in District 192 by Laura Adelmann THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Farmington School District teachers will receive increased benefit payments and a 1 percent raise under a two-year contract agreement unanimously approved by the School Board Sept. 12. No salary increase is included in the 2011-2012 first contract year, but teachers will continue receiving normal pay increases that reward additional education and longevity of
service. Under the contract, ratified by the local teachers union Sept. 9, in year one the school district agreed to pay another $6 for twoparty insurance coverage and $7 more for family insurance premiums. The district now contributes between $896 and $1,024 per month for those kinds of plans, which cost between $977 and $1,636 per month. Single-coverage health See Contract, 14A
Man charged with child neglect returned to state by Tad Johnson THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Bail was set at $6,000 – $5,000 with conditions. He was ordered to have no contact with his son, unless it would be approved by social workers and unless he and his son were supervised, according to multiple news reports. The Lakeville man cited financial difficulties as the reason he left and entrusted the care of his son to a neighbor on July 18. In addition to the loss of his home and a lack of income, Cross also faced about $25,000 in judgments against him, according to court records. He was arrested in California Aug. 29 when Cross was driving a minivan with Minnesota plates on his way to work in a deli.
The 60-year-old Lakeville man who was arrested last Monday in Cambria, Calif., on charges that he abandoned his 11-year-old son with a neighbor and fled town, was returned to Minnesota last Friday night. Dakota County deputies flew to San Luis Obispo, Calif., where Steven Alexander Cross was being held after being arrested on an outstanding warrant, and brought him back to Dakota County. Cross waived extradition after his arrest, meaning law enforcement could return him to Minnesota. Cross was charged last week in Dakota County with gross misdemeanor neglect of a child and was arraigned Tad Johnson is at editor. thisweek@ecm-inc.com. on Monday.
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Poverty in still life Lakeville artist Dan Petrov wins two awards at fair by John Gessner THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
There’s a reason Dan Petrov depicted a bench instead of a table in his oil painting “Vincent,� a rumination on poverty. A table, he said, would signify a bountiful meal being served. “A bench,� he added, “is for sitting and waiting, as the problem of social justice is waiting for solution.� The message wasn’t lost on judges at the 2011 Minnesota State Fair, where “Vincent� won two sponsored awards: the College of Visual Arts Painting Award and the Ron Merchant Award for Oil Painting. A still life depicting red potatoes, a page from Petrov’s local newspaper, the bench and a wall, “Vincent� is infused with symbolism and includes a partial reproduction of Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Potato Eaters.� “I am confident that Vincent would not mind,� Petrov wrote in his blog, “since he lived in poverty too.� The Serbian-born artist, trained in classical realism, rents a studio on the top floor of Nicollet Plaza in Burnsville’s Heart of the City, where he has painted and taught since 2009. Petrov, 50, of Lakeville, moved from Canada to Minnesota in 2006, 14 years after leaving Serbia. “I got my education there at university (philosophy and law),� he said in an interview. “And when the political situation got a bit confusing between all the different political factions, I figure out that maybe it’s time to leave. It was 1992. I left kind of before the major mess. Bad people, when they get to power, they make the little guys fighting.� The art studies he’d begun in Europe after university continued in Canada, where Petrov learned Renaissance techniques from the classically trained Italian painter Sergio De Paoli. In Minnesota, Petrov was accepted to the Atelier Studio Program of Fine Art in Minneapolis, a four-year program of disciplined daily training that melds formal academics with the influence of the French Impressionists.
Dan Petrov’s “Vincent,� a rumination on poverty, won two awards at the 2011 Minnesota State Fair.
Photo by Rick Orndorf
Artist Dan Petrov of Lakeville relaxed in his Burnsville studio, where he paints and teaches. Petrov’s “Vincent� won two awards at the 2011 Minnesota State Fair. “Pretty much it takes whole life to study art,� said Petrov, whose wife, Jelena, is a dentist in St. Louis Park. “Or I might be a slow learner, I guess.� His work is displayed at the Tamarack Gallery in Stillwater and the Bristol Art Gallery in Bristol, R.I., as well as on his website. Venues for Petrov’s gallery shows have included the performing arts centers in Burnsville and Bloomington. Petrov said “Vincent,� which has already sold, was inspired by the hands-off treatment that he perceived was given to the issue of poverty during Minnesota’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign. Nevertheless, he spotted an opinion piece by Don Heinzman in Thisweek Newspapers with a headline declaring that poverty had become an issue in the campaign. See Petrov, 7A
Farmington businesses expanding within city limits Magnificent Me, Pellicci’s Ace Hardware set for big moves by Laura Adelmann THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Photo by Laura Adelmann
Farmington Schools Superintendent Jay Haugen and School Board members discussed numerous ideas to reinvent how education is delivered during a Sept. 9 retreat at Blondie’s in Farmington.
Changes may be in store for Farmington students School officials discuss creative concepts, will seek input by Laura Adelmann THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Imagine public schools without grade-divided classes, where students hear lectures electronically at home, then complete “homework� during the school day with their teacher’s assistance. The latter idea of a
“flipped classroom� is already being implemented in some Farmington schools, and more changes are needed, said Farmington Superintendent Jay Haugen to School Board members at a Sept. 9 board retreat at Blondie’s in Farmington. Many ideas for change
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were brainstormed during the three-hour retreat, which began with Haugen reading from several books about how to reinvent the structure of organizations. School officials indicated there may be agreement to develop a school system See Changes, 7A
Two Elm Street businesses are growing in size but staying in Farmington. Rising Stars Preschool is moving to a Pilot Knob Road location, and this fall the business will reopen as Magnificent Me Preschool, located in the Charles Wood Marketplace Mall, just a few doors down from the new Pizza Hut. Pellicci Ace Hardware is also moving from its “city center� area location, where it has been for 18 years, into the former Allina Medical Clinic building off of Highway 3. Mark Pellicci said the new building has 11,200 square feet of space, 320 square feet more than Ace has now. Pellicci said he is planning to expand store inventory with Craftsman tools and Carhartt work clothing, which includes T-shirts, shorts, jeans, insulated bib overalls, hats and jackets.
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Photo by Laura Adelmann
The Pellicci family, Ferro, Mark, Amy and Amanda, stand in front of the new Ace Hardware location, a former medical clinic, located off of Highway 3. Amanda holds Ace, the beloved family pet and store mascot. The new store will continue carrying its current Ace paint line, but also expand with Benjamin Moore’s premium paint line, “Aura,� which sells between $40 to $60 per gallon. Angela De Andriano, owner of Magnificent Me Preschool, said her business has grown rapidly
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since opening (as Rising Stars Preschool) last year. At that time, the preschool served five children, but it expanded quickly, and now has 29 enrolled students. The current location has limited capacity, but the new space will allow it to expand into five classrooms See Businesses, 7A