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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2021 VOL. 46 NO. 2 www.vadnaisheightspress.com $1.00

2021 ’ Guide e t o V rs 8-20 1 Pages

OPINION: Readers make final case for candidates PAGE 5, 10 AND 11

School district addresses achievement gap BY JACKIE BUSSJAEGER STAFF WRITER

The effects of COVID-19 on young learners are not yet fully understood, but reading scores and achievement gap measurements from the 2020-2021 school year show that the White Bear Lake School District has some catching up to do. Dr. Alison Gillespie, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, presented a summary of the past school year’s World’s Best Workforce achievement and integration summary at the Oct. 11 school board meeting. The World’s Best Workforce Plan is an initiative from the Minnesota Department of Education that addresses five achievement goals to improve teaching and learning. These goals ensure that all students are ready for school, all third graders can read at grade level, all racial and economic gaps between students are closed, all students are ready for a career and college and all students graduate from high school. The summary showed the White Bear Lake district lags in third grade reading scores, falling from 62.6 percent reading proficiency on the MCA-III assessment in 2019 to 54.6 percent in 2021. The goal is for that number to increase to 68.1 percent by June 2023. This drop was accompanied by a 14.3 percent decrease in participation, as parents are able to opt their students out of MCA testing. In some years, MCA participation has been as high as 99 percent, so this decrease is significant, Gillespie explained. This could cause a negative impact, as participation rate is part of the district’s evaluation. “It’s a balance because we had a higher optout rate last year perhaps because we had many different impacts of the pandemic on us,” Gillespie said. “It’s really about district accountability, and it’s been made about individual student

PAUL DOLS | PRESS PUBLICATIONS

Pick of the pumpkin patch Lori and Josh Moore display a couple of the pumpkins available at a patch outside Christ the Lutheran Church in Vadnais Heights. The pumpkin patch is open weekdays from 2 p.m. to dusk and weekends from 10 a.m. to dusk, through Oct. 31. Proceeds go toward youth ministry. At right: Evelyn Ness rides on her dad Brian’s shoulders with just the right sized pumpkin she picked out.

SEE ACHIEVEMENT GAP, PAGE 15

A teen addict’s journey to recovery Gavin Nelson was 12 years old when he started using drugs. After an overdose a year ago, he is on the road to recovery and sobriety. “I really didn't have a good home environment or home life. I was hanging out with freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors in high school, and I just wanted to fit in,” he said. “I had an older brother who didn't do drugs, but his best friend at the time smoked

weed and did other drugs, so that's how I was introduced to drugs.” Nelson, 19, was born in Stillwater. He grew up in both Stillwater and White Bear Lake. Nelson said both of his parents were addicts: his mom's addiction was alcohol and his dad's was meth and cocaine. “My addiction didn't start at 12 years old, my addiction started when I was born,” Nelson said. “I had that in my genes. There is not anything in my life that is not addicting to me.” He said it doesn't

matter what it is — drugs, food, sex, money, gambling or video games: “I have a very addictive, mentally obsessive personality.” In early middle school he used drugs to fit in, get attention from his parents and find acceptance. “My parents were in denial about it,” Nelson said. “I didn't think I had a problem because my parents were addicts.” In high school he used drugs to cope with anxiety and depression and trauma from his childhood, and then it became

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Gavin Nelson, a presenter from Know the Truth, shares his story of substance abuse with high school students.

SEE JOURNEY TO RECOVERY, PAGE 15

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