Nashwauk-Keewatin

08-07-23
Dear NK Families,
The summer has flown by and before we know it, we will be back in school. Teachers and other
staff members will officially be back in the building on August 28th.
The Open House at the elementary and high school will be from 2:00-5:00 pm on August 30th.
This will be a time to meet with teachers and drop off any school supplies. The K-6 supply lists
are available on the school website at:
https://www.isd319.org/page/keewatin-elementary-school1.
The elementary teachers, special education teachers, and high school math teachers attended a three-day math workshop this summer. Our trainer, Running Horse Livingston from
Mathematize, will provide ongoing support throughout the school year. Your children will be
taught math using some different methods this year. These different methods encourage students to solve problems in a way that makes sense for them, they will talk about how to solve
problems, and use manipulatives when it makes sense. The workshop was engaging, the teachers enjoyed it and learned a lot. I look forward to our students looking at math problems differently and seeing that everyone can be good at math.
We have hired several new teachers this summer: Maddison McChesney, K-12 Band/Music
teacher; Amy Riipinen, 7th-12th grade math teacher; Lisa Roberts, K-12 Visual Arts teacher;
Samantha Voeltz, Kindergarten teacher; Nick Seppala, 6th grade teacher; and Carly Anderson,
4th grade teacher; Laurel Lind, STEAM teacher. We also have some changes in our special
education program. Tim Bishop will move to the high school and Summer Opacich was hired to
replace Mr. Bishop at the elementary school. Sara Murphy, a Speech Language Pathologist, was hired in the spring and is a welcomed addition to our special education team. Students will no longer have virtual speech services. This is a great thing! We continue to look for two more
special education teachers. Other changes include: Denise Clusiau as a 2nd grade teacher; Brian Gangl as an interventionist in the elementary; Dave Kuusisto as the Title I teacher; and Angel Nelson will be a floating substitute teacher for the district.
I want to thank everyone who came to celebrate the formal groundbreaking of our new PreK-12
school and community wellness center at the end of May. The event was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made to improve the learning environment for our students, but also on how much work we still need to do. Contractors have already cleared the way for the main road into the site, removed the remaining vegetation, and begun to fill, grade and compact the soil. Once grading is complete, equipment and materials will be transported to the site and the footprints for the buildings will be established. Construction is expected to begin before the start of the 2023-2024 school years. You can follow the project’s progress at:
NKSpartanStrong.org/next-steps.
Sincerely,
Dr. Villebrun