1. education
2. school

FEBRUARY 2015 | VOLUME 11 | ISSUE 2
9201 West Broadway, Suite 690
Brooklyn Park, MN 55445
763-450-1300
www.nws.k12.mn.us
Welcome, Melissa Jordan!
NWSISD’s New Executive
Director Melissa Jordan, joined
the NWSISD staff on January 5,
2015. Jordan comes with 21
years of experience in the Elk
River School District where she
served as a Special Education
Social Worker, Prevention
Specialist and Emergency Grant
Coordinator, District AVID
Director, and most recently as
the Coordinator of Integration.
Jordan earned her Social Work
degree from MN State
University-Moorehead, a
Masters degree in Social Work
from Augsburg, and Ed.S from
Capella University. She is a
licensed social worker and also
holds a K-12 principal license.
Melissa enjoys traveling,
spending time at her family’s
cabin with her husband and
three sons. Melissa stated she
“feels fortunate to have been
given the opportunity to work
with a committed group of
people at NWSISD.”
STEP UP MENTORSHIP CLASS OF
2015 -.A Real Life Conversation took place
between the seniors and their mentors - an
invigorating look at real life! Read more
on page 3.
Magnet School Lotteries Performed!
Northwest Suburban Integration
School District Magnet Lottery
The first round of the Northwest
Suburban magnet lottery was
performed the week of January 5,
2015. The following week, letters were
successfully mailed to all applicants.
Families should contact schools and
enrollment centers by February 13 of
their intentions to keep their assigned placement or to go back into the
waiting pool for the Tier 2 lottery. Blaine CEMS, Coon Rapids BioMed, and
Anoka MS for the Arts had earlier assignment dates due to class
registration which happened earlier than the NWSISD assignment
deadline.
!
The magnet lottery application will close on March 13 and will reopen on
March 23, 2015. Tier 2 lottery will take place the week of March 18.
Families will be notified of their Tier 2 lottery assignments the week of
March 23.
!
MAGNET LOTTERY PRIORITY APPLICATION PERIOD
Students that applied during the priority application period of October 21
through December 31, 2014 have the best chance of being assigned to the
magnet school of their choice if there are available seats during the Tier 2
lottery.
Sibling Priority: First priority was and will still be given to the applications
of siblings of students who are currently attending and will continue to
attend the same magnet school. In order to receive sibling priority status,
applications must have been received by December 31, 2014 and space
must be available.
THE AG LIFE AT RMS-CES - Rockford
Middle School offers an agriscience class
for all students in grades 5-8. Cows,
chickens, flowers, and buckthorn! Read
more on page 3.
GOOD NEWS FROM AROUND THE
NWSISD CONSORTIUM - page 4
Lessons Learned
A monthly blog from Ron
Hustvedt, Jr., Salk Middle
School Social Studies
Teacher and 2014 National
Magnet School Teacher of
the Year.
!
Behold the power of
magnet schools!
!
I am a student of a magnet
school. I am proud of that
fact but I didn't truly
appreciate the significance
of it until I became a magnet
school teacher. Oh, I knew
that I was part of something
special when I was in high
school, but only with the
passage of time have I been
able to see just how
influential my magnet school
experience was as a young
man. Working hard each day
to provide an even more
enriching experience for my
own students, has given me
ample opportunities to
reflect.
!
February is National Magnet
School Month and Magnet
Schools of America is
showcasing those powerful
and impactful stories at
www.nationalmagnetschool
month.org. Add your voice to
that story or just visit the
website and join in the
celebration of a rich
tradition of high quality
public school choice,
innovation and equity.
!
Read Ron's entire blog
here.
Step-Up Mentorship Class of 2015
A Real Life Conversation
“Understand what we are
saying, today is real life!”
!
And so it began! On a
snowy morning in
November, twelve young
men from the AnokaHennepin School District
gathered at North
Hennepin Community
College for Conversation
Circles. Conversation
Circles brought Step-Up students together with mentors from the education
community in free-flowing conversation to discuss career goals, post high
school education options, or anything else they wanted to talk about.
!
!
“Failures are what you learn from. You will always fail but how you bounce
back will be what determines who you are.”
The young men heard stories from seasoned mentors who had been around
the block and back. They listened to personal, raw accounts of being in jail, of
having to drop out of college, and of having to start over and over again. But
they also heard the successes. They heard the success of knocking down
barriers; of how to push forward; of how not to become complacent from their
successes.
!
!
“Education is a key to a door. Behind that door are unlimited opportunities!”
The mentors, secondary and high education professionals, talked about their
secrets to success. Going to school kept opening doors. The more they
continued on their path, albeit many detours and outside influences, the more
they could see the finish line. Two-year junior college led to four-year college,
which led to jobs, Graduate school, and master degrees. The many detours –
incarceration, flunking out of school, marriage, and family – only helped them
to become better disciplined, create work ethics, stay on the track of good
influences, and to succeed.
!
!
“Be selfish with your time, think about your goal; make sacrifices.”
As the morning wrapped up, the young men were encouraged to shout out a
“take-away” from the session. The list was filled with positive words:
hopefulness, obedience, ambition, determination, self-confidence, love,
respect, will, authentic, encouraged! And future plans? These Step-Up men
want to be educators, a barber, musician, macro-biologist, athletic trainer,
graphic designer, and psychologist.
This incredible group of young men is the first graduating class from the StepUp Mentorship Program. The program helps promote student achievement by
encouraging students to focus on four educational concepts: Aspirations,
Expectations, Opportunities, and Achievement. These students began the
four-year program with a weeklong Summer Summit the summer before their
9th grade year. Through their involvement with the Step-Up program,
participants received additional guidance and have been involved in
mentorship activities with young men from across the Northwest Suburban
Integration School District consortium.
Rockford Middle School - Center for Environmental
Studies adds Cows, Chickens and Buckthorn oh my!
Cows, chickens, flowers, and buckthorn are all part of new activities at Rockford Middle School-Center
for Environmental Studies (RMS-CES). RMS-CES has many opportunities for agriculture experiences in the
classroom, during exploratory, and in clubs outside of school
hours.
!
RMS-CES offers an agriscience class for all students in
grades 5-8. Keri Sidle teaches the middle school curriculum
and also runs the local FFA chapter. In her classroom,
students learn about United States and Minnesota
agriculture including gardening, animal science, energy and
agriculture, food science and safety, leadership, agriculture
history, careers in agriculture, and soil and water science.
Agriscience covers a wide range of interests and
opportunities for students. Sidle’s future plans for her
classroom include a school
and community garden,
high tunnel, and
greenhouse on the property
across the street from the
middle school building.
!
FFA provides an after school opportunity for RMS-CES middle school students to
experience different aspects of agriculture. FFA is the largest youth organization in
the world with over 600,000 members across the United States. It encompasses all
areas of agriculture, including non-traditional areas like forestry, aquaculture, turf
fields, golf courses, as well as traditional areas, such as plant and animal science.
The Rockford Middle School chapter is the first and only middle school chapter in
the state of Minnesota! Students have worked on career development events in
poultry, floriculture, dairy, and meats; they have the chance pursue interest and
career exploration in these fields. Their group was the only middle school to
compete, and they qualified for the State competition on poultry. The RMS-CES
chapter has grown to over 35 students in a short period of time, and some even
had the chance to attend the national FFA conference in Kentucky this fall.
!
In addition to classes and clubs, students at RMS-CES also experience agriculture connections in their Exploratory
classes, which meet on a weekly basis. McKenzie Gregory teaches 5th and 6th grade writing, and she is using her
experiences of growing up on a farm to help students understand the question “How does milk get from grass to
glass?” in her Exploratory class. Gregory has attended the Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom Project and uses
this experience in her lessons. In her room, students investigate the world of agriculture and dairy products,
including production, processing, distribution, and consumption. She has also invited local farmers to talk to
students about the dairy industry.
!
Keri Sidle also has an agriculture focus to her Exploratory class, working with
students in the area of food science. Her 6th grade class had the chance to
act as a product development team in the food industry, conducting taste
tests and exploring standards for taste with different vendors. Other
connections to agriculture in RMS-CES Exploratory classes include asking
“What good are trees?” as well as examining fishing practices and examining
how mining has shaped Minnesota.
!
Agriculture in the classroom covers many topics, from production, land use,
plants and gardens, legislature, and leadership. Students at RMS-CES have a
wide variety of authentic, hands-on agriculture experiences to choose from
as they make their way through the middle school years. Submitted by Beth Russell
Communication Teacher/STEM Curriculum Integration Coordinator RMS-CES
CEMS student is 2015 Donaldson Science Award Winner
Anna Bialke will be honored on Saturday, February 14 at the Science Fusion: Asian
Americans in Science at the Science Museum of Minnesota. A junior at Blaine High School
Center for Engineering, Math and Science (CEMS), Anna was a part of a team in 9th grade
that won “best in state” for an app they created for the Verizon App Challenge. She was
also part of a team that was a finalist in the Internet Science and Technology Fair
Competition. Anna is involved in the Marching Band and Honors Band at Blaine High
School. She is also a member of the University of Minnesota-Duluth Honors Band. She has
an interest in Aerospace, Computer Programming, and Astro Physics.
!
Science Fusion is where science, culture, and opportunity meet. A four-part series, Science Fusion brings
together scientific and educational professionals with students and adults of all ages. Science Fusion celebrates
African Americans in Science, Amantes de la Ciencia!, American Indians
in Science, and Asian Americans in Science. For additional information
visit www.smm.org.
History Day 2015 - “Leadership & Legacy in History”
If it’s February then that means History Day competitions will be taking place
across the state of Minnesota and across the Northwest Suburban Integration
School District - Making History Come Alive!
!
Over 150 seventh grade students at Rockford Middle School - Center for
Environmental Studies participated in their schools History Day competition on January 29. Students chose
topics ranging from the National Park Service to Branch Rickey; Gandhi to Title IX; Nadia Comăneci to Pearl Harbor.
Judging teams, comprised of one adult from the community and two students, typically high school students who
have participated in History Day, interview the students and review the projects. Students have been working on
their projects since last November conducting in-depth research using primary and secondary sources, reading a
variety of texts, analyzing and synthesizing their researched information and then writing and presenting their
historical content into one of five presentation categories: research paper, exhibit, documentary, performance, or
website. Student finalists will move on to the regional competition in St. Cloud, MN.
!
Salk Middle School will have nearly 600 students completing History Day projects. This includes all 7th and 8th
grade students as well as two dozen grade 6 students. Recently, students spent half a day at the University of
Minnesota Wilson Library conducting scholarly research. In addition, some students will interview local, national
and international experts on their topics while others will travel to county historical societies and colleges to
interview historians. Recently, a group of Salk students Skyped with one of the last living members of the
Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project was responsible for producing the Atomic Bomb. One of the most
poignant statements made to the students, as recalled by Ron Hustvedt, Salk Social Studies teacher, was, “If I had
known what we were doing, and if I was asked to work on it again, I’d say no.” History coming alive! Salk’s History
Day Contest will be February 23-26. Students will find out the beginning of March who will move onto the regional
competition.
!
Do you have news you’d like to share with the NWSISD Consortium? Send your good news about what your students are doing in class, what innovative
ideas you or your staff are creating in and out of the classroom to Krisanthy Sikkila at [email protected]
NWSISD Program and
Contact Information
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Melissa Jordan
Executive Director
763-450-1307
[email protected]
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Sue Anderson
Executive Assistant
763-450-1302
[email protected]
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Ayenna Davis
Multicultural Educational
Specialist
763-450-1331
[email protected]
Theresa Starkman
Education Services
Coordinator
763-450-1306
[email protected]
!
Candace Whittaker
Family/Community
Empowerment Specialist
763-450-1336
[email protected]
Krisanthy Sikkila
Communications/Magnet
Specialist
763-450-1303
[email protected]
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Linda Ryden
Administrative Assistant
763-450-1304
[email protected]
Northwest Suburban
Integration School District
9201 W. Broadway, #690
Brooklyn Park, MN 55445
!
www.nws.k12.mn.us
763-450-1300