School Board Recognition Month to be celebrated this month

ALEXANDRIA — Alexandria Public Schools is joining other public school districts from across the state to celebrate School Board Recognition Month. In doing so, it is recognizing and honoring local board members for their commitment to the Alexandria 206 School District and its students.

The Alexandria School Board members are Angie Krebs, chair; Dave Anderson, vice chair; Pam Carlson, clerk; Alan Zeithamer, treasurer; Maureen Eigen, director; Laura Knudsen, director; and Shawn Reilly, director.

School board members will be recognized at the Feb. 27 regular school board meeting.

“Strong schools help build strong communities,” said Alexandria Superintendent Rick Sansted. “School board members have to make difficult decisions every month — and spend many hours studying the education issues and topics in order to support our students, staff, schools and community.”

Sansted said the key work of boards is to fulfill the mission of the district by doing the following:

• Creating a vision for what the community wants the school district to be and for making student achievement the top priority.
• Establishing standards for what students will be expected to learn and be able to do.
• Ensuring progress is measured to be sure the district’s goals are achieved and students are learning at expected levels.
• Being accountable for their decisions and actions by continually tracking and reporting results.
• Creating a safe, orderly climate where students can learn and teachers can teach.
• Forming partnerships with others in the community to solve common problems.
• Focusing attention on the need for continuous improvement by questioning, refining and revising issues related to student achievement.

“Even though we’re making a special effort to show our appreciation this month, school board members’ work is a year-round commitment,” Sansted said.
The Minnesota School Boards Association set February as Minnesota School Board Recognition Month to build awareness and understanding of the vital function elected school board members play.