Teachers are back!

What a great day this has been.  We start the morning with breakfast served by the local chamber of commerce and heard from Mayor Deb Larson, Industrial Development Director Tammy Robinson, and school board member Jay Matthews.  The teachers are eager for the year to start and we had a good kick-off.

We have 8 new teachers this year and they are eager to start.  Tiffany Bredman will be our 3 year old preschool teacher; Melissa Sinnwell will be teaching 6th grade science and social studies; Amanda Ries will be teaching preschool; Kimberly Wedeking will be teaching 4th grade; Maggie Konecne will be teaching high school English; Tami Tomkins will be the district's teacher-librarian; Lorraine Dunagan will be teaching elementary/middle school art; and Caleb Ciavarelli will be teaching high school P.E.  If you see them around the community, please be sure to welcome them to New Hampton.

New Teachers:  Ms. Bredman, Ms. Sinnwell, Ms. Ries, Ms. Wedeking, Ms. Konecne, Ms. Tomkins, Ms. Dunagan, and Mr. Ciavarelli.  

Introducing our new staff members this morning

The staff also heard from local business leader Mr. Kurt Croell.  He shared his thoughts on the many opportunities that exist for our students that don't require a four year college degree or going deeply in debt to get the skills they need.  He shared his experiences with his own business in hiring people with college degrees for jobs that require no degree, because they cannot find a job in the field they trained for.  It was good to hear the perspective from someone in the business community.  

Mr. Kurt Croell sharing some perspectives with staff members

Finally, the teachers are getting their rooms ready for next Wednesday.  A quick reminder that the back to school open house and barbecue will take place on Monday night from 4 to 6.  Even if you don't have any students in school, please feel free to stop down to the middle school playground and have a hotdog and enjoy the back to school atmosphere!