Welcome to the inaugural e-newsletter of Waterville-Elysian-Morristown (WEM) School District #2143! Some of you may think this has been a long time coming, and others may worry this signals the end of the Buccaneer Connection sent to all postal patrons in the district. Never fear. The Buccaneer Connection is scheduled to be published and distributed twice per year. The most recent one was mailed in December 2020, and the next one should be in your mailboxes in June 2021 tentatively. Current and past issues of Buccaneer Connection are also available in pdf on WEM's website.

You are receiving this message because you are either a WEM staff member, student, or parent/guardian of a student, or you opted into the referendum-related emails from a few years ago, or you have recently requested to be added to this list. Please spread the word to others you think might like to be added by forwarding this email and/or directing them to the e-newsletter subscription sign-up page on WEM's website. Alternatively, If you do not wish to receive this newsletter, please click the "unsubscribe" button at the bottom of this message.

On Monday, February 22, 2021, the WEM school board met virtually for our regular monthly meeting. As per the agenda, we approved the meeting minutes from January 25, 2021, and the work session meeting minutes from February 11, 2021.

There were no visitor comments. This is always one of my favorite agenda items; however, we rarely get community feedback through this avenue. I would encourage all community members to utilize this venue to have your voice heard on school board matters. Unfortunately, we are not permitted to respond at the meeting, but we take into consideration every comment provided. If you have a comment that you want to be read during visitor comment time, please submit it before 5:00 p.m. on meeting day by sending an email to visitorcomments@wem.k12.mn.us.

We approved the February Finance Report and the February Donation Report from Business Manager, Margaret Jewison. We heard the Joint Principal Report from Bobbie Jo Bastian, PreK-6 Principal, and Dr. Jennifer Wilson, 7-12 Principal, as well as a report from Jeff Boran, Community Education & Activities Director.

The other highlight was from Jeff Boran and his shout-out to Alex Heuss. Alex was selected by the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) as a State ExCEL Award Winner! The ExCEL Award – Excellence in Community, Education, and Leadership – is a unique recognition program designed exclusively for Minnesota high school juniors who are active in school activities, leaders in their schools, and who demonstrate a strong commitment to community service. THIS IS A BIG DEAL! If these are the kids that are coming out of our community, then we (and Alex and her parents) are succeeding by raising future leaders in whatever they choose to do. If you get the chance, please congratulate Alex on her amazing achievement.

If you have any interest in filling the vacant board position, please contact Joel Whitehurst. If you want to get a feel for what it might be like to be a school board member, attend a meeting, or contact a board member. My personal message to those considering putting their name in the hat is do not do it because you have one issue you want to “fix” or address. Do it because you want what is best for the kids in our community, and you are able to commit the time and effort to work towards that overarching goal. If you have one issue of concern you would like addressed, contact a board member to bring it forward or address the board via visitor comments.

If you have strong feelings about how the board should address our financial considerations, essentially budget reductions, please contact a board member. We will be having a work session on this very topic on March 11. This meeting is open to the public. Please attend if you are interested. Meeting announcements can be found on the school calendar on the WEM website and on the WEM Facebook page under “events.”

We approved the agreement with Socrates Telecom Services for FY 2022 through 2026.

In personnel issues, we approved the resignation of Kortney McKenna, Paraprofessional. We approved the hiring of Matthew Van Houdt, Paraprofessional, and Maurice McCabe, Secondary Math Teacher. According to Dr. Wilson, Mr. McCabe is a Minnesota native who has years of experience teaching in Minnesota and Iowa. He is coming back to his roots in our area and is excited to join the mathematics department at the high school. Mr. McCabe can teach CollegeNow math courses as well. We are excited to have him join the WEM staff in the fall.

We also approved the 2019-2021 agreement with clerical employees with a salary and benefit increase of 3.50% in 2019-20 and 3.50% in 2021-21.

Gary Michael, Chairperson

Note: WEM School Board meetings can be viewed live via Zoom video conferencing, and the recordings for past meetings are available on the website. The agendas and accompanying documents are also available online. 

February 22-26, 2021 is Minnesota School Board Recognition Week sponsored by the Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA). At WEM, we truly appreciate our school board members. Our students benefit every day from their leadership and vision, and we recognize their commitment to giving our students the best education. Please take time to thank these dedicated leaders.

Meetings are held via video conference and are open to the public. Check the website to learn more about WEM's school board, including board members' positions, terms, and contact information, upcoming meeting dates, recordings of past meetings, and board policies. See the BoardBook website for meeting agendas and minutes, and links to other documents. 

Construction and remodeling projects are ongoing at our schools. Shown here is what will be the new locker rooms looking in from the hallway in Waterville. Several photos were shared in the Winter 2020 issue of Buccaneer Connection, which came out in December. Many more photos were recently shared on WEM's Facebook page. Be sure to follow us to keep up with all the latest news and information.

Stay up-to-date by following the WEM PIE Facebook page. Meetings are held virtually the fourth Monday of the month at 5:00, one hour before the school board meeting. If you would like to get involved with PIE, contact Patty Salmon at psalmon@wem.k12.mn.us. 

Applications are available on the website or by calling the district office at 507-362-4432.

You may have heard people who work in education have been prioritized to get the COVID-19 vaccine, along with childcare workers and people age 65 and up. We are pleased to say our staff at WEM have been offered many opportunities to sign up, and many have been vaccinated or have received at least their first dose so far. If you want to learn more about vaccination data for our state, go to mn.gov/covid19/vaccine. To be notified when you are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine and connect to vaccine opportunities in your area, go to mn.gov/vaccineconnector and complete the form.