June 2, Hiring
The building is coming along right on time.  The roof is complete, windows are in and sheet rock strats today.  The parking lot is prepared to be paved.  Our enrollment is looking great for 6th and 7th grade for next year.  We are anticipating at being about 95% full this fall.
This week we start the hiring for special education, science, art, technology, PE, Spanish and more.  We are excited to add new staff and helping them become part of the STRIDE culture.

May 17, New Administrative Structure
Mr. Beutel, Executive Director, Mr. Beutel's role as Executive Director will focus more on district functions and he will spend more time on strengthing ties with state and community leaders.  He will also work on the development of the high school and future STRIDE growth.

Jason Ulbrich, Principal, Mr. U will work in more of a traditional principal role and oversee the instruction in grades K-8.  He will maintain district responsibilities such as QComp, transportation, food service, hiring, staff development, curriculum and testing.

May 11, STRIDE Academy Deans
We are proud to announce the new Deans of STRIDE Academy: 
Randy Vetsch will be our Dean of Operations and probably assigned to the elementary school.  Randy has been an elementary teacher for 10 years and a principal of a private elementary school in the northwest suburbs for the past eight years.  Randy's job will include behavior management at the assigned school and oversee the after school program, attendance, activities program, assisting with transportation and food service. Randy has a MA and Education Specialist in Education Administration.

Lowell Haagenson will be our Dean of Student Services and probably assigned to the middle school.  Lowell has been a special education teacher at STRIDE for the past year and was in a similar position with St. Cloud Public Schools for two years.  Lowell will oversee the behavior managment plan in his assigned school, lead the district special education department, attendance, Excel program, 504 program and Title I. Lowell has a MA and Education Specialist in Education Administration.



May 5
All teacher positions have been posted with a closing date of May 19th.  We are hoping to hire all the new teachers by June 1st in order to ensure we get the top teachers for STRIDE Academy.  Besides the core curricular teachers we will be adding Spanish, Technology, and Band.  The interviews for the Dean of Students for both schools are almost complete.  The four finalist include Mr. Luke Lutterman, Mrs. Cameo DeDominces, Mr. Lowell Haagenson and Mr. Randy Vetsch.  The four finalist will interview for a second time with Mr. Beutel and two board members for the final selection on May 7th.  The hiring committee hopes to recommend two candidates to the school board on May 11.   


April 19
The ground breaking ceremony was a hit.  We had parents and students from the past, present and future in attendance.  Free hamburgers and hot dogs were served to all. 
The building construction is going great!! The walls are all up and trusses will be put on this week.  The weather has been very cooperative.  We will be interviewing for the dean positions the first week of May and have numerous qualified candidates to interview.  We will post the teacher positions this week. 
BUSSING for 2010-2011
School Times: 
STRIDE Elementary:  8:25-2:48
Middle School:  8:30-2:55

Bussing for the Elementary and Middle School students will be similar to this year; however, middle school students will continue on to  the middle school after dropping elementary students off.  We will have a shuttle that picks up at the elementary school and drops students off at the middle school in the morning.  In the afternoon, the middle school students will be dropped off at the elementary. 

If you have students who are in both schools, you will be able to drop off and pick up all children at the elementary school.  They will then be transferred to the middle school.
Jason Ulbrich

April 7
The cement floor is being poured as we speak at the new middle school.  Construction is still on pace be be ready for the start of the school year on Aug. 10th.  The school board voted to hire to dean positions for the 2010-2011 school year.  The dean positions job description are available on the "careers" page of our website.  The school board will look to approve teaching positions for next year.  We will need to add the following:  1.0 math, .5 science, .5 social studies, 1.0 kindergarten, .75 Phy. Ed., .75 Spanish, .33 technology, .33 art, .5 band and 1,0 special education. 
Join us for the gorund breaking ceremony on April 10th. 
Jason Ulbrich

March 25
Construction is moving along!  The foundation has been backfilled and plumbing has been fitted.  The slab will be laid next. 
We drove to a school on Thursday and purchased over 150 used lockers for the middle school.  We purchased the lockers at about 90% less than brand new.  We will have the lockers electrostatically painted.  Mr. Beutel and I are currently working with the school board to staff the middle school while at the same time convserving our resources.  The school board will be meeting April 6th to discuss the administrative structure and then meet April 20th to hopefully finalize staff needs for 2010-2011. 

Jason Ulbrich


March 18
I drove out to the site today and was excited to see the progress of the middle school building located .25 miles east of the intersection County Rd 74 and 33 St. South (see map). 
The dirt work is almost complete, foundation is in, and two walls were blocked.  The staff have been working as hard as the construction workers on putting together the details for the school.

1. A preliminary schedule has been drafted.  The schedule includes five-55minute periods, a 30 minute lunch, 15 minute homebase in the morning and a band/choir block at the end of the day.  Course offerings will include math, language arts, science, social studies, Spanish, technology, PE, art, band and choir.
2.  All classroom furniture has been purchased.  We are currently negotiating prices on science laboratory equipment for the the science room.
3.  Mr. Beutel and I are currently working with the school board to hire new staff.  We plan on starting the hiring process at the end of April/start of May.
4.  The timeline for the construction of the building is tight; however, we have confidence that we will be ready for school in August.  The most important factor is weather.  We will develop alternate school calendars for the middle school in case the move-in date is moved back.  Time will be made up during intersessions.  More information about calenders will be available in a few weeks.

More Updates to come!  Jason Ulbrich