Willow River Elementary recently installed a Tower Garden in Ms. Weiland’s 4th grade classroom. A Tower Garden is a vertical, aeroponic growing system that will grow up to 28 vegetables, herbs, fruits and flowers in less than three square feet. The Tower Garden will provide students with a daily opportunity to observe, collect data and journal the growing process as they learn to maintain their classroom garden. The students will also gain an understanding of the role technology and engineering innovation plays in modern food production. With 3-4 annual harvests, students will be provided the opportunity to touch, smell and eat what they have grown and experience the pride that comes with tending to their own crop.
Kindergarten students in Ms. Wahlberg’s class take a brain break in the atrium. They are exploring the sensory path. The path helps children develop motor skills, balance, hand-eye coordination, and spatial awareness.
It’s that time of the year to get signed up for Destination Imagination!
We are hosting a DI Maker Day so you can find out what DI is all about. on
Drop in any time, stay for the fun. We will provide:
- A room full of crazy, creative things for you to create with!
- All the information you need to join a DI team or start your own team (between 2 and 7 kids, any grade, K through 12)
- Copies of the New Challenges!
Questions? Contact: Liz Malanaphy at malanaea@hudsonraiders.org or Anita Stilwell at stilwea@hudsonraiders.org
Students is Ms. Everson’s Physical Education classes started the year with parachute games.
Students in Mr. Dyer’s art classes are working on self-portraits this week.
Monday’s Annual Meeting of the Board of Education opened with Dr. Ouellette presenting highlights of the District’s achievements and the Board’s focus areas. Click here to view Dr. Ouellette’s presentation.
Presentations were also provided by Board Treasurer Heather Logelin and Tim Erickson, Chief Financial and Operations Officer. Together, they covered the 2019-2020 proposed budget and levy, budget challenges and assumptions, and the impact on property taxes.
Budget Challenges:
- Address reduced state funding levels.
- Address instructional needs for all learners including: staff professional development, curriculum adoption, resource materials, and services to meet student needs.
- Maintain student to teacher ratios within class size guidelines.
- Sustainable funding for long-term maintenance and capital improvement plan for all facilities.
Budget Assumptions:
- State equalization aid is projected to be $836,000 less or 3.8% lower than last year and per pupil categorical aid has been increased by $88 per student under the first year of the biennial state budget or a $496,000 increase over last year.
- The estimated mill rate of $10.35 is down 1.54% from last year’s $10.51. Overall property valuation is estimated to increase 10.09% compared to 3.7% last year. The state average is 6.0%
- Total under levy stands at approximately $3,300,000, which is direct tax relief for property owners in the Hudson School District.
- Salaries and benefits are budgeted to increase $1,830,000 or 4.0% over last and include new staffing, staffing reductions, Teacher Salary Structure, Support Staff Compensation System, Hudson Lead Salary Structure, and Board approved increase of 2.5%
Below is the Annual Meeting Booklet
On the first day of school our Willow River 3rd graders studied geodes.
