PAGE 5
Anoka-Hennepin Art Educators
awarded for excellence
It’s safe to say Anoka-Hennepin has a tradition of
excellence in art. The easiest demonstration of this
is the district’s three arts-focused schools — Lincoln
Elementary School for the Arts, Anoka Middle
School for the Arts (AMSA), and Anoka High School
(AHS) with its new STEAM (science, technology,
engineering, art, and mathematics) program.
Yet another demonstration of the district’s excel-
lence in art is its employees. In November, the Art
Educators of Minnesota (AEM) offered two Anoka-
Hennepin educators three of the state’s highest
recognitions for art educators. A third art leader was
also selected for the Minnesota Society of Health and
Physical Educators (SHAPE) Honor Award for Dance.
Rana Nestrud
AEM named AHS STEAM
program coordinator Rana
Nestrud Minnesota’s
Administrator of the Year,
as well as the group’s Art
Educator of the Year, the latter
of which is AEM’s highest
honor.
“Honestly, this whole experience has been surre-
al,” Nestrud said. “To be recognized by my peers is
a tremendous honor. I have been blessed to work
with incredible people.”
Nestrud is new to Anoka-Hennepin and AHS. She
began her first year as the AHS STEAM coordinator
this fall, and before that, she spent 30 years working
with Elk River schools, including demonstrating a
school-wide commitment in arts integration.
According to AEM, Nestrud has also written and
secured grants for education totaling more than
$750,000, and established the first public school art
exchange between Elk River High School and the
Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in
South Africa. Nestrud will be presented with nation-
al recognition at the National Art Education
Association conference in Boston, Mass.
Ann Phillippi
AMSA visual arts teacher
Ann Phillipi was named AEM
Middle School Art Educator of
the Year.
Art, for Phillipi, is a passion.
Beyond teaching, she has a
studio in her home, and she
said she finds herself in her
studio every night working on something. “Painting,
drawing, photography — I’m always up to some-
thing,” she said.
And that passion bleeds into the classroom, she
said. “My favorite part... we work really hard with
the kids all year long and develop these great skills,
and at our end-of-year art fest, the kids are so proud
of their work — they’re beaming,” she said. “That’s
the best feeling.”
Diane Aldis
Curriculum integrator at
Lincoln Elementary School for
the Arts Diane Aldis received
the Minnesota Society of
Health and Physical Educators
(SHAPE) Honor Award for
Dance, which recognized her
“outstanding services and
contributions in the promotion of dance,” according
to the organization.
For Aldis, her entire professional life has revolved
around the arts, especially in the sphere of dance.
For 15 years after college, she was a professional
dancer, traveling across Europe, first, then New York
and other American locals before landing in
Minneapolis to perform with a local dance company
some 20 years ago. Following her dance career, Aldis
served as the State Dance Education Coordinator for
the Perpich Center for the Arts for 17 years prior to
joining Anoka-Hennepin in 2015. n
Board organizes, selects leadership
for 2019
The Anoka-Hennepin School Board approved a
series of business matters, elected officer positions,
and received committee appointments at their first
meeting of 2019. The meeting was held Jan. 14 at
the Sandburg Educational Center in Anoka.
Board officer positions will remain unchanged for
2019. The School Board selected Tom Heidemann
to continue to serve as chair, Marci Anderson as
vice-chair, Bill Harvey to serve as Treasurer and
Jeff Simon to serve as Clerk. The meeting agenda
included routine organizational actions to prepare
for the year to come including designating financial
institutions, selecting the legal newspapers, setting
School Board member expenses and other routine
matters.
Chair Heidemann also made appointments for
committee assignments:
Tom Heidemann: Policy Review/Advisory
Committee, Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction
Committee (CAIC), Middle School Play-up
Committee, Student Achievement and Anti-
Bullying/Harassment Leadership Team, MSHSL
Representative for Anoka-Hennepin School District
and Anoka High School.
Marci Anderson: Policy Review/Advisory
Committee, Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction
Committee (CAIC), Middle School Play-up
Committee, MSHSL Representative for Blaine
High School.
Jeff Simon: Northwest Suburban Integration
District Board (NWSID), Curriculum, Assessment and
Instruction Committee (CAIC), Middle School Play-up
Committee, Student Achievement and Anti-
Bullying/Harassment Leadership Team, MSHSL
Representative for Coon Rapids High School.
Bill Harvey: Metro Educational Cooperative Service
Unit (Metro ECSU), Schools for Equity in Education
(SEE), Health and Wellness Committee, Anoka-
Hennepin Educational Foundation Board, MSHSL
Representative for Champlin Park High School.
Nicole Hayes: Northwest Suburban Integration
District Board (NWSID), Community Education
Committee, Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth,
Association of Metropolitan School Districts (AMSD),
Student Services Advisory Committee, Alternate to
Student Achievement and Anti-Bullying/Harassment
Leadership Team, Alternate to Curriculum,
Assessment and Instruction Committee (CAIC).
Anna Dirkswager: Student Achievement and
Anti-Bullying/Harassment Leadership Team, MSHSL
Representative for Andover High School.
Regular meetings of the Anoka-Hennepin School
Board are held at the Sandburg Education Center
and work sessions are conducted at the Educational
Services Center, both in Anoka.
Visit ahschools.us/SchoolBoard for contact
information, meeting schedules, recordings,
agenda materials and additional information. n
Superintendent column
cont. from page 1
The combined effort of this communica-
tion aims to ensure all that Anoka-Hennepin
is a school district that provides a quality
education in alignment with community
expectation.
All five of our traditional high schools are
currently under construction with projects to
address safety and security, and provide for
needed classroom space. Two new elemen-
tary schools are also under construction,
preparing for a fall 2019 opening. Community
support of the “Fit for the Future” referen-
dum provided the funding to make these
projects possible. These projects were based
on recommendations from a community task
force and then followed with multiple public
feedback sessions.
Without question, there is a place for
scientifically valid surveys to monitor key
indicators of performance. In fact, the
Anoka-Hennepin School Board conducts
surveys of community members and staff
alike each year. But there is also no ques-
tioning the value of traditional, face-to-face
discussions to provide additional context to
data points.
Learning what matters to all stakeholders
is a foundation to providing the type of
quality education expected. It’s an ongoing
effort that is never complete. We remain
motivated as a school system to improve
academic outcomes and mindful of our dis-
trict mission to “prepare students for life.”
Thank you for your ongoing support of
our students and schools and for your input,
ideas and energy to improve our schools. n
Closing school due to
extreme winter weather
Dropping winter temperatures and snow
or ice on the roadways bring heightened
interest in the possibility of closing school.
The safety of all students is the first priority
when determining if schools should stay open
in extreme winter weather. The decision to
close school is a serious one, and it affects
many working families who would have to
take a day off of work or find day care on
short notice.
The district will share information about
school closings in a variety of ways. In the list
below, the first five communication vehicles
are the quickest ways to be alerted:
• Phone, text or email message from
AHlert system (for Anoka-Hennepin
parents/guardians only).
• District and school websites.
• District and school social media pages
such as Facebook and Twitter.
• District e-newsletter, Backpack Online.
• Dial the district office at 763-506-1000
or any other Anoka-Hennepin phone
number to hear a recording.
• Media outlets including WCCO, KSTP,
Fox 9, Kare 11, CCX (also known as
Northwest Community TV), WCCO radio
and Star Tribune newspaper.
Those responsible for activities scheduled
in schools over the weekend determine
whether or not an activity will be held if weather
is a concern. Consult ahschools.us/weather for
more information. n