Welcome Back!

Welcome back to the 2026–2027 school year! Over the course of the summer, we have been hard at work preparing for the year ahead. We are incredibly excited to open our doors to our students and begin an incredible year of growth, learning, and opportunity.

The mission of Bemidji Area Schools is to empower all students to achieve their fullest potential by providing a high-quality education in a safe environment. We take this mission seriously as we reflect on the past year and prepare for the opportunities ahead. Our district's academic goal remains focused on student growth because we believe every student can and should continue to grow and succeed.

Thank you to our staff, families, and community for the important role each of you plays in making Bemidji Area Schools a special place to learn and grow. I look forward to all that we will accomplish together this year!

Academics and Graduation

As we review our student achievement data, it is clear that our students are making strong academic progress. This year, we aim to build upon that success and stretch student growth even further. The growth targets established by the School Board are ambitious, and we are confident in our ability to meet them.

Over the past several years, our schools have demonstrated significant academic improvement. We continue to be the highest-performing school district in the region, and our graduation rates reflect that success. Since 2022, our overall graduation rate has increased by 9.9%, while the graduation rate for our American Indian students has increased by 16.9%.

These accomplishments are a testament to the dedication of our teachers, support staff, administrators, students, and families. We are proud of the progress we have made and believe we are well-positioned to take the next steps toward even greater success.

Financial Picture

The past three years have presented significant financial challenges as we worked to restore long-term budget stability. Last year, in particular, required difficult decisions and focused efforts as we completed the final phase of bringing our budget back into balance.

I am pleased to report that the School Board has approved a balanced budget for this fiscal year after several years of deficit spending. While financial challenges remain and will require careful planning and stewardship, our district is in a much stronger position than it was just one year ago.

Establishing a strong financial foundation is essential to ensuring that Bemidji Area Schools can continue to provide exceptional opportunities for students and remain successful for years to come.

Looking Ahead

We are excited to begin this school year with a continued focus on student growth and achievement. We believe we can continue to advance student learning while maintaining the strong traditions that have defined Bemidji Area Schools for generations of students. Our commitment remains unchanged: to provide a high-quality education, foster strong connections with our families and community, create exceptional opportunities for students, and pursue innovation throughout our programs and systems. As we begin this school year, this is our promise to our students, families, staff, and community. Together, we look forward to a successful year ahead. Go Jacks!

-Jeremy Olson, Superintendent

Enroll your students at Bemidji Area Schools! For specific information on registration please click on this link: Registration Link.

Due to some changes in the school communications landscape combined with feedback from users, we are making a change to our communications provider. We are moving from School Messenger and Remind to a system known as "Parent Square". We believe that this new communication platform will be more reliable, streamline our communications, and provide a better end user experience for our parents and community members.

You will not need to sign up for anything/register/or download an app if you do not want to. Parents will get the emails, calls, and text messages automatically as long as their contact information is accurate in Skyward. If you choose to do so, you will be able to create an account which you can visit for a more "polished" view and history of all the messages (similar to Remind). You will also be able to download the app if you want notifications or to view it from your phone.

We will be bringing this new system online on August 24, 2026. We are attaching a video and a link to frequently asked questions. The video references a communication from Parent Square which will not be sent out until the week of August 24, 2026. We are planning on doing a test run later this month to ensure a smooth handoff from our old system to Parents Square. We are hoping that this change will help streamline and improve our communication with you.

Website: isd31.net

Bemidji Career Academies https://www.facebook.com/bemidjicareeracademies/

Bemidji High School https://www.facebook.com/bemidjilumberjacks/

Bemidji Middle School https://www.facebook.com/ISD31BemidjiMiddleSchool

Bemidji Area Schools Youtube Channel:

Weather Planning: We are requesting that families plan for eventualities that weather may bring such as a delay or E-learning day of school. Student safety is very important to our district and therefore we take our weather calling responsibilities very seriously. We are asking families to have a plan for the following: 2 hour late start, when a 2 hour late start transitions to a E-learning day based on changing conditions, and for a school cancellation.

Calling School the Night Before: If we can make a call the night before, we will do so when it is highly likely that the weather event will impact the morning commute.

Due to the nature of weather forecasting, we will generally call a 2 hour late start the night before unless the projected weather is such that safe travel will not be possible. We are careful with cancelling the night before as so often the weather projections may be off which can lead to unnecessary cancellations.

2 Hour Late Starts: We use 2 hour late starts as a yellow light in an attempt to still hold school on the indicated day. 2 hour late starts allow more time to get things plowed, assess the actual impact to travel conditions, or to delay in order to allow light and visibility conditions to improve.

E-learning day/School Cancellations: We use school cancellations/E-learning days when the actual or projected road conditions are considered no longer safe.

Storm Make Up Plan: We have 170 days of instruction on our calendar. State law requires that we hold 165 days of instruction and we always strive to give our students more than the minimum. Based on the feedback that we have received from stakeholders, we have made a change in our storm day/makeup day plan. There was a preference from stakeholders for a consistent calendar that does not change due to storm days and cancellations. For the 2026-2027 school year we will use E-learning days for the first five days and if necessary, add days to the end of the year if more than five closures were called. Over the last ten years, we have only had one year in which five cancellations have occurred due to storm days. Thank you for your feedback! I am hopeful that this will be a positive change for our stakeholders.

Safety around school buses is very important. School bus drivers are doing their best not to impede traffic, however, to safely pick up/drop off students there are areas where we must stop traffic at times. I want to remind you of the different types of flashing lights on a bus and what they mean for you as a driver.

Hazard lights: these are the typical yellow lights located below the windows and are near the headlights and tail lights. These are to catch your attention and are used when a bus is about to make the required stop for all railroad crossings or are used when a bus is pulled off the road to alert other drivers of its presence. You should use caution when moving past a bus with its hazard lights on, however, you are not required to stop.

Yellow flashing lights above the driver's window and above the rear exit door signal to you that a bus is about to make a student pick up / drop off. Be prepared to stop, students are near!

Red flashing lights above the drivers window and above the rear exit door signals to you that the bus is actively making a stop. You should also notice a stop arm with red flashing lights extended on the drivers side of the bus. This means that all traffic in both directions needs to come to a complete stop. A student is being picked up / dropped off. Failure to stop or driving around a stop arm is against the law and carries legal consequences. It is never okay to drive around a bus that has a stop arm extended. Bus drivers do not want to hold up traffic and will get you on your way as soon as the student is safely seated or dropped off.

Increase student visibility! Early morning pickups mean that your students may be picked up when it is still dark outside. An idea to keep students visible is to send your student with a flashlight. This does two things: 1) makes your students easier to see which improves safety and 2) makes finding your bus stop much easier for the driver. Thank you for your help as we work together to keep our kids safe!

District 31 participates in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs and Minnesota Free Meals Program. Breakfasts and lunches are served at all schools. Participation in these programs is voluntary. Meal prices for 2026-2027 are: Breakfast K - 12 Free, Lunch K – 12 Free. All second meal, second entree and ala carte purchases require available funds in the student meal account prior to purchase. A completed and approved Application for Educational Benefits provides additional benefits.

Questions or concerns regarding the food service programs can be directed to the food service office at 333-3100 ext. 31141 or 31142.

Applying for the program is important. Qualifying families receive reduced fees for school activities. In addition families may also receive additional benefits of waived activity, camp, test and application fees for many organizations. Schools receive funding for educational programs based directly on the number of students who qualify for free or reduced price meals. These funds are used to provide additional educational support and opportunities for students in every school.

Medical costs can be expensive, Bemidji Public Schools does provide families the opportunity to purchase student accident insurance on their student through Student Assurance Servies, Inc.

This supplemental policy would assist with your out-of-pocket medical expenses (i.e. deductible) should your student sustain an accidental injury while coverage is in effect. Also, if you do not have any insurance on your student, this would be primary for accidental injuries. There is a variety of coverage options and premiums are a one-time payment for the school year.

Please review the short video link below as well as the attached forms regarding student accident insurance.

Student Accident Insurance - YouTube

If you have any questions about this coverage, please contact Student Assurance Services directly at (800) 328-2739.

The Bemidji Middle School and Bemidji High School students who plan on participating in sports activities are required to register for their activity on-line and also have a sports physical. Sports physicals are good for three (3) years. Please plan on obtaining a physical well in advance due to the volume of students getting physicals.

Registration for participating in activities can be found on the Bemidji Schools website (https://www.isd31.net) and click on the Activity Registration icon on the right. Or you can visit the Bound website and register for our activities under the registration tab once you have a family account. Please create one (1) account per family.

We are required to provide annual access to legal notices. We are providing a link to our website that contains a complete list of all required notices. For more information follow this link: https://www.isd31.net/district/board-of-education

The Code of Conduct is the document that is used to determine consequences for student discipline at Bemidji Area Schools. Bemidji Area Schools maintains standards of conduct to ensure a safe and positive learning environment for our students and staff. We use this document to ensure that fair and consistent discipline is used across our district. Scan the QR Code for a copy of the Code of Conduct.