Connect-Jan. 6

On Jan. 5, students at Osseo Middle School had a unique opportunity to learn about the fur trade during the time period of 1770 to 1840 from Bill Beckman, retired district teacher and fur trade expert.

Osseo Area Schools is committed to making data-driven decisions that reflect the priorities of our community members. This month, The Morris Leatherman Company, a national survey research firm, will begin conducting a random sample phone survey of our community.

If you receive a call, please participate! Your feedback on topics like the quality of education, school safety and our communication efforts is invaluable. Please also know if you do participate your responses will be kept confidential. Only summaries of the results are reported to the district.

Thank you in advance for helping to shape the future of Osseo Area Schools.

At December’s school board work session, student school board representatives shared their thoughts on 514 Policy: Students-Bullying and Hazing Prohibition. This was after they’d spent some time over the last couple of weeks reviewing and asking questions about it. The feedback opportunity is now expanding to include parents/caregivers. If you would like to provide feedback on 514 policy, please submit it to this online form.

Mark your calendars – the next Community Conversation is set to take place Tuesday, Feb. 3. Community Conversations are being held this school year to better understand from family and community members what’s going well and what needs improvement as well as ensuring all feel valued and heard. District leadership and school board members host the events.

In the meantime, it’d be great to hear from you on what you think about our schools via this Google form. Your responses will help us form the discussion topics for the Feb. 3 conversation. Additionally, please share your name if you’re planning to attend.

A summary of the results will be shared community-wide after this year’s final conversation in May. Thank you, in advance, for your partnership on this journey. Questions? Reach out to Kay Villella, Executive Director of Community Relations at villellak@district279.org.

Families with children turning 3 or 4 on or before Sept. 1, 2026 can apply this month for Osseo Area Schools’ preschool and prekindergarten programs for the 2026-27 school year. Some programs are currently accepting applications. Additional programs will open on Jan. 14.

Each program has its own registration timeline and lottery process for applications. Learn more about preschool registration dates.

Over the winter break, students in prekindergarten through fifth grade spent time at Rush Creek Elementary School for Kidstop’s non-school day school-age care. Students participated in a variety of winter activities, including winter bingo, a Frozen sing-along, art projects using hot chocolate and creating mini igloos, an indoor snowball fight, a costume party and science experiments.