Connect-Aug. 18

August 18, 2026

On Aug. 17, school board members, district leaders and city council members gathered to celebrate the next step in the district's Building a Better Future projects – the opening of Aspen Ridge Elementary School. A short ribbon cutting event was held followed by a tour of the new school. "We’re so excited to see this project come to life here in Osseo Area Schools," said Supt. Dr. Kim Hiel. "Aspen Ridge will help a high growth area of our community. All our schools will be more balanced as a result – providing the needed learning services and resources to each and every one of our scholars so they can thrive."

Aspen Ridge is one of 66 Building a Better Future projects throughout the school district – of which would not have been possible without our community’s support in both 2022 and 2023. Updates will continue to be shared at OsseoSchools.org/BetterFuture.

Assistant superintendents

Osseo Area Schools extends a warm welcome to two new assistant superintendents, Jason Bodey and Amy Tollefson. Bodey and Tollefson join Dr. Bryan Bass and Dr. Stephen Flisk in supporting core district goals for high-quality educational experiences for every learner.

Lead principals

Osseo Area Schools welcomes four new lead principals for the 2026-27 school year, including Patrick Smith at Aspen Ridge Elementary School, Robert Ware at Brooklyn Middle STEAM School, Lindsey Patterson at Rush Creek Elementary School, and Kim Berling, who served as interim principal at Osseo Senior High School last year and now has officially been named the school's lead principal.

Please join us in offering a warm welcome to these educational leaders!

Back-to-school information for 2026-27 is now available! Check out osseoschools.org/backtoschool for important dates, information and forms needed to get the new school year off to a successful start.

Our school is dedicated to ensuring that every family has timely and meaningful access to information and services. With more than 125 languages spoken throughout the district, we’re committed to providing multilingual communication that promotes the inclusive participation of all families and community members.

If you’re a parent/caregiver of a student in a public school and your preferred language is not English, you have the following rights established by law:

• School districts must have a process for identifying your language needs.

• Schools must provide information in a language you understand.

• School districts must provide effective language assistance to you, such as by offering translated materials or a language interpreter.

• Schools must provide you with language assistance even if your child is proficient in English or you have some English proficiency.

• Schools must provide translation or interpretation from appropriate and competent individuals and may not rely on or ask students, siblings, friend or untrained school staff to translate or interpret for you.

• Language assistance must be free to you.

For more information on language services here at Osseo Area Schools, please visit OsseoSchools.org/LanguageServices.

All Minnesota K-12 students attending school in person will have a free breakfast and lunch available to them each academic school day due to the state of Minnesota's Free School Meals for Kids bill. However, it is still important for families to fill out the Educational Benefits application on EduTrakConnect to take advantage of several other benefits available to families who meet income requirements, including free or discounted costs for the following:

• Field trips
• Clubs, activities and athletics
• Band instruments
• ACT, SAT and AP fees
• Comcast internet for home
• Xcel Energy account assistance for electricity bills
  
  

Additionally, the state of Minnesota uses a school district's percentage of qualifying students from applications completed and approved prior to Oct. 1 each year to calculate each district's funding level. School district funding impacts class sizes, number of support staff the district can hire to help scholars and extra programming opportunities.

Getting involved in an advisory committee is a great way to encourage families to get involved and make a different in Osseo Area Schools. There are a variety of groups that help influence the direction of district instructional programs, enrollment/capacity, emergency management and financial matters.

Learn more about advisory groups.

• Aug. 18: School board work session and public hearing on consideration and approval of property tax abatement
• Aug. 24-Sept. 2: Open house and orientation events
• Aug. 25: School board regular business meeting
• Aug. 24-27: New licensed staff workshop
• Aug. 31-Sept. 3: Licensed staff workshop
• Sept. 7: District closed, holiday
• Sept. 8: First day of school