The Byron Buzz

As a staff, we know that our kids and families come to school with their own stories and at times, these stories can be a struggle. We train ourselves in Trauma Informed Instruction and constantly remind each other that it can be difficult for students to learn if they are dealing with trauma in or out of school. We are fortunate that our schools work closely with mental health professionals from Family Services in Rochester for even more added support. But most of all, we have many great and caring people within our district who are here to help students, staff and families. Our counselors, behavioral specialists, and social workers are highly qualified people whose main concern is the support of mental health and helping students work through many the things that life throws at them. As I have stated in past communications, please do not hesitate to reach out to them if you see your child struggling or if your family is going through some changes that might present itself in more struggles at school. We are here to support you. Thank you to the following professionals who take care of our students, staff and families every day:

Primary School:

Jennifer Fitch-Mitchell: Counselor

Intermediate School:

Senja Smith: Counselor

Middle School:

Pat McCarthy: Counselor

Carly Sylvester: Counselor

High School:

Danielle Joyal

Becky Martin

Andrew Petersilie

Districtwide:

Christina Jostock: Social Worker

Alana Milde: Behavioral Specialist

Sandi Stadler: School Psychologist

It's Great To Be A Byron Bear!

Dr. Mike Neubeck

Email: mike.neubeck@byron.k12.mn.us
Website: https://www.bears.byron.k12.mn.us/
Location: 630 1st Ave NW, Byron, MN, USA
Phone: 507-775-2383
Facebook: facebook.com/byronbears
Twitter: @neubecksupt

The strongest wind gust ever recorded was in Australia and it measured at 253 mph. (Some days, the wind in Byron feels like it could compete with that record.)

Last week, our district was impacted by the "swatting hoax" that forced Rochester Lourdes School and many other schools in the State to be evacuated. I want to thank the staff, students, and law enforcement personnel for dealing with this situation in a calm, controlled and safe manner. Whenever events like this happen, it shows the strong areas of a plan and areas that need to be evaluated further. Our leadership team discussed the need to streamline communication because we have to be able to reach out to so many people in a very short time.

I want to take this time to remind ALL parents that if we go into any type of lockdown, we will not let parents come to our buildings and pick up their children. This may cause frustration for parents but, in order to keep all kids and staff safe, we cannot let anyone in, thus the reason for the lockdown. Also, if we had to be in a full lockdown as Lourdes did, the police would be clearing the building and you would be instructed on where to pick up your child. The site would be a designated location off school property; so coming to the school to pick up your child is not an option.

I know these situations are scary to imagine, and I hope that we never have to deal with it. However, we continue to learn new things and practice procedures that will keep our students and staff safe in these types of situations. Please know that the safety of our students and staff is a priority that we take seriously.

Six school board vacancies will be on the ballot during this November's election. Because of three resignations since November 2020, three 2-year term vacancies are available along with three 4-year term vacancies. Seven people have filed for the 2-year term vacancies and four people have filed for the 4-year term vacancies. The Byron PTO will be hosting a "Meet The Candidates" night on Thursday, October 6th from 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM at Byron Middle School. The evening will be a "Meet and Greet" format.

The Byron Education Association will be hosting a "School Board Candidate Forum". Candidates will be issued questions in advance and will be asked to be on stage to answer those questions. The evening will be held at Byron High School on Thursday, October 13th from 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM. Don't forget to vote on Tuesday, November 8.

2-year Term

David Deyle: deyle001@umn.edu

Heather Holmes: hholmes13@yahoo.com

Lisa Jessen: lenandlisajessen@yahoo.com

Kevin McClure: kmcclure711@gmail.com

Carolyn Privet-Chesterman: cprivet@gmail.com

Duane Quam III: duane.quam@gmail.com

Thomas Schink: tpschink@gmail.com

4-year Term

Jeremy Aagard: jeremy@rochesterhonkers.com

Carrie Delaney: carrie.delaney@hotmail.com

Luis Lujan: lujanjl@gmail.com

David Wernimont: isucyclone4ever@yahoo.com

Usually, the school board has a work session the first Monday of the month. The work session for this month has been cancelled. The school board will have its regular meeting on Monday, October 17th at 6:00 PM at the Byron Community Education Center (formerly DACS).

New Class Just Added

Class Planning Workshop - October 18

Registration is closing next week for these classes!

Paying for College without GoingBroke: College Webinars

YEL Fencing for Grades 2-12

Upcoming Early Childhood Family Education Sessions

Grandparents and Me

The Teddy Bear Club

Baby and Me Playtime

Movin' and Groovin'

Bikes and Trikes

Infant Massage

Transportation Fair

Click here to view ECFE sessions

Featured Class

BeginnerCookie Decorating Class: Fall Fun - October 17

Fall is the perfect time to celebrate spooky moments with creatively decorated cookies. These cookies are easy to create, taste amazing, and best of all people will be amazed at how beautiful they look!

Beginning this fall, you are able to skip the ticket lines and purchase your tickets for any varsity activity/athletic competition online. We encourage people to use this online ticketing so we can serve you faster and more efficiently. Before attending a game, go to this link: https://www.bears.byron.k12.mn.us/Page/806 where you can pay for the tickets and download them to your phone. Skip the lines and get a better seat for the big game.

Monday, October 3 - Girls' Soccer vs. Albert Lea - 7:00 PM (Home)

Monday, October 3 - Volleyball at Owatonna - 7:15 PM (Away)

Tuesday, October 4 - Girls' Cross-Country at Kingsland - 4:00 (Away)

Tuesday, October 4 - Boys' Cross-Country at Chatfield - 4:00 (Away)

Tuesday, October 4 - Raiders Adaptive Soccer Game - 5:30 (Dakota MS)

Tuesday, October 4 - Girls' Soccer at Rochester Lourdes - 5:00 (Away)

Tuesday, October 4 - Boys' Soccer at Rochester Lourdes - 7:00 (Away)

Tuesday, October 4 - Volleyball at Pine Island - 7:15 (Away)

Friday, October 7 - Volleyball Tournament at St. Michael-Albertville

Friday, October 7 - Girls' Soccer vs Red Wing - 5:00 (Home)

Saturday, October 8 - Volleyball Tournament at St. Michael-Albertville

Saturday, October 8 - Girls' Soccer at South St. Paul - 11:00 (Away)

Saturday, October 8 - Football vs. Red Wing - 12:00 (Home)

Did you know that the Byron PTO donates over $30,000 a year to the school for field trips and supplies for teachers. The PTO is an integral part of the success of our schools and we work closely together to help find ways to support our teachers. Please check out the Byron PTO Webpage (https://www.bears.byron.k12.mn.us/domain/63) for ways to contribute either by your own time or money. Did you know that the clothing sold at Fareway Grocery Store goes to the Byron PTO and that you can set up Amazon Smile to donate a percentage of your purchases to the PTO?

The Profile of a Graduate is the model we use to live out the District's Strategic Plan on a daily basis. It has been 5 year since we first implemented the Profile of a Graduate and we continue to find ways to teach the six Cs: Creativity, Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Citizenship, and Character.

Learn more about our Profile of a Graduate!

The construction plans continues to move forward and it will be great to watch our facilities transform over the next 18 months. It is exciting to see the progress and to think about what great facilities we will soon have for our students and our community. Please check out our webcam at https://app.oxblue.com/open/knutson/byronhsathletics and watch the time lapse pictures. We are so appreciative of the community's support.

• Construction Website

The Byron School District Office is moving to 801 W. Frontage Road (formerly the Zumbro Education District office building) later this week. The DACS building which presently houses the district office and the preschool will continue to have the preschool but it will also have other spaces for community use. The name of DACS is being changed to the Byron Community Education Center and it will be listed in all of our publications as such.