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The Chisago Lakes Wildcat Academy, the district’s online school, is expanding to offer middle school classes for next year.

Superintendent Brian Dietz said the response to the high school academy, which started for older grades this year, has been better than they expected and that they are all ready to go with the middle school curriculum and to hire a teacher.

Board chair Lori Berg said, “There are a number of students who are going to go  online somewhere, and it might as well be Chisago Lakes.”

Parents looking to register their children for the academy next year have until April 15 to enroll. If there are still seats available, students will have all the way up until August 15 to be enrolled. After that August window, students will have windows to enroll in the second, third and fourth term throughout the school year.

For more information and to enroll your student, visit wa.isd2144.org.

Dietz briefly acknowledged the failed referendum from earlier this month, saying it was tough but that they would go back to the drawing board. He was appreciative of everyone involved. He encouraged everyone, whether they voted for or against or didn’t vote, to continue the conversations and continue to ask questions. He urged the public to call the district with any questions they have and to keep working toward a goal that everyone can get behind. “It’s OK to have differences of opinions, but what makes us special is we can come together and have good reasonable dialogue because when it’s all said and done, we’re all on the same team here,” he said.

Community Education Directory Dan McGonigle was on hand to announce some rate increases for some of their programs.

Little Wildcat Preschool will raise fees between $6 and $15 per month depending on how many days a child attends, and the daily rate will increase from $41 per day to $43. McGonigle said the prices still compare equally or favorably to North Branch and Forest Lake. Kids Club rates will all raise $1 per day. Facility rentals will increase $5 across all of the hourly charges, as well as an increase in rescheduling fees and no show fees, with the former going up $5 and the latter going up $10.

Taylors Falls principal Jason Riebe was on hand to give his yearly update of the school and he presented a slideshow of some of the highlights from the year so far, including singalongs, morning greetings, holiday hunts, Veterans Day programs and many other positive experiences for the students.

The board was thankful for his time, with Jeff Lindeman saying, “I see the comments that people make, certainly in a bond season, and I think there is a huge disconnect between what people watch on national news and what they think education is and then once you get in the classroom, it’s a completely different thing. We can send people to the moon, what we need to do is send some people form our community to the school to come in and take a look at the learning there.”

The board accepted a number of donations, with the St. Croix Valley Foundation donating over $7,000 to various departments, CL Youth Football donating $6,000 and the Knights of Columbus donating $4,500. Other donations for scholarships include Estate Builders, Taylors Falls Lions, Pound the Rock, Lakes Area Electric, Lions Club, Girls Hockey Boosters, Almelund Lions and the CL Wrestling Foundation.

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