Winona Area Public SchoolsThe school year is underway at Winona Area Public Schools.
New Superintendent Dr. Annette K. Freiheit kicked off the school year with an all-staff celebration on Tuesday morning at Winona Middle School.
Freiheit, addressing the entire WAPS staff as a group for the first time, introduced herself by talking about her background, her family, her love for teaching and what led her to pursue the superintendency at WAPS.
“The opportunity to come to Winona was too exciting to pass up,” said Freiheit, who has two bachelor’s degrees and a masters from Winona State University. “It’s been a whirlwind two months getting to know everyone in the community. It has been a very warm welcome.”
Freiheit, who came to Winona from Pine City Public Schools, continued her tradition of reading a picture book — the selection Tuesday was “Happy Dreamer” by Peter H. Reynolds — to the staff.
“Think about the dreams of our students,” Freiheit said in closing. “And how you can help those kids develop those dreams and build those dreams throughout the year.”
Freiheit was introduced to the crowd by Winona Area Public Schools Board of Education chair Nancy Denzer.
Denzer, a lifelong educator before she ran for the school board in retirement, shared with the crowd the connections her children — both Winona Senior High School graduates — still have with their teachers.
Her son still has a note from one teacher. Her daughter remembers how she was inspired by another.
“From a parent’s perspective, you make a difference to someone,” said Denzer, who also included a plea for teachers to take care of themselves so they can take care of others. “This is the best profession in the world.
"We're going to have an amazing school year."
The keynote speaker was Bukata Hayes, the executive director of the Greater Mankato Diversity Council, whose presentation was titled “The Power of You in the Equity Conversation.”
Hayes explained how our past experiences shape the context in which we see the world and the people living in it in ways we don’t even realize.
“Continue to ask questions about why,” Hayes said. “Continue to gain perspectives that will help you move forward.”
Hayes sprinkled his presentation with audience exercises and his own equity challenges, such as understanding the LGBTQIA community when he grew up in a predominantly black Milwaukee neighborhood that never discussed those issues.
“I had to do a lot of internal work so I could be an ally, a partner in social justice movements with my LGBT friends,” Hayes said. “It took a lot of work. I was obstinate for a while. It was all coming from my past experience.
“If we’re working with students we have never worked with before, we have to get underneath that context about what we believe in order to best serve those students and those families.”
Hayes challenged the WAPS staff to do that internal work with the students and families in their classrooms — work he said is necessary before the district can realize “the collective success that we all work for.”
The morning celebration also included a Years of Service Recognition for employees who have served in the district for 20, 25, 30 or 35 years.
The rest of the day included meetings, breakout sessions and additional training for the staff. Hayes led a breakout session titled “Is Equity Observable in Your District,” while another session called “Mindfulness & Self-Care for Staff” was led by staff members Samantha Wagner and Toni McDevitt, as well as Trish Johnson, Mindfulness and Meditation Specialist at Manitou Center in Winona.
Staff will continue to go through training, development and meetings Wednesday and Thursday in preparation for the start of school on Tuesday. All elementary students (grades K-4), fifth-graders in the middle school and ninth-graders in the high school start school on Tuesday, Sept. 3. All others begin on Wednesday, Sept. 4.