Friday, May 17, 2013
New study used quality of local schools in relation to the price of their local real estate to measure nation's "Best Places for Families to Live."
ZipRealty, a national leader in online residential real estate brokerage and technology provider, has released its inaugural ranking of the "Best Places for Families to Live: Top School Districts with Most Affordable Housing." The public school rankings were compiled by factoring each school district's School Score on ZipRealty.com with median price per square foot in that district. ZipRealty's proprietary School Score ratings measure the performance of each school district, including elementary, middle and high schools on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. ZipRealty calculates the School Score based on test-score data as well as student/teacher ratios, says Jamie Wilson, senior vice president of technology. Westonka …
Monday, May 6, 2013
Westonka School Board will make public the findings of an investigation into the Feb. 22 suspensions of several high school students.
District officials say the results of a recently-completed investigation into the February suspensions of several high school students for doing the "Harlem Shake" in the lunchroom will be released and discussed at tonight's school board meeting. The item is No. 6 on the agenda's list of board discussion items. The full agenda is attached to this post. The suspended students included several hockey players, and their suspensions came less than 24 hours before an opening round playoff game—which Westonka eventually went on to lose. Tonight's meeting may be moved to the high school auditorium if attendance warrants. Athletic Director Dion Koltes was first place on leave following the incident and later resigned in the face of intense public …
Friday, April 5, 2013
Several Mound Westonka High School students were suspended last month after performing the "Harlem Shake" during their lunch hour.
From Westonka Superintendent Kevin Borg: I want to continue our communication regarding the Board’s investigation into the events surrounding the high school lunchroom incident. As promised last week, the Westonka School Board has an update on the investigation process. Board Chair Dave Botts had this to say: The majority of the investigation into the February lunchroom incident has been completed, and the investigating attorney is in the process of assembling her report. Board Member Harrison, Vice Chair Bremer and myself will meet next week to review the preliminary investigation report and to decide if any additional areas require examination. Following this review, the ad hoc committee will draft a recommendation for the full Board. …
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Dion Koltes came under heavy fire from parents in the Westonka community following the suspension of several students for performing the "Harlem Shake" during a lunch hour.
Westonka's activities director has resigned. Dion Koltes' resignation took effect at the end of Monday, March 11, and he will receive more than $25,000 in salary he was scheduled to receive for the rest of the 2012-13 school year. Koltes came under heavy fire from parents in the Westonka community following the suspension of six students for performing the "Harlem Shake" during a lunch hour. The students included several hockey players, and their suspensions came less than 24 hours before an opening round game—which Westonka eventually went on to lose. Related posts: The seven-page resignation agreement made public Tuesday afternoon (attached to this post) includes a clause absolving both Koltes and the district from any wrongdoing. From …
Friday, March 8, 2013
Kevin Borg says outside investigation is underway into events surrounding the suspension of six students for doing the Harlem Shake during lunch.
As was discussed in last week’s Borg Report, the Westonka School Board has authorized an investigation of the events surrounding the Feb. 22 incident in the Mound Westonka High School lunchroom. The investigation is now underway and is being conducted by attorney Tessa Wagner. While some people have asked questions about details surrounding the incident, I am not in a position to comment, as the Board is overseeing the investigation. According to School Board Chair Dave Botts, “In order to give these events the thorough examination that is clearly warranted, it would be premature to set a completion date. This investigation is the top priority of the board and we will use these findings to determine what changes should be made.” Related …
Friday, March 1, 2013
Kevin Borg says Westonka School Board has authorized an outside investigation of the Feb. 22 events.
I want to update you on events related to the situation that took place Feb. 22 in the Mound Westonka High School lunchroom that resulted in several students being disciplined for disrupting the educational environment and compromising student safety. Whether or not you have a student at the high school, we are a small community—and as such, we all feel the impact of something so painful and so public. First, let me say how sorry I am for the pain this has caused on many levels—for our students, our staff and our community. We care deeply about all of our students, and this has been a heartbreaking week for all of us. Second, the School Board has authorized an outside investigation of the Feb. 22 events. According to School Board Chair …
Monday, February 25, 2013
Hockey players were among those suspended last week; police dismiss citations; parents flood school board meeting.
Mound Westonka's athletic director was put on administrative leave Monday night at a school board meeting attended by well over 100 people. Dion Koltes found himself at the center of a statewide news story last week after he suspended several Mound Westonka High School hockey players for performing the "Harlem Shake" during an afternoon lunch hour. Exactly how long Koltes will be on leave was unclear as of this post. District administrators said the behavior crossed the line of acceptable school time conduct and initially suspended the students for two days—as well as kept them out of a first-round playoff hockey game. Mound Westonaka lost 4-2 at the hands of Blake, a team many high school hockey fans thought Westonka had a chance to beat…
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Kevin Borg says passage of bond request by voters last year will allow district to make security improvements to our facilities
- SCHOOLS
-
Sunday, December 16, 2012
By Kevin Borg, Westonka Superintendent All of us in the Westonka School District are shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic events in Newton, Conn. As a parent, I cannot begin to imagine what these families are going through, and my deepest sympathies go out to all those affected. As we watch and read more about this horrific tragedy over the weekend, it brings to mind the crisis plan and security measures employed by our own school district. We have a comprehensive plan in place at each of our schools to handle emergency situations, and we continually work with local first responders to prepare for these types of crises. We practice our safety procedures with students and staff through discussions and emergency exercises. We are …
Friday, September 7, 2012
Kevin Borg says school district will begin our new strategic planning process this fall.
- OPINION
-
Friday, September 7, 2012
Welcome back Westonka! We are excited to have your students back in school with us. We are coming off a great year with many memorable highlights— With the start of another new school year, the Westonka community has many reasons to be proud of our students. This past year in November, our own town of Mound was voted the Best Place in Minnesota to Raise Your Kids by Business Week magazine. In April, Hilltop Primary School was nominated for the prestigious NCLB Blue Ribbon award. (Shirley Hills Primary is a 2008 Blue Ribbon award-winning school.) In May, Mound Westonka High School was recognized as one of the best high schools in the country by U.S. News & World Report. In fact we ranked 17th out of 786 high schools in the state and 668th …
Friday, April 6, 2012
Kevin Borg highlights a wide variety of achievements and honors garnered by Westonka School District so far this year.
- SCHOOLS
-
Friday, April 6, 2012
by Kevin Borg, Westonka Superintendent of Schools Westonka community, it’s that time of year when we take a moment to recognize all the successes and accomplishments of our students and staff—and what a year it’s been so far. Academics: In October, senior Vania Jeh was recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Program as a "Commended Student,” meaning she has scored in the top 5 percent of the 1.5 million students who took the PSAT as juniors last year. Seniors Margot Anderson and Parker Wharram were selected as Triple ‘A’ contenders for excelling in the classroom, on the athletic field and in the fine arts. Juniors Tyler Hebig and Katey Nelson were selected to represent Mound Westonka High School in the state ExCEL program which …
Privacy
1:57 pm on Wednesday, April 3, 2013
The problems are 1) Dancing on Tables and chairs endangers children from falling 2) Breaks lunchroom equipment (like in Eden Prairies Harlem Shake) and 3) The people who got permission to use the school video equipment were insufficiently supervised in doing so and invited non-informed schoolmates who 4) created chaos in the lunch-room where other students did non need the disruptions. In other … more ›