Springfield School Board goes virtual

The Springfield School Board of Education went virtual, using Google Meet to hold their April 8 regular school board meeting. All board members were present checking in from their homes and offices to the board meeting. 

During the Superintendent’s report, Keith Kottke spoke about the daily meal service.  

“It’s been well received,” said Superintendent Kottke. 

When they began the daily meal service, they started with about 425 meals per day. Is has grown to as many as 542 meals by April 7. 

Another topic of conversation during the Superintendent’s report was the 2020 graduation. Superintendent Kottke explained that High School Principal Mr. Moriarty has expressed some ideas for high school graduation which include hosting a graduation ceremony whenever the social distancing bans are lifted. Moving the ceremony to an open-air venue like Riverside Park or Sticker Field where they could spread out and use the space to adhere to the social distancing guidelines. Or a virtual graduation. Vendors connected to the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals are currently working with schools to host their graduation virtually. Board members had some questions and concerns with these ideas. Some of these concerns included if they move the graduation to later in the year. Some graduates may not be able to attend as they’re going into basic training.  

Another concern is if they hold graduation in an open-air venue, while there would be enough space for social distancing, it would be difficult to keep graduates from mingling with each other at an appropriate distance. 

“We want to do something for these kids and we want to do it right,” said Kottke adding, “(with the shutdown) it’s so speculative right now, it’s hard to have any forethought. We’re going to work on it.” 

See complete story in this week's issue of the Springfield Advance-Press.