Wednesday’s regular meeting of the Austin Board of Education was a night of recognition for many.

Friday, December 17, 1999

Wednesday’s regular meeting of the Austin Board of Education was a night of recognition for many.

Unless a special meeting is called before the end of the year, four long-time school board members participated in their last meeting Wednesday.

Lewis Aase, six years, Brian McAlister, 12 years, Carolyn Bogott, 13 years, and John Ulland, 22 years, were among those honored.

"I don’t think people realize the work these people do for the Austin school district," board President Amy J. Baskin said. "We appreciate all you have done."

Baskin also observed: "They’ve served many years and served this district very, very well."

Dr. James A. Hess, superintendent of schools, also praised the service of the foursome, noting their combined public service amounts to 53 years.

The four board members were honored at a reception following Wednesday’s meeting in the Commons area at Ellis Middle School.

Ulland, Bogott, McAlister and Aase will be replaced on the school board, when Larry Andersen, Kathryn Green, Bruce Loveland and Bev Nordby take office in January.

The four long-time incumbents were ousted in the November school election that attracted 17 candidates.

Andersen, Green, Loveland and Nordby will take office at an organizational meeting scheduled for Jan. 3.

On Monday, they begin their formal orientation with a meeting with building principals.

Since winning the November election, the four board members-to-be have regularly attended board meetings and were present Wednesday to observe and join the public in congratulating Ulland, Bogott, McAlister and Aase.

But the recognition didn’t there.

Jean McDermott, Ellis Middle School principal, honored Riverland Community College for its computer maintenance and repair class.

In October, the college donated 12 high-end computers to the middle school that were constructed by students enrolled in the class.

Vicki Lunning accepted McDermott’s and the school board’s thanks. According to Lunning, students in the college’s computer networking program can earn either diplomas or an applied associate of science degree. The donated computers were built by students on a one-year, fast-track program working toward their Microsoft certification.

Since 1998, Riverland has donated 55 newly built computers to area schools at Grand Meadow, Albert Lea, Kiester and Austin. Eight more will be distributed in the 1999-2000 school year.

Also recognized Wednesday were Thanh Le, Robert Thatcher and Mayra Hernandez, who are English-as-a-second-language tutors at Ellis.

Deb Nelson, ESL instructor, said four years ago 50 students required the assistance and today, 230 are being helped.

Thatcher, a sixth-grader, helps Hispanic students and so does Hernandez. Le uses her language skills to help Vietnamese.

Lisa Tollefson-Larsona and Mark Marreel of the Austin Noon Lions Club introduced winners of the 1999 Peace Poster Contest to the school board. The winners were Melissa Hunstiger, a seventh-grader, first place, and honorable mention winners Clint Asprey and Dustin Heinker, also seventh-graders.

The Southgate Elementary School peer mediators and their advisers also were honored Wednesday.

According to Southgate Principal Mary Giese, the students have been instrumental in defusing playground conflicts that "could escalate into a fight."

Working with playground supervisors, the trained mediators play a critical role in resolving issues in a positive manner, according to Giese.

The students and their advisers included: John Amazi, Noelle Baker, Natalie Baudler, Stephanie Boyer, Laura David, Dominique DeWild, Rondell Dowdell, Vanessa Fisher, Spencer Gallaher, Natalie Glaser, Jodi Craven, Amy Hansen, Laura Hanson, Audrey Harber, Nicole Harmer, Kaitlan Heiny, Tyler Heiny, Ally Hicks, Megan Kaiser, Alan Kazic, Jenna Knudtson, Ethan Lange, Ashley McColloch, Brooke Monson, Marcus Olson, Calder Pfeifer, Cassie Rodriguez, Jennifer Schiesser, Kayla Sellers, Lyndsay Smith, Lance Sorenson, Ashley Stark, Cody Weatherly.

Advisers are Julie Beckmann, Jason Senne and Heather Wittstruck. Playground supervisors, who also took peer mediation training and helped with supervision of the program were Margaret Anderson, Sue Roiland and Amy Barth.