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Superintendent outlines year-end progress on math curriculum, school-to-work and outreach
Summary
Superintendent Tim Hillman presented his end-of-year report covering five focus areas: K–5 math curriculum implementation (Bridges), development of a school-to-work program, a staff leadership development cohort, a district podcast, bond-planning successes and continued BIPOC-family engagement.
Superintendent Tim Hillman presented the Northfield Public School District’s end-of-year report on June 9, summarizing progress across five focus areas for the 2024–25 academic year: K–5 math curriculum implementation, development of a school-to-work pathway, a district leadership-development institute, a podcasts initiative, and outreach to BIPOC families, including Juneteenth events.
Hillman said the district prioritized full implementation of a new K–5 mathematics curriculum (Bridges) in partnership with instructional leaders and the consulting firm TNTP, supported by a grant from the Cerisee Waldburn Foundation. The district has invested “several $100,000” in instructional materials and manipulatives and is completing inventory and stewardship plans for materials that must be collected and redistributed between classrooms, Hillman said. Preliminary data from MCAs and FastBridge show “really great progress,” he reported.
On career pathways, Hillman said the district made foundational progress on a school-to-work program but fell short of launching a full course this year. Key next steps include confirming a licensed career-technical educator, gauging student interest, developing employer partnerships and formalizing feedback forms for work-site supervision and grading. Hillman said workforce development partners, the Chamber of Commerce and a high-school counseling team have met several times this year to help align employer reimbursement options and placement strategies.
The district ran a Leadership Development Institute this school year that graduated about 30 participants; Hillman said feedback from participants was favorable and that some graduates have since served on district work teams. The superintendent also reported on a district podcast, Doing Good Things for Kids (produced with KYMN radio), averaging 148 online listeners per episode, with radio estimates of broader on-air reach.
Hillman reviewed bond-referendum follow-up work — core planning teams, user groups and design partnerships — and said the district’s financial management outperformed the retainable interest projection tied to the bond sale. He also said the district will host a Juneteenth luncheon on June 19 featuring an assistant commissioner from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture; that event and other BIPOC-family engagement activities have been supported by grants and donations and are free to the public.
Board members asked for follow-up details: whether podcast files will be preserved on the district website (Hillman said staff will validate files and post them), whether a formal task force should be created to accelerate the school-to-work program (Hillman said an informal cross-sector group has already met and a formal task force would be a reasonable next step), and how to continue connections among Leadership Institute graduates (Hillman said the district will likely run another cohort and explore facilitator training and reunion activities).
What’s next: staff will continue math implementation monitoring, pursue licensing for a work-based-learning teacher, preserve or host podcast files on the district website, plan another leadership cohort and continue BIPOC-family engagement work into the next academic year.
