Holgate principal reviews staffing, testing schedule, student programs and safety upgrades

Holgate Middle School Principal Bobek gave the Aberdeen School District 06-1 Board an annual update Feb. 24 covering staffing, student achievement work, spring state testing dates, safety preparations and recent school events.

The report listed five new staff members for the school year, including assistant principal Kent Hanson and new ESL and resource educational assistants, and highlighted two Golden Apple winners on Holgate’s staff, Carolyn Geier (seventh-grade language arts) and Dina Sievers (eighth-grade math). Bobek said the district’s comprehensive needs assessment (CNA) continues to drive the school improvement plan, with teams reviewing curriculum and instruction, leadership, family culture and talent development.

Bobek told the board Holgate’s spring state assessment schedule places language arts testing March 31–April 4, math April 7–12 and science on two days in April with makeups afterward. He said teachers administer tests in their classrooms and handle makeups to keep testing in familiar settings for students.

The principal described student-recognition programs — monthly “student of the month” awards, the Golden Eagle Awards (a seventh-grade speaking and presentation event that involved about 80 students this year) and a homeroom attendance challenge across 32 homerooms — and noted electives expansion, including a split weightlifting / lifetime activities class offered on alternating days.

Bobek outlined social-emotional learning delivered in 22-minute homeroom blocks each Wednesday using scripted lessons on teamwork, responsibility and social awareness. He also described the school’s kindness initiative (the “Golden Eagle Feather” project), which he said produces roughly 1,400 paper “feathers” recognizing acts of kindness that are displayed on students’ lockers and entered into regular drawings.

On safety, Bobek said staff completed an administrative safety audit that identified the location of emergency shutoffs, AEDs and stop-the-bleed kits and improved familiarity with building locks and protocols. The school runs two safety drills per year (one alert-style and one lockdown) plus four fire drills and a tornado drill in April; Officer Olson assists with drills, Bobek said. He also described a new digital hall-pass system teachers use to control hallway traffic and view who is out of class.

School–community items included expanded collaboration with Northern State University placements (more than 20 university student teachers and field placements this year), a PTA family bingo night scheduled for March 27 paired with an internet/social-media-awareness presentation, and a one-time December “Holgate Holidays” hallway-decorating event that drew several hundred visitors, according to Bobek.

Bobek closed by noting two retirements this year (Carolyn Geier and educational assistant Anne Locker) and thanked the board for School Board Recognition Week.

Board members asked clarifying questions during the meeting about registration timing, parent portal accounts and use of digital signage; Bobek said eighth-grade registration for high school had taken place in November and that fifth-graders would visit Holgate April 30 as part of next year’s transition activities.