Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Recognitions Msba topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Stillwater board recognizes family engagement specialists; MSBA presents legislator-of-distinction honor to Senator Judy Seeberger
Summary
The board honored seven Family Engagement Specialists for their work supporting students and families, and representatives of the Minnesota School Boards Association presented Senator Judy Seeberger with a 2025 Legislator of Distinction award for her work on ESST (Earned Safe and Sick Time) bill fixes.
The Stillwater Area Public Schools Board held two recognitions at the start of its meeting.
District recognition of family engagement staff Jacqueline (family- and community-engagement presenter) introduced seven Family Engagement Specialists and described the team’s growth from four to seven. A newly hired specialist, Taylor Zarfos, introduced themself to the board and said: “I am the first Native American, student engagement specialist here… just thrilled to work with Stillwater here and just glad to be part of the team.” Other specialists and staff named included Yordanos, Marianne, Sandy Cortez and Neli (not present). Superintendent Funk praised the team and said the district “wished we had like 3 or 4 times that amount of you.” Board members thanked the specialists and asked about school assignments; staff clarified specialists work across buildings and cover elementary and secondary schools as needed.
MSBA award to state senator Representatives from the Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA) — Kim Lewis and Denise Dietrich — presented the MSBA’s 2025 Legislator of Distinction award to Senator Judy Seeberger for her work on Senate File 2300 addressing implementation challenges with Minnesota’s Earned Safe and Sick Time (ESST) statute. Lewis described meetings MSBA staff had with the senator and said her changes to the bill created “practical common sense fixes, allowing districts to prorate ESST for part time and mid year hires, adjusting documentation requirements...and clarifying reporting and tracking rules.” Senator Seeberger accepted the award and acknowledged the political pushback on parts of the bill but said she was “really proud to accept this award, because we worked hard together to get this done, and and we did make some progress.” The board and superintendent took a group photo with the honoree and MSBA staff.
Ending The board thanked staff and MSBA for the recognitions and took photographs with the honorees.
