Minnesota students return to class for a new school year

Principal Salma Hussein began her first day at Gideon Pond Elementary School in Burnsville on Tuesday by greeting pupils and their parents — in English and Somali.

About 40% of the south metro school's student body is Somali, Hussein said, and she recalls how much it would have meant to her to see someone who shares her background leading one of her schools.

"I want, for these little ones, to have that much sooner," said Hussein, who spent the last few weeks visiting students at home and attending ice cream socials at Gideon Pond to familiarize herself with her new community.

She's one of at least 25 new elementary school principals starting their first year as a building leader, according to the Minnesota Elementary School Principals' Association. As more than 870,000 students returned to Minnesota classrooms Tuesday, educators across the state welcomed them for new adventures, establishing some new school traditions, and hoping for a year free of pandemic disruptions.

In Minneapolis, Interim Superintendent Rochelle Cox is looking to reset the district's relationship with the public after a tumultuous year. St. Cloud also has a new district leader in Superintendent Laurie Putnam.

At St. Paul's American Indian Magnet School, Thomas "Mr. D." Draskovic began his day as he has for the past seven years by walking the hallways with abalone shell in hand — burning sage and cedar to cleanse the building as well as those teachers and students who wished to pull smoke into themselves.

The right to smudge is now official policy in the state's second-largest district, and while too soon to be embraced by other schools, the practice is part of the culture at American Indian Magnet, where Draskovic is a Lakota-language and culture specialist.

On Tuesday, he received an assist from fourth-grader Gaochiacha Lo, who smudged near his classroom and was greeted with enthusiasm by Michele Fairbanks, an Ojibwe specialist. Lo stopped so Fairbanks could wave the smoke about her face.

"It is a quiet way to start your day," Fairbanks said. "A time to reset and refresh. Be mindful, and put your good intentions out into the world."

The Rochester school district is starting the school year with a new administrative structure. Officials reorganized top-level positions as part of a major update to the district's strategic plan and are still filling a few spots, according to Superintendent Kent Pekel.

Efe Agbamu, a former assistant superintendent at St. Paul Public Schools, was hired as Rochester's new chief academic officer. Several district principals were also elevated to new administrative positions.

The new structure is aimed at unifying general and special-education services, broadening diversity and equity goals to include more student and family input, and introducing more community outreach and partnerships.

"It's part of our effort to be sure that we really, really are helping Rochester become a learning community," Pekel said.

Sarah Fulton and her sixth-grader son, Henry, rode bikes to school for his first day at Ordean East Middle School in Duluth.

"The kids are excited to be back in class with no masks, and seeing their friends fully," she said. "I'm still a little apprehensive … but I am just trying to enjoy the 'today' of it."

Rachel Jackson is the new principal at Duluth's Myers-Wilkins Elementary School.

She's armed with lessons learned last year, when educators were caught off guard by the behavior of students returning to classrooms after more than a year of remote learning.

"Last year was hard for many reasons," Jackson said of her time as assistant principal at Duluth's Ordean East Middle School.

Kids had to relearn how to walk through hallways, interact in-person and sit through several periods of class a day.

"We didn't anticipate the level of social-emotional stuntedness," she said, and because of that, social-emotional learning is expected to be a critical piece to the start of the year for students in her classes and across the district.

Amanda Rodriguez, a third-grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in St. Cloud, said parents and students have shared concerns with her about reading, handwriting and even using scissors after school years in flux during the pandemic.

"It's hard seeing your kid frustrated," Rodriguez said. "This year, it's really just going back to the fundamentals."

In Minneapolis, students at Anishinabe Academy and Hall STEM Academy began streaming into the building just as the morning light reached the schools' front steps. Some kids ran and others skipped inside, accepting fist bumps from teachers and high fives from Cox, who spent her morning visiting a few Minneapolis schools to greet staff and students and even escort one timid seventh-grader to her first class at Andersen United Middle School.

"I feel like it's my first day too," said Cox, who has been in her role since July. "I didn't sleep at all last night."

Cox hugged the teachers and administrators she knew and introduced herself to those she didn't. Standing in the newly decorated room of one first-year teacher, Cox assured the new educator: "Don't worry; I'm new, too."

Brigid Butler, assistant principal at Anishinabe, said this year felt more hopeful than previous years that were interrupted by the pandemic and a teacher strike, she said.

"It really has a different feel," Butler told Cox. "The staff are excited, and the kids are just so excited."

Minneapolis sixth-graders Elanor Bialostosky and Leah Siskind both had a hard time falling asleep on Monday night as they anticipated what their first day at Andersen would be like.

"I'm just really excited for the school year to get going," Elanor said as she buckled her bike helmet before biking home. "It was a good day."

Hussein, the principal in Burnsville, looks forward to a year devoid of disruptions. Her goal for the next nine months is to foster a sense of community, the road map laid out in part on the whiteboard in her office.

Hussein wrote three items under the words "to do" before classes started Tuesday: "Get to know students. Visit classrooms. Celebrate stuff."

Hussein hit all three marks when she walked into a first-grade classroom and approached a student whose mother owns a clothing store in town.

"Did you know that I bought this from your mom?" Hussein asked as she offered him a high-five. The boy nodded his head vigorously and smiled.

Staff writers Jenny Berg, Jana Hollingsworth and Trey Mewes contributed to this report.