By Adam Johnson

Special to the Dispatch

On behalf of everyone at New York Mills Schools, I want to wish everyone a Happy Easter.

Congratulations to all of our new Hall of Fame members: Howard Legried, Richard Ericksrud, the 1973 Girls Basketball team, Terry Weller, and Joel Kumpala. Thank you for what each of you have meant to New York Mills Schools.

Thank you to everyone who attended purse bingo in support of New York Mills Close-Up and everyone who attended the ham bingo in support of the Education Foundation. The support NYM schools have is amazing and I truly appreciate what the community does to support the school.

MCA and ACT testing are underway. While standardized testing is one way to see how students are doing academically, we used multiple other ways to see student progression. We use tools like Fastbridge, IXL, and day-to-day work to show the full picture of how students are doing. The staff works extremely hard everyday to help students continue to improve, as do students and families.
It truly takes everyone to help make our students the best they can be!

This spring has been a busy month for extra-curriculars at NY Mills Schools. In the elementary, NYWA state took place in Rochester. Congratulations to the entire team for qualifying for state and each wrestler that qualified individually. The team had a great showing and made NYM proud for how they did. Speech qualified 7 students for the MSHSL Section tournament taking place April 12th and we hope to see many continue on to the state tournament! The FFA state convention is also in a few weeks and 35 NYM students have qualified to participate in the state convention. New York Mills Schools also hosted the large choir contest for MSHSL on March 26th, bringing in many local schools to compete. Brienna Honer qualified for BPA Nationals coming up in March. Along with all of these, baseball, softball, and track & field are all under way, so it will be a busy spring!

For our seniors, prom and post-prom are scheduled for April 26th. This is always a great night for students thanks to all the volunteers and supporters. May 7th is our Scholarship Ceremony at 1:00 for our senior class award winners. On the 15th, the seniors will have their annual breakfast in the kindergarten classroom, followed by the Senior Class Photo. Senior’s last full day is the 21st, with a half day on the 22nd (which is mandatory graduation practice). The Class of 2025 Graduation will be at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 23 in the Sports Center. Congratulations to all the seniors on their accomplishments!

There are a few other big events coming up soon. Spring concerts are all scheduled, with K-4 taking place on May 1st, 7-12 band on May 12th, 5th and 6th grade on May 15th, and 7-12 choir on May 19th. Along with these, the annual elementary track and field is scheduled for May 14th, with grades 4-6 at 8:45 and then grades 1-3 at 12:30 at the football field. Kindergarten track and field day is on May 15th on the playground at 1:00.

We do have some open positions for the 2025-26 school year. If you are interested, please see all postings at this website: www.nymills.k12.mn.us/employment. The 25-26 school calendar has also been approved and is posted at www.nymills.k12.mn.us/calendar.

The last day of school is scheduled for May 28th with a half day. Summer recreation, summer meals, and summer child care are all coming up soon, so watch Facebook and mail for all the updates.

Have a great rest of the school year and enjoy the weather!