By Aaron Vehling

The North Branch School Board has chosen Karen Saltis of North Branch to fill a seat vacated by former chairperson Mary Jo Ahlgren, who moved out of the district early this summer.

At the boardís Thursday night meeting, chairperson Kim Salo announced the news.

ìWe interviewed three very qualified candidates who very passionate,î she said.

Board member Donna Setter agreed.

ìWe are very fortunate and are sure Karen will do a great job for us,î she said. ìWe had some great candidates.î

During her interview with the school board two weeks ago, Saltis said she would like to be on the board.

ìI can bring leadership skills and a knowledge of finances to the table,î she said. ìIím a team player and I like to work with groups.î
Saltis has been involved in Elementary Parent Advisory Committee in the district for the past two years and currently works for Ramsey County.

Also at the meeting, community relations coordinator Sara Thompson presented three new communications initiatives the district will implement this fall.

The first one is ParentLink, which is an outgoing message system. It can be used to call parents in the district to inform them of school closings, parent-teacher conferences and other meetings.

In addition to phone calls, the system can also e-mail and send text messages to cell phones.

Parents have control over how, when and where the system will reach them, so there will not be any unsolicited calls, Thompson said.
The second program, Skyward Family Access, will allow parents to track their childrenís attendance, lunch money balance and actual lunches purchased. It will also allow parents to see end-of-term grades.

The final program, RevTrak, allows parents to pay for food service via Visa or MasterCard. Parents may still pay by cash or check.
Thompson said more about these programs will be explained to parents at the various locations back to school open houses.

Also at the meeting:
ï The board approved a part-time technology coordinator position for the high school auditorium.
The $3,000 cost for the position will come out of usage fees. Superintendent Rodney Reisnouer said the position was necessary because of the complex nature of the facilityís technology.

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