Summer is flying by, and our facilities staff is as busy as ever!

Some summer activities are starting to wrap up as camps and fall activities are getting ready to take off! While it’s not unusual to find teachers in their rooms working on curriculum or starting to prepare for this fall at this time of year, workshop will officially start at the end of August. Our new teachers have a few days of workshop starting on Aug. 22 and the next week all of our staff are back for back-to-school workshop. All the sites are working on final de

tails of their fall open house plans and families can expect to see letters from the schools soon with more details about teacher assignments and fall start dates.

For anyone who follows Marshall Public Schools online, you have likely noticed some pretty significant changes to our online presence in recent weeks.

This past spring, we completed a community survey to help gather information about our failed operating referendum from last fall and how we can better connect with all our stakeholders. One thing we heard in the results from that survey was that we can do a better job of getting information out to everyone. We’ve taken what we heard and are working on implementing a new communications plan for the District.

One of the first things you’ll notice is our completely rebuilt website. We’ve focused that new site to be more streamlined with quick access to the information that is most relevant to our families and community. In addition to the new website, you can download the new Marshall Public Schools app to your phone. The app will provide quick access to our events calendars, lunch menus, live feed updates, and more. To load the app, search for Marshall Public Schools, MN in your app store.

Another change you’ll notice this fall is the merger of our multiple social media pages on each platform to one district-wide page on each platform along with a new Instagram page. More information will be posted on these sites soon, but please follow us:

Facebook: Marshall Public Schools

Twitter: @mpstigers

Instagram: marshallpublicschool

Finally, families can expect to see a new district-wide newsletter with information about all of our schools and upcoming events in an easy to access location. Feel free to contact us with any questions about our new communications plan at contact@marshall.k12.mn.us

In addition to working on a communications plan, our facilities staff have been very busy this summer. Some of our bigger project this summer have included a facelift to the Middle School gymnasium, with new paint, signage, backboards, and refinished floor. We also completed the LVT flooring upgrades at the middle school that we started last year and have completed a carpet replacement at the high school. It’s hard to believe that the “new high school” flooring needed replacement, but 18 years of heavy usage brought that project forward this summer and the updates will be great for many years to come.

We’re also completing some crackfill in parking lots, have updated the high school football practice field with new sod and dirt base, are repairing the tennis courts, and are completing the HVAC project at the middle school among other things.

To help us complete all these maintenance projects, we receive Long-Term Facilities Maintenance (LTFM) funding which the board uses to approve an annual 10-year outlook plan. This allows us to plan ahead for these projects that are important to keep our facilities in the best condition for our students and community, which was indicated as a high priority when we were working on the new Southview Elementary project and our board continues to focus on.

I’m hoping everyone is enjoying the beautiful summer we’ve had. I don’t want to rush this time of year but am also looking forward to seeing all of our students and staff back in a few weeks.

— Jeremy Williams is the superintendent at Marshall Public Schools District