By Mike Funk

The start of this school year has been the best since I arrived in the district in 2009.

As I write this column, our first quarter of the school year is already in the books. As many community members know, we started school early this year to better meet the needs of our students. Our quarters at the secondary level now align with breaks in the calendar, so our staff and students can enjoy their time off and decompress from school for a few days.

At Albert Lea High School, Homecoming week was the most spirited I have witnessed in Albert Lea, as we had a successful parade downtown, capped off by our first win in 32 games at the homecoming football game.

Connected Learning, our new 1-1 computer laptop program, is in full swing at Southwest Middle School, as our students and teachers harness that collaborative technology that Chromebooks have to offer.

Our new voluntary pre-K program is almost at full capacity, as we provide 100 4-year-old students education at Hawthorne and Halverson. We also provide transportation services to those students who need it. This is the largest voluntary pre-K program in the southern part of Minnesota. Great work to our team of Jenny Hanson and Lori Volz, who secured the $800,000 funding of this program for our community.

Our elementary schools had hugely successful fall walk-a-thons, where collectively they raised over $66,000 for the elementary parent-teacher organizations. The funds from these programs will be used to provide expanded opportunities for our elementary students in the district.

Thanks to all of our community members who donated to this healthy fundraising effort!

It is great to be part of a community where the needs of our students come first.

Always learning!

Mike Funk is the superintendent of Albert Lea Area Schools.