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In November, Kourtney Jancze got a welcome surprise at a Veterans Day assembly at Afton-Lakeland Elementary School - her mother, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Krystal Jancze, appeared live from Iraq on a Skype video conference to greet her.

The timeline for making a purchase agreement on a building for a new Early Childhood Family Education center has been delayed somewhat.

Stillwater Area Public Schools held a meeting Wednesday to support its reasoning behind buying and renovating a building for a new Early Childhood Family Center.

Fifty-five Stillwater Area High School Theatre Department students in grades 10 through 12 are putting on 'Grease', the play that tells the story of Sandy Dumbrowski (played by Ali Hinchcliffe) and Danny Zuko (played by Joey Doyscher) in their senior-year romance where they sing, dance and act their way through their final high school year in 1959.

Thursday night, the District 834 School Board approved a budget forecast that puts hope in this year's legislative session.

State Sen. Kathy Saltzman has been busier than most at the start of this legislative session.

In a closed session Thursday night, the Stillwater Area School Board met to consider several properties for purchase for a new Early Childhood Family Center.

More than 30 dances, songs and other acts were put on by students at the 16th Annual Stonebridge Art Festival held Thursday afternoon. There were two shows - one featuring students from kindergarten to third grade, and another for students from fourth grade to sixth - each of which ran twice Thursday.

Last week, the state announced it would be delaying $423 million in payments to schools.

Rutherford Elementary students may soon be humming their favorite Mozart tune instead of the theme song from "SpongeBob Squarepants."

Rather than wait around for "Pomp and Circumstance," Brii Hirt said "Semper Fi."

Leaders with Stillwater Area Public Schools are hoping to get a boost in funding for innovation in education.

The Stillwater school board Thursday approved a contract with the teachers' union that gives teachers a total 6.08 percent increase in salary, step increases, lane changes and benefits over the next two school years.

The Historic Courthouse was once again home a jury, judge and attorneys Wednesday morning. While the cases heard seemed as complicated as those across town at the new courthouse, the folks presenting the cases were not professionals, but high school students.

Stillwater Area Public Schools will have a bit more money under the revised budget that board members examined Thursday, but officials are as worried as ever that state payment shifts that could turn into cuts might erode all the district's savings.

After months of planning from school board members and district officials, junior and senior high administrators at last have the go-ahead to develop their own technology plans.

Any kid knows that Santa has a long white beard and a belly that jiggles like a bowl full of jelly. But for Head Start children Tuesday, the spirit of Christmas looked a lot like a group of Stillwater Junior High students.

ST. PAUL - The head of the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools is asking the state Legislature to ban payments to charter school board members like those that allowed members of St. Croix Preparatory Academy's board to pocket as much as $100,000.

St. Croix Preparatory Academy has come under fire for payments it made to school board members and school employees - particularly the $100,000 it paid to board member Carroll Davis-Johnson for her duties as project manager. In response to the Gazette's questioning, Davis-Johnson sent a list of her duties during the year she was project manager, along with other volunteer roles she took on both before and she was project manager. Here, in her words, is what she said merited a $100,000 paycheck:

Forget about a one-size-fits-all approach to technology in the classroom like Oak-Land Junior High's 1:1 laptop program. Stillwater Area Public Schools plans on setting aside $300,000 a year total for its three secondary schools to target technology toward the needs of the individual schools.

While charter schools are busy defending $100,000 payments they made to board members, public school district board members are paying extra close attention to a $100,000 request from their superintendent for leadership development.

A Washington County judge has tossed a lawsuit against St. Croix Preparatory Academy over $104,000 in finder's fees for the site where the school built its $19 million campus.

CLIMB Theatre is bringing its acclaimed bullying-prevention programming to Lily Lake Elementary on Thursday, Dec. 17.

Negotiating teams from the St. Croix Valley Education Association and Stillwater Area Public Schools will be meeting Wednesday to try to reach agreement on a contract that has been under discussion since May, according to a letter the association sent to its members.

High Honor Roll:

Stillwater teacher battles cancer, finds unique business opportunity

Debate about leasing space for daycare in a proposed Early Childhood Family Center threatened to overshadow discussion on what that facility should look like during a Thursday school board workshop on the subject.

"Our group's recommendation is: The one-to-one laptop program is not going to be in place next fall."

Rotary Club members gave out about 100 new dictionaries to Lake Elmo Elementary's third graders Wednesday as they do every year. The students will use the dictionaries throughout the year and keep them when the year is over.

ST. PAUL - "I was 33 when I died," Natasha Fleischman said.

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