Latest news with #RochesterSchoolBoard
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Mayo High School team ties for fifth place in national current-events competition
May 7—ROCHESTER — A team of four students from Mayo High School recently tied for fifth place in a national competition focused on current events and world knowledge, called Academic WorldQuest. Three of the students — Evita Hansen, Hannah Tupper and Emma Lange — spoke about the experience during a Rochester School Board meeting on Tuesday, May 6. The fourth student on the team, Adelyn Crum, wasn't present. "If anything, I think we're just so proud of how we did," Hansen said. Mayo is the only high school in Rochester that hosts an Academic WorldQuest team. This is the third time a team from Mayo has advanced to the national level. The team secured its national standing after taking first-place at a state-level competition of Academic WorldQuest, hosted by the organization Global Minnesota. Although only the one team of four went to nationals, there were multiple other Mayo teams that competed at state. Two of the other teams from the school finished fourth and eighth in the state competition. A representative for The World Affairs Councils of America, which hosts the Academic WorldQuest, said there were a total of 33 teams competing at the national competition.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Rochester Public Schools expands school-age child care by more than 25%
Apr. 9—ROCHESTER — Rochester Public Schools has surpassed its goal of expanding its school-age child care program over the last year. The Rochester School Board heard a presentation about the effort on Tuesday, April 8. RPS Director of Community Education Amy Eich described the program as important to helping alleviate the child care shortage, and also as important to the local economy. "This is one thing we can do ... to alleviate that pressure on families," Eich said, referring to the child care shortage. "Certainly it's an economic engine as well, in terms of freeing up adults to work in the economy." The program provides child care at 16 different schools, both before and after school. Between September 2023 and September 2024, RPS added 481 new slots to the program, surpassing the goal of 325, which would have been a 25% increase. Now, it has an enrollment of around 1,900 students in its school year program, and 1,500 enrolled in its summer program. Eich told the school board that in addition to responding to the child care shortage, the expansion of the SACC program was meant to coincide with the implementation of new start times in the district. In January 2024, RPS held an information session that quickly became focused on the shortage of available spots in the SACC program. When describing the process of trying to enroll, one parent at the meeting likened it to the "Hunger Games." The program has been working on expanding its capacity since then. Last summer, the SACC program announced that it had been able to eliminate its waiting lists. One of the ways the district has expanded capacity is by relying on high school students, who receive both pay and school credit for their time. Nate Schriever, manager of youth enrichment for Rochester Community Education, said the program has more than 100 high school students working in the program. Like Eich, Board Chairwoman Cathy Nathan emphasized how important she thinks it is for the district to offer the program to the community. "We could choose not to offer SACC," Nathan said. "But we do because we know it improves our students' experience (and) our families' experience."
