— Updates on Adult Basic Education, Community Education for Adults, transportation and more were provided at the Alexandria School Board at the Monday, July 21, regular meeting.
Julie Fietek, coordinator and instructor for Adult Basic Education in the Alexandria area, briefed school board members on what ABE is, the services it provides, some of the statistics and more.
Two women also shared their testimonials of how being an ABE learner helped them. Both were grateful for the program and said everyone they worked with were kind and very helpful.
One of them shared that after ABE helped her get her high school diploma, she was able to continue her education and is now a daycare preschool teacher.
“It’s been about a year now working with passion, teaching the children to learn and grow,” she said, adding that the ABE program and staff gave her a chance to continue and gain more knowledge, as well as helped her to become more confident in herself. “I appreciate the staff that truly cared and helped me accomplish my goal. I couldn’t do it without them.”
Fietek said the ABE helps people graduate, continue their education, learn English, learn life and work skills, and more.
The Minnesota Adult Basic Education is a state-wide system that serves about 62,000 adults each year. The services are provided by a network of 39 ABE consortia, with the Alexandria ABE being one of them.
The area served by ABE is more than 2,800 square miles with a population of more than 84,000 people. Fietek said more than 8,300 of them are without a high school diploma or general education diploma.
ABE provides in-person and online programs. For the program year of 2024/25, 308 learners were served in the ABE consortium with more than 8,320 contact/learning hours completed. Fietek said learners came from a wide range of backgrounds, including 25 different countries and speaking 14 different languages. The majority of students fell between the ages of 25 and 44.
Pam Henrickson, Adult Enrichment coordinator for Community Education shared information about Community Education opportunities for adults, along with some of the partners they work with, like Lake County Meats, Let’s Go Fishing, Hang Loose MN, Alexandria Aviation, Miltona Greenhouse and others.
She said some of the opportunities include painting, pickleball, swing dancing, baking and fishing. Henrickson also shared some comments from those who have participated in what Community Education has to offer, including praise for Barb and Jewett Benson, who teach swing class; Laura Jones, who is a crochet instructor; and Mimi Seykora, who teaches pottery. All the comments talked about how much people enjoyed the classes and how knowledgeable the instructors were.
Henrickson added that Community Education is always looking for more instructors in the local area.
“We know there’s a lot of people in our community who have skills,” she said, noting that most people are shy about saying they are good at something and could teach a particular skill. But if there are people out there who have a skill they would like to share, Community Education would love to have them.
Update from the transportation department
Amie Moos, director of the Transportation Department of Alexandria Public Schools, not only shared some statistics, she stressed the need for more bus drivers. They started the last school year with 37 and ended the year with 32. They need a few more to be fully staffed, she said.
Currently, there are 27 general education bus routes, six special education bus routes, five special education van routes and one general education route.
Between both the bus and the van routes, Moos said there were a total of 78 morning and afternoon routes each day, along with 16 midday routes for a total of 94 routes per day.
In the school district, there were 2,116 students scheduled on a bus route during last school year. During this year’s summer school, which started on June 9, Moos said there were eight buses and three vans scheduled each day to transport students to and from the program and that there were 13 summer programs.
On another note, Moos said overtime in her department was down by 29% during the 2024-25 school compared to the 2023-24 school year.
Kevin Brezina, director of the district’s Technology Department, gave a technology update with the school board along with highlights from the 2026-2030 Technology Plan. Afterward, school board members approved the plan.
Trevor Peterson, director of Businesses Services, provided information about the Long-Term Facility Maintenance revenue application, which the board also approved.
To hear the presentations by Brezina and Peterson, along with the rest of the recorded school board meeting, go to the Alexandria Public School’s YouTube channel 10 at
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