Hello! You will find important updates from me in this space.
The presentation from the 12/9/2024 Truth in Taxation meeting is in the video below, this gives a current overview of our School District's financial outlook.
We've also made some major updates of our Strategic Plan that can be accessed below that lays our our School District's priorities for the next five years based on extensive community input.
Justin Dahlheimer
Superintendent
Our School District recently completed a process in updating our School District's Strategic Plan --which included input from all aspects of our community, staff, students, and administration. You can learn more about our School's Stategic Plan here.
Information about Osakis Public School District and the Community of Osakis
Osakis Public School is a Pre-K through grade 12 facility located in West Central Minnesota. We are reside just a few blocks from Downtown Osakis, the South Shores of Lake Osakis, and the convergence of the Central Lakes and Lake Wobegon Trail System, giving our school a very convenient location for many educational opportunities within our Community.
Osakis Public School is unique in the fact that all of our educational programming is housed in one building, allowing our students to maintain long-term relationships with the many role-models that help them along their career at Osakis Public School. Additionally, there's a real student-body connection from Preschool to Senior Year, with many different moments that our students come together, regardless of age, to celebrate and learn from each other, creating a family atmosphere of students supporting one another.
We have a four-section pre-school program for students that are either 3-4 years old along with an active ECFE program. We have a Silverstreak Academy Program for those students that are older than 5 years as of September 1st. The Silverstreak Academy allows families to level up their pre-schooler to all-day, everyday school with academic rigor, confidence-builidng skills, and still retain the option to go to kindergarten to continue their academic progression.
Our elementary school currently has three sections per grade for all grade levels. Our test scores continue to be competitive, and in most instances, higher than neighboring schools. We contribute our success in this area to our dedicated teachers, paraprofessionals, and parents. In addition to math, reading, science, health, spelling, and phy-ed, our elementary students receive instruction in art, library, computer, keyboarding, music, and in our maker space. We have also incorporated a diversity program to encourage our students to appreciate their culture as well as other' cultures.
Our high school curriculum consists of math, english, science, FACS, industrial technology, agriculture, social studies, foreign language, business education, art, instrumental music, and vocal music. Osakis is proud to offer over 60 credits of College in the High School courses. We also have online and lTV courses available which expand our course offerings. We have computer labs, a Chromebook 1 to 1 program for grades 7-12 so our students stay current with technology. Our students have access to a full-time guidance counselor that helps our students commit to their career path and utilize all available opportunities, such as Work-Based Learning, College in the High School, and various intitutional partnerships to put them well on their way to the career of their choosing. We have an active program called Silverstreak Apparel, where our students work together to manage and create screen-printed shirts/apparel for our School and Community.
Extracurricular opportunities include FFA, jazz band, honor choir, yearbook, knowledge bowl, science olympiad, speech, three-act, and one-act plays, archery, football, tennis, volleyball, cross country running, basketball, wrestling, track and field, golf, softball, and baseball. Activities go beyond the school year to include many student opportunities for summer school and summer recreation programs.
Our special education department covers many different areas of students' development and has recently added Special Olympics as events for our students to partner with our unified student athletes and compete at area Schools.
We have assembled a great team of mental health professionals and student support services that includes a team of four working proactively with our students on positive character development. We recently added a full-time School Resource Officer through our partnership with Douglas County Sheriff's Department. Our SRO works daily with our students to promote positive relationships, good decision-making, and community connections to resources for our families.
Our earliest records show that in the early days of its existence, OHS graduated as few as two students in the early 1900's. Today our school has over 850 students enrolled in grades K-12. The district prides itself on maintaining a low student-to-teacher ratio.
Contact Information
Address: PO Box X, 500 East First Avenue, Osakis, MN 56360
Phone Number: 320-859-2191
District Office Fax Number: 320-859-2835
High School Fax Number: 320-859-3871