by Rich Larson
The City of Northfield will hold an informational meeting on Wednesday, September 15th in the Council Chambers at City Hall to share and 
receive input from property owners and anyone impacted by the Cannon River flooding in 2010 and 2016.
After those two events, which were essentially 50-year floods within six years of each other, Northfield sought and received a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to conduct a flood study in order to explore options for the city to be more prepared and resilient should another flood occur.
City staff has been working with FEMA through their Hazard Mitigation Program for Advanced Assistance on the study, and while it is not yet complete, it has identified flood prone properties adjacent to the Cannon River that have been most impacted by the floods. The goal of the study is to identify projects and measure to alleviate damage to property from future flooding events.
The meeting is September 15th at 3 pm and is expected to last approximately 90 minutes. For those interested but unable to attend the meeting, the presentation will be posted on the city website project page.
AN EARLIER EDITION OF THIS STORY INCORRECTLY REPORTED THE THE MEETING WAS TO TAKE PLACE TODAY. THE MEETING IS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMEBR 15th
NPD welcomes Officer Jessica Bohlken
The first order of business at the Northfield City Council meeting last night was to administer the Oath of Office for brand new
Northfield police officer Jessica Bohlken.
Officer Bohlken has been with the Northfield Police Department since July 19. During his introduction Chief Mark Elliott noted that, like many of the members of the Northfield Police Department, Officer Bohlken has decided to become a police officer after spending a few years out of college, and therefore brings some experience of adult civilian life with her, which is a plus.
Bohlken is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in sports management. She has worked in youth sports, sports management, and as a personal care attendant for people with autism and other special needs. More recently, while completing her law enforcement certification program and skills training, officer Bohlken worked for Wright and Dakota counties as a park ranger, and as a security guard for the University of St. Thomas.
Officer Bohlken is currently in the Field Training Program where she is being evaluated every day by a Field Training Officer. Chief Elliott said officers are generally in field training for their first six months on the job.
School district making adjustments to curriculum this year
The rollout for Northfield’s 2021-22 public school year began yesterday with the first of two days of family conferences. Teachers will meet with parents, and the students as well, to go over how things will work over the course of the year, and to open lines of communication between the teachers the parents and the students.
Northfield Superintendent of Public Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann said the conferences are one of several initiatives aimed at what he called recovery. After more than a full school year’s worth of disruptions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the district has programs in place this year that will help students make up the academic ground they may have lost last year and will also tend to their social and emotional well-being.
Over the summer the district brought teams of educators together to work on specific recovery issues, including the reading and mathematics curriculums. The focus was to decide on the key elements of learning in those disciplines, and to bring them to the forefront to accelerate the learning process. Dr. Hillmann said in teaching there are things that must be done, and things that teachers would like to do. This year, the focus will be on the essential things that must be done to help students get caught up.
He also said that, while social and emotional learning has been a priority of the district for several years, they are taking steps to improve in that area. They have added full-time equivalent positions to each school in order to reduce class sizes, add reading support, and help the teachers establish better relationships with their students. A part-time Mental Health Navigator position has been added to help students and families, who need some extra help outside of the things the school can provide, to make the right connections with a therapist or a counselor. Finally, Dr. Hillmann said the district has hired a life coach, whose job description is not just about helping the students.
“There are some folks who just need some help, but they don’t need therapy. They just need someone to talk to; they just need someone to coach them through the circumstances. So, we piloted this a little bit last year. We hired a certified coach named Steve Ryan from the community. He’s going to be working with our staff, because our staff’s social and emotional health is also really important, right? They’ve been through the ringer, too. So, he’s available for them and is also available for middle school and high school students.”
Family conferences will continue today. Northfield students will return to the classroom tomorrow.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
