The Dec. 17 school board meeting was the last for Colleen Deutsch, who retired after 20 years in district leadership.
“Timing was good and we had others interested who have children in the district,” Deutsch said. “I’ve really enjoyed my time on the board.”
Deutsch was elected to her first term on the board just as grades K-5 moved into their new school building attached to the middle-high school from which Deutsch graduated 20 years earlier.
Now she leaves the board as the middle-high school building remodel and addition is in the final months of construction, set to be finished in mid-2021.
“This is a very exciting time. The facility looks wonderful,” she said.
“(It has) increased security and safety, many new opportunities for staff and students with the new and updated classrooms, multi-purpose areas, weight room, new commons and performing arts center, increased technology, and dedicated areas for counseling and administrative team.”
Building projects get attention, but board members make yearly budget decisions and make decisions to add or not replace staff in order to keep the district on solid financial footing.
Deutsch leaves the board as a new organizational chart, one of several issues the personnel committee she serves on delved into this year and was recently adopted.
The board faced an unprecedented issue this year with the coronavirus pandemic. The state’s precautionary approach to COVID-19 totally changed how school is conducted.
“No. 1 is keeping everyone safe and healthy,” she said. “We have a creative, caring and great staff that have done an excellent job in providing education, health and counseling services, transportation, meals, safe and clean environment, etc., to all students during the COVID challenge.”
Deutsch (nee Obermoller) started her education at the Hardwick Grade School with her six sisters and one brother. She transferred to Luverne Middle-High School as a seventh-grader and graduated from LHS with her twin sister, Jolene, in 1979.
“I took school seriously and tried to get the most out of my classes. I was hard-working, completed assignments on time — not a procrastinator — did well, on the A honor roll, and graduated as one of the co-salutatorians,” she said.
“I was involved in volleyball, basketball and track. I did summer softball with the Hardwick team (and) worked at the Green Lantern.”
She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing in 1983 at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, and now is a registered nurse with LifeScape in Sioux Falls.
The decision to run for the Luverne School Board in 1999 was an extension of her work through the Parents Partners in Education (PPIE), Girl Scouts and community and church activities.
She and her husband, Doug, have four children, Amber (LHS 2002 graduate), Caitlyn (2009), Derek (2011) and Dustin (2013). Amber and her husband, Ben, live in Roseau and have four children. She said their activities center around their family.
“I have always felt that Luverne Public Schools has provided a great educational foundation so the transition to school board was fairly easy,” she said. “Some of the teachers that I had were still teaching.”
Another one of Deutsch’s priorities as a board member has been making sure all students, especially those with special needs, receive a good public education.
She understands learning techniques changed in the 20 years since she left LHS, and she supported those changes as a board member.
“Classrooms in the ’70s were traditionally the teachers lecturing and everyone was assigned a desk,” Deutsch said.
“Today the teachers incorporate many different learning styles, optional seating is offered and the increase in the use of technology.”
She also made sure her own education progressed in her new leadership role over her 20-year tenure by completing the annual trainings through the Minnesota School Board Association.
For her dedication, Deutsch was named a 2020 All-State School Board Member.
Her advice to incoming board members: “Be a good listener, make educated and informed decisions, ask if you have questions, and make sure that constituents are notifying all board members about issues/concerns.”
Shelley Sandbulte finishes 10 years on the school board after deciding not to seek re-election this fall. Newcomers Jeff Stratton and David Wrigg were elected to the board unopposed.