Dear Seward Families,

It was great to see so many families as we closed out May with Shark Fest. Thank you to Kerry Cashman and the PTA for organizing such a lovely family event and community celebration! June is here and it’s time to reflect, celebrate and bring closure to this school year. This was a year of grounding, coming together in-person and getting back to many of our pre-pandemic routines, activities and events. We accomplished a lot this year and it has been an absolute pleasure to watch our children learn and grow!
 
The summer will bring a much-needed reprieve, time to have fun, be with family and recharge for next year. I have so much hope and excitement for the school year ahead as we continue to come together as a community under our new Seward Montessori School Vision and Mission and move towards establishing ourselves as the best Montessori learning community we can be!
 
As this year draws to a close, I want to acknowledge and congratulate our 5th grade students, who will be moving on to the new adventure of middle school. Also, we have a few staff members who will be taking on new roles at Seward next year or moving on to new adventures outside of Seward. Tim Jarosak, Shannon Hebner, Lynda Ott and Kia Britain will be moving out of classroom teacher positions next year. Tim will be our Social Emotional Learning coach/lead teacher, Shannon will be our Math and Literacy coach and advanced learner teacher, and Kia and Lynda will be moving into a Math and Literacy Intervention role. Additionally, Amy Zitur, our Math and Literacy coach and Konni Welk, one of our Social Workers are retiring. Rhonda Fields, one of our Reading Interventionists will be moving to a role at the Minneapolis Online school; Sarah Collins, one of our English Language Learner teachers, will be moving to Whitter; Crystal Moe, our High 5 specialist, will be teaching kindergarten at a new school; our music teacher, Kirsten Vezina, will be leaving Minneapolis Public Schools for a move to Denver; and Christof Rochel, one of our Special Education Assistants has accepted a new position outside of Minneapolis Public Schools. Congratulations to all! We will miss those who are leaving us and wish them well as they continue in their career and life journeys. 
 
Thank you for all the support you have provided us this school year and thank you for sharing your beautiful children with us! The support and encouragement from the Seward Community for our students and staff throughout this year has been tremendous. We would not be the school that we are without you. I am honored to be a part of this community and to call myself a Seward Shark! I look forward to our continued work together next year and wish you all an amazing summer! 
 
In partnership and gratitude,
Ana Bartl