FREEMAN PUBLIC RECEIVES $240K FOR CTE CURRICULUM
State funds will be used to establish improved shop area, commercial kitchen
Freeman Public Schools is benefiting from $6.4 million in grants recently distributed to 36 districts across the state by the South Dakota Department of Education to help schools bolster their career and technical education (CTE) programming.
Freeman Public has been given $240,194.35 that will be used to fund a major upgrade to its shop area that will include equipment for a rebooted woods, metals and construction curriculum taught by new CTE shop instructor Keith Andersen — something the district has not offered the past two years.
The CTE grant money will also help fund a commercial-grade kitchen that will be installed on the west side of the classroom used by agricultural education instructor Malynda Penner for her Food Science lab.
The grant was written with guidance from Andersen and Innovation Kitchen, a Sioux Falls-based company that designs commercial kitchens. It was also endorsed by both Mitchell Technical College and Lake Area Technical College, said Freeman Public Superintendent Jake Tietje.
The project must be completed by October, per the grant mandate, but Tietje hopes it can be wrapped up by the time the school year starts on Aug. 20.
“Our goal is to get this moving as fast as we can,” he told The Courier early this week. “Next week we’ll have the timeline set so we can start rolling. Ideally, we would have everything done before the start of the school year.”
In anticipation of the upgraded shop, the district is also proceeding with construction of a custodial shed in the greenspace on the northwestern portion of the campus near the smaller parking area on the west side of the school. This will free up space inside the current shop area used for custodial storage to better accommodate the shop upgrade.
Tietje said the board has approved up to $300,000 for the 2,000 square-foot, climate-controlled facility that will house the school’s mowers and other equipment. It will include an office area, mezzanine for additional storage and single stall restroom.
As for the shop area, the grant application lists items like welders, a plasma cutter, fabricator and bandsaw, drum sander, drill press and router table.
“We’re going to end up with pretty awesome facilities, and that’s pretty exciting,” said Tietje. “There aren’t many other districts in South Dakota that have a shop like we will have and can say they have a full commercial kitchen.
“This is something the kids will be very proud of.”
That’s the idea behind the CTE grants, which were made available through the American Rescue Plan and the federal Perkins grant.
“We gave schools a definite challenge to carefully examine their needs and let us know how we could help truly set their CTE programs up for long-term success,” said South Dakota Secretary of Education Joe Graves in a press release issued last week, calling the scope of the release of the one-time funds “unprecedented.”
“Our districts rose to that challenge,” he said. “I am excited by the opportunities this grant will afford our students, and in turn our communities and businesses throughout the state.”
Editor’s Note: The Menno School District also benefited from the CTE grants distributed by the Department of Education, receiving $208,736.00. A report on how the district will use those funds will be published next week.
