Hanska school closes

School had

10.3 students

per teacher

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

HANSKA -- School bells rang for the last time for the foreseeable future Thursday at Hanska Community School, an art and music-oriented school for K-6 students.

The school, with an enrollment of 25, averaged 10.3 students per teacher this year. It usually had three grades in one classroom, creating an atmosphere somewhat similar to what country schools were like many decades ago.

Next fall, most of the students left will attend grade school in New Ulm. It'll mean a 20-minute bus ride to school instead of a two-minute walk.

The Hanska school was chartered six years ago after District 88 decided to close elementary schools in Hanska and Lafayette.

The Lafayette Grade School continues to operate. It is now sponsored by the Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop School District.

For Darlene and Steve Odegard and their two children, it's the end of an era they won't soon forget. Their children helped younger students learn to read and do their school work.

"Some people say bigger is better, but we had good teachers and excellent art and music programs," Darlene said. "We had electric pianos and technology like bigger schools have."

Thanks to lots of fund-raising work, Odegard and the students made field trips to Camp Courage and Underwater World and Camp Snoopy at the Mall of America.

Kathy Grothem, who worked part-time as a secretary at the school, said her two grade school children have mixed feelings about leaving the school.

"They hate to see the school close. It's a nice building," Grothem said. "But they're excited about going to a new school next fall. The whole school was like a big family."

She added that everybody loved and will miss school cook Edith Beckius who was well-known for her "home" cooking.