Fargo Public Schools Superintendent Discusses Priorities in State of the Schools Address

FARGO, N.D. – Fargo Public Schools holds their State of the Schools address. The speech was broken into several parts, including challenges for the district, legislative priorities and vision for the future.

“This is an opportunity for both the district staff and board of education to engage with the community and share and update about our schools because we understand it takes a whole village to raise a child. It’s an opportunity to provide an avenue to get community input,” Fargo Public Schools Superintendent Rupak Gandhi said.

Some of the biggest challenges include meeting student needs through social and emotional learning. Another is getting enough funding to keep with more students as the city grows.

“Fargo’s a growing city. How do you grow with the city? As Fargo runs tall and skinny, north to south, how does that factor in?” Ghandi asked.

Along with growth of the city also comes growing global network. The superintendent says students need to prepare for jobs that don’t exist yet and to be ready to work in places that are still developing.

“I was really heartened to hear Mr. Gandhi. I’m excited to see his vision for the schools coming to fruition,” Parent Melanie Simmons said.

“The speech was awesome. He’s absolutely fabulous for our district. I’m glad he’s here, he’s very open and he’s just amazing,” School Board Member Brandi Aune said.

After the superintendent’s address, parents got to break out into focus groups where they could give their opinions like things on language immersion and dress codes.

“We really strongly want the kids’ parents and the public and everything to come to these because it shows that they are interested in what their kids are learning. We want their opinions on stuff too,” Aune said.

About 200 people registered to attend the event. The address is held every year. This is the first for superintendent Rupak Gandhi.