South school briefs: Inver Grove Heights seeks to fill vacant school board position

The Inver Grove Heights district is seeking to fill a school board vacancy due to the resignation of school board member Allen Gerber, who is leaving after three and a half years on the board. The position will be filled by appointment. The term will begin June 22 and end Dec. 31, 2015.

Interested candidates should submit a letter of interest and resume to Julie Coffey no later than 4 p.m. on May 29. Her e-mail address is julie.coffey@isd199.org. Candidates can also send materials to the District Office, Attn: Julie Coffey, 2990 80th Street East, Inver Grove Heights, MN 55076.

Candidates must be 21 years old, registered voters, district residents for 30 days and cannot be felons or registered sex offenders.

The school board will vote on the candidates at a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. on June 8 in the district office boardroom (2990 80th Street E., Inver Grove Heights). Candidates may address the board to share their interest at that time. The winner will be sworn in at the board's regular meeting on June 22.

Chuck Ochocki has been named the new principal for the Secondary Building and Community Learning Center. He will take over duties from current principal Butch Moening on July 1. Moening is retiring after 12 years with the district.

Ochocki began his career at South St. Paul. He spent 12 years serving as a social studies teacher, diversity coordinator, and dean of students. He left South St. Paul for Stillwater Junior High where he was assistant principal for two years and principal five years.

A team of two Burnsville High Schools students placed second among 1,464 Minnesota teams in the Spring 2015 Stock Market Game, which asks students to invest a virtual $100,000 in the stock market to learn about economics on a local, national and international level.

The Minnesota Music Educators Association has selected 53 District 196 high school students as All-State Musicians for the 2015-16 school year.

The students were selected by recorded audition and will participate in a camp this summer, as well as perform at the association's spring 2016 conference.

At Apple Valley High, the students selected are Maria Larson, Jacob Swanstrom, Tan Habb, Emilia Galchutt, Paul Nesseth, Joshua Hillen, Arianna Rotty, Zoe Gabor, Tessa Lexa, Morgan Meyer, Katie Moynihan, Brett Levac, Julie Manning, Elise Kuchera and Frank Kelly.

The Eagan High students are Elizabeth Belfiori, Eric Rayman, Anders Olson, Meg Swanson, Beth Steenberg, Melissa Wilson Kyler Swanson.

Students from Eastview include Maren Reimann, Sean Teske, Olivia Nichols, Haley Cahllgren, Samantha Zelenak, Alexis Adrian, Eric Bergquist, Bryan Joung, Nathaniel Vander Schaaf, Connor Allen, Abigail Braun, Brooke Berglund, Nick Graves, Cody Abel, Siri Underdahl and Maya Boguslawski.