A new charter school focused on integrating healthy physical fitness across the curriculum, teamwork and experiential learning will open in the fall of 2017 in the old Paideia Academy building in Apple Valley. The school will serve grades K-8 and plans to add one more grade until each year until it is K-12.
FIT Academy already has 60 applicants, said Claud Allaire, the school's executive director. Most probably aren't former Paideia students, as the two schools have different missions. The goal is to open next fall with 250 students enrolled.
Allaire said school leaders said there's an appetite for more school choice in Dakota County. They chose the site at 7200 W. 147th St. because it is centrally located. The building used to be a movie theater.
Erin Adler
Dakota County
New hire will focus on social media
Dakota County has hired a new employee to focus on social media and marketing. Rachelle Baillon, who has a background in television news and most recently worked in Milwaukee, Wis., will focus primarily on the county's Twitter account and Facebook page.
The goal will be to create actionable, useful content, said Mary Beth Schubert, the county's communications director. Baillon and other staff members will monitor the accounts during office hours.
The county has "done an about face" in its approach to social media in the last six months, said county administrator Matt Smith, and now sees its value in communicating with the public.
"That's where the world is going, and we need to be there, too," Smith said.
Erin Adler
