By Tyler Trieglaff

Notes from the Chief

Notes from the Chief… I’m typing this week’s report from the big city, not Perham or Detroit Lakes, but Minneapolis, Minnesota.  

I came down here as part of the representation from Frazee-Vergas School District for the annual conference of the Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA). There are two days of speakers, breakout sessions, roundtable discussions and an exhibitor hall.  

Our very own Kaotic Robotics was down here demonstrating along with other schools from their conference. What a great opportunity this was for our kids! I watched the robot in action more than I have in the past.

The MSBA conference started out with a keynote speaker, Mickey Smith Jr., a Grammy award-winning middle school teacher from Louisiana. He gave a great presentation and I hope us board members and admin can bring some of that back to the district.   

Some of the breakout session topics included: cell phones in schools, free speech in schools, a Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) update, building a comprehensive CTE program (based on Watertown-Mayer Public Schools), contracts and negotiations with staff, issues with chronic absenteeism, cybersecurity and many more. Hopefully, the keynote speaker on Friday will be as interesting as Mickey Smith Jr.  

I was told by members of our party that we would be dining at a place called, Fogo De Chao, some sort of Brazilian steakhouse. I only had a day to prepare for this undertaking and was warned about the meat sweats. This place is basically an all you can eat meat buffet.  

They bring the meat on a large skewer and slice/serve it to you right at the table. Each person dining has a small coaster type button. If the green side is up they will bring you food. If the red side is up, they walk by. The waitress told us there were 16 different cuts of meat we could choose from. Each time someone would stop at the table they would explain what they had and you could say yay or nay.  

Here is a list of the cuts I remember… bacon-wrapped steak and bacon-wrapped chicken. The steak was awesome, the chicken, kind of dried out. I tried a chicken thigh which was better than the bacon wrapped chicken, but still just ok. There were several cuts of steak from top and bottom sirloin to filet mignon to ribeye and several others. They would even ask you how you liked it cooked and cut you a slice according to your likes. Most of the steak was wonderful, although the bottom sirloin was a little less desirable.  

Probably the best piece of food I had was the pork belly. Cooked to a perfect juicy and crispiness, they topped it with honey. Boy, I tell you what…that was the best combination I have had in a long time. The perfect crispiness of pork fat and that sweet honey with a touch of salt added, I almost had that last piece as my dessert.

There was a large salad bar that would make the old salad bar at Bonanza blush. There was so much stuff that I haven’t seen or tried before. I ain’t never heard of Hearts of Palm, but I don’t reckon I will ever try that again on purpose.  

Now for the dessert, most of us had a fancy crème brulee, a yellow custard with sugar on top then they took a flame to the sugar and it made a nice crispy crust over the custard. That about topped me off for the evening. I don’t think the meat sweats ever did hit me, but I sure would have liked to wear some stretchy pants to that restaurant.  

All and all, I had a pretty good time at the MSBA conference. I learned some new information to bring back to the district, we bonded as colleagues, and I got to expand my taste palate at a pretty fancy restaurant. I already look forward to next year’s conference.