Original article published in the Mower County Independent, Thursday, February 29, 2024. Reprinted with permission and gratitude.
By Gretchen Mensink Lovejoy
Dan Freeman may be charged with overseeing a smaller playground, but the stakes are just as high.
He hopes to lower the fences, however, with no chance for misdiagnosis.
“I want to make sure at the end of my time there, people can say that the school board is more open. It’s open now, but with the feeling that they can be more involved, feeling that they’re a part of the Kingsland community. I didn’t want to come into this with preconceived notions because coming into something with a diagnosis without (facts) is just malpractice,” stated Freeman, new to the Kingsland school board following the November 2023 special election to fill a vacancy on the panel after resignations of members whose terms needed to be filled.
Freeman is not new to Spring Valley, as he is a graduate of Spring Valley High School (SVHS), and while he had moved to the Twin Cities to live, his return afforded him an opportunity to first apply for an appointment to the school board, then be elected when another seat became vacant. “I graduated from Spring Valley in 1975, and my brother, mom and dad graduated from here. When my wife and I moved back to town, it was a chance to give back to the community. I was elected to a one-year term that will give me a chance to see what it’s all about, and if people like what I have to offer, they’ll (re-elect). I like to give back to the community when I can.”
His term as a member of the Hennepin County Regional Park Board gave him experience he feels is beneficial to his new role as a school board member, as the system encompassed 21 parks, 21,000 acres, and a district of 165,000 people for which Freeman was responsible. The Hennepin County park board’s range of oversight included maintaining the parks, meeting the needs of a diverse set of visitors – including low-income and BIPOC families, some who had no afterschool safety net for their children — and offering activities such as working on the regional farm to teach how to garden and raise one’s own food to be eaten at school, or the park board collaborating with the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MNDOT) to purchase bicycles to allow children to learn how to ride. “I was elected to the park board for ten years. It was not your average park system or board — the parks brought in an average of close to 18 million visitors a year during COVID.”
His return to his hometown found him considering what to do with his time, so he quickly established his semi-rural home, then became very involved in the Spring Valley and Kingsland communities, joining the Spring Valley Area Community Foundation (SVACF), the Spring Val[1]ley Business Alliance (SVBA) and “re-exploring the community with a different picture” because “I graduated from college, and coming back, it’s the same town, but it’s not the same town.” He noted that his metro-born wife was equally ready to find new civic engagement by becoming a part of the Spring Valley food shelf’s volunteer crew, and he’s “dusting off a lot of cobwebs, reconnecting with people I know.”
Freeman made his living as an accountant, and it’s to his former teacher, Spring Valley business instructor Lew Flattum, that he gives credit for his having become such. He counts that he doesn’t have any children in the school district or own or work for a local business within the Kingsland community as assets because it makes him independent of the entanglements that could come with those positions. He’s excited to be part of a smaller panel of directors because it’s a moment to meet the educational needs of a population and make a larger impact through providing equal access with excellence in mind. “St. Paul limits the impact of what you can do, but the trick is to figure out what they won’t allow you to do,” he stated, remarking further, “It helps me to have grown up here. I still know people down here, I still have aunts and uncles here, people who were in my class.”
The new board member acknowledged that Spring Valley’s school district is now consolidated with Wykoff as Kingsland and that that means that the former football and basketball rivals are one entity with different needs than when they were separate, involving efforts to retain viable enrollment numbers, transparency for all stakeholders – but specifically for Wykoff residents who no longer have a school building to call their own, and keeping a closer eye on financial matters as funding issues become ever apparent each year. He explained that he had called for the board to link agenda items to supporting documents for greater transparency and that he had also noticed that the elementary school conference room had very little knee room for anyone wishing to visit and therefore suggested that perhaps some meetings ought to be hosted in Wykoff at one of its larger meeting venues. “Wykoff is part of the Kingsland community, and we should have meetings there to find out the issues, and maybe that will change the perception (of exclusion) and maybe translate into getting students (to stay) here. We don’t know if we don’t try.”
He then described himself, sharing, “Being an accountant, I tend to be reserved, but ultimately, I’m outgoing. I used to be a lot more quiet, but I learned over the years…and I’m a person who likes to ask questions. At times, I challenge conventional thinking. I’m analytical, and I think I’m open to new ideas.”
Freeman spends his spare time doing a plethora of activities. “I like being active, getting out and meeting people, being involved in things. I like hunting, camping on occasion, and there’s always projects on the farm that it’s nice to have time to work on – in the summertime, it takes 15 hours to mow. There are books to read…I like reading novels, primarily.” He concluded, reiterating, “I like to give back to the community.”
Courtesy of the Mower County Independent, 135 E Main St. LeRoy, MN 55951, (507)-324-5325
