Fernbrook Elementary Starts School Despite Absence of Beloved Staff Member
Tuesday marked the first day of school for districts across Minnesota. At Fernbrook Elementary in Maple Grove, it was a day filled with excitement, despite the absence of one of their treasured staff members: Yvette Hoffman.
“All of our kids made it to class safely and on time and so on and so forth,” said Fernbrook Elementary Principal Jeff Zastrow. “So, very smooth day for such a large school and that’s credit to all of my teachers and all of the staff; ’cause we had people in multiple corners making sure kids got where they needed to go.”
With more than 1,100 students between Kindergarten through fifth grade, Fernbrook Elementary is the largest elementary school in the Osseo School District.
Teachers and staff members spent the day helping students get acquainted with the building.
Yvette Hoffman, an educational support professional at Fernbrook, would normally be helping kindergarten students.
But one person who wasn’t there to help the kindergarteners was Yvette Hoffman. An educational support professional at Fernbrook, Hoffman is still recovering after being shot in her home this past June.
“Now not having that, we feel the gap, but we’ve had some amazing folks step in to fill that gap in Yvette’s absence,” said Zastrow. “And part of it is, making sure that things go well here because we know Yvette is thinking about us. She messaged us last night, and we want her to feel healthy knowing that we got this here until such time that she’s ready to come back.”
Zastrow said there is still no timeline for Hoffman’s return to Fernbrook.
Following the shooting in June, the Fernbrook PTO launched a GoFundMe page to help Yvette and her husband, DFL Senator John Hoffman, recover from their injuries. To date, people have donated nearly $263,000.
Meanwhile, a new elementary school will open in Maple Grove next fall. That new school will help reduce enrollment at Fernbrook by about 400 students.
Related: Fernbrook Elementary School Honors Hoffmans Wounded in Attack
