Senator Mark Johnson congratulates Thief River Falls School District on their recent ranking in the Top Ten Safest Schools in Minnesota, according to a new report released by Niche.com. Thief River Falls schools ranked third safest in Minnesota, beating out 347 public and 349 private Minnesota schools respectively.

“Students, parents, teachers, and staff in the Thief River Falls School District should be extremely proud of this recognition. Our local schools are some of the best in the state which can only be accomplished when our students feel safe in their learning environments,” said Senator Mark Johnson (R-East Grand Forks). “This past session I supported $25 million in new state funding for school safety grants. School safety and education remain top priorities of mine, and I look forward to working to improve the safety in each of these.”

The Safest School rankings are fifty percent based on data from the Federal Office for Civil Rights and National Center for Education statistics, including area crime rates, expulsion rates, suspension rates, and school-related arrests. Student and parent surveys of health and safety make up the remaining fifty percent of the calculation. Niche.com is a data analysis company that calls itself “the best place to research U.S. colleges, schools, neighborhoods, and companies.”

The full ranking of Safest Schools in Minnesota can be found here:https://www.niche.com/k12/search/safest-school-districts/s/minnesota/