|
|
Chris Lindholm
With the start of school just around the corner some questions were posed to I.S.D. 166 school superintendent Chris Lindholm about the upcoming year. Chris, who was pinch hitting in the kitchen this week, took some time to answer the following questions.
Q- Have you been able to hire enough staff? Teachers, bus drivers, maintenance workers, cooks, paras, subs, etc.? How has that effort been going?
A-We’ve had an excellent run of hiring this spring and summer filling most of our positions with well qualified people. We did not find a high school math teacher, so we are contracting with Duluth Public Schools for a teacher to teach our students virtually. We still have OT, PT, and Speech positions open and will continue to use telehealth solutions as needed.
We have a bus driver position open and are always looking for more substitutes for all positions. Other than that, we are fully staffed and ready to roll!
Q- How many kids are enrolled for the upcoming year?
A- We are predicting consistent enrollment with last year, so about 425 students.
Q- What do the classroom sizes look like? How many kids per classroom?
A- Like last year, our primary grades are between 10 and 15 students and upper elementary are between 15 and 25 students. Middle school and High school classes range from a handful to 25 depending on the section. We are fortunate to have smaller class sizes than the vast majority of schools in the state.
Q- What does the state/federal funding look like? Will the school try for an excess levy referendum this fall? If so, what kind of dollars are we looking at? And what will it mean if the school district doesn’t get these dollars?
A- This is the second year of the legislative biennium so we know the general formula was increased by just over 2 percent for 2022-23. The 2 percent increase in revenue falls well short of the increasing costs that everyone is experiencing. Federal pandemic funding will help us push through the current school year; however those funds will be used up and discontinued by 2024. It’s essential for the legislature to address funding shortfalls during the upcoming legislative session.
Yes, the school district will be asking voters to approve renewing the current operating levy in November that provides over $300,000 each year in essential revenue. That revenue allows the district to provide students with rich elective offerings and helps to keep class sizes down.
Q- Are there any news exciting classes, programs added to the curriculum? Elementary school? Middle school? High school?
A- We are very excited to welcome Michael Thiesmann to Cook County Schools who will be teaching outdoor environmental education in both our elementary and middle schools. Michael has a masters degree in environmental education, a masters degree in exercise physiology, and a rich work history of teaching at all levels. This new program will bring more focus and intentionality to how students use and explore our school forest, outdoor classroom, and our school gardens!
Q- Anything else you want to say?
We are also excited to be welcoming two new employees in our district food service program. Welcome to Laura Wilson, who will be leading our food service team and also to Jenny McGowan, who comes to us with years of food service experience in the twin cities!
Leave a Reply