ISD 166 Superintendent Beth Schwarz and K-12 Principal Gwen Carman summarized the year for the school board at its regular meeting Wednesday, June 16, 2010.
“I’m really proud of the year that we had,” said Carman. “I’m proud of the education the kids received.”
Enrollment dropped by five students from 493 on October 15 to 488 on June 8. In addition to numerous one-time donations to the school district, long-time volunteer “Grandpa” Lyle Gerard pledged to donate $100 a month to the district and challenged others to do the same.
Four-day school week
As reported in a previous issue of the Cook County News-Herald,
the school board approved a motion to not move forward with a four-day school week at this time. A four-day week would save the district money, but Superintendent Schwarz had said she advocated for it because it would result in more time for staff development, a factor shown to improve the academic performance of students.
The district has enough challenges to deal with right now, said Eric Kemp. Theconcept is not popular with the public, and it’s a big change, he said.
A lot of people at the four community meetings held throughout the county were against the idea, said Bill Huggins. He thought a four-day week might be a good thing, but the public might need more time to consider it and people seem to want more information about it, he said.
The vote was not unanimous. Rod Wannebo cast the sole nay vote against the motion to not go forward with a four-day week at this time.
Superintendent Schwarz made a statement after the vote decrying accusations of dishonesty and manipulation that had been leveled at her at a concerned citizens meeting at the Senior Center the night before. Eric Kemp read a statement saying that he sees a lot of promise in Schwarz and that he also believes academic success could still be achieved with a five-day week.
Bullying and discipline
Schwarz updated the board on the school’s response to concerns over bullying. “Bullying-type behaviors should not be confused with bullying,” Schwarz stated. Bullying is a chronic behavior often targeting the same person over and over, she said, although bullyingtype behavior is unacceptable as well.
Schwarz recommended a clear discipline policy that could be easily articulated to staff, students, and parents. She supported progressive consequences that become more challenging with each incident. The K-5 staff has expressed frustration over lack of follow-up by the administration that doesn’t always have time to deal with everything requested of them, she said.
Pam Taylor did “a phenomenal job” her first year as part-time dean of students, Carman said. She agreed that a more structured consequence policy might be helpful and that administration was not available to help elementary teachers deal with discipline problems. One further challenge to the situation will be a reduction in paraprofessional staff next year.
Schwarz said she has not had time to work on a discipline policy with Carman and Taylor but thought that it would be good to include some students and parents in the process as well.
A discipline report from this school
year indicates that middle and high
school incidents reported this year
included the following:
| Inappropriate behavior: | 118 | |
| Swearing/disrespectful | ||
| language: | 22 | |
| Bus discipline: | 21 | |
| Cell phones: | 13 | |
| Reckless behavior: | 13 | |
| Closed campus violations: | 10 | |
| Harassment: | 7 | |
| Fighting: | 6 | |
| Theft: | 5 | |
| Internet violations: | 3 | |
| Removed from class: | 3 | |
| Suspensions: | 3 | |
| Possession of weapon: | 1 | |
| Prescription drug violation: | 1 | |
| Tobacco/alcohol/drugs: | 0 |
Some of the same students were involved in numerous repeat violations.
Proposed policy changes
The board discussed the possibility of having parents pay part of the cost of College in the Schools (CITS) courses their children take.
During the 2008/09 school year, ISD 166 paid the University of Minnesota- Duluth (UMD) $90 per student per course but was reimbursed $57 by the state, leaving the district with a cost of $33 per student per course. Seventyfour enrollments from that year resulted in a total cost to the district of $2,442.
Superintendent Schwarz will find out if the school is legally allowed to charge for the classes. The board approved a new contract with UMD. Thenew price per course will be $92, the first change in price since 2003.
The board approved a 2010-11 middle/high school student handbook, which has a few changes from this last year’s handbook. The attendance policy will be more stringent, as will the criteria for making quarterly honor rolls.
Operating referendum
The board authorized Schwarz to work with bond attorneys on the language of a referendum to be voted on this November. The language must be finalized by the third week of August.
Requested of voters will be $595 per pupil unit over a period of four years.
Capital outlay surprise
Superintendent Schwarz reported that $70,000 designated for maintenance department capital expenditures had been sitting in this year’s budget, unbeknownst to Maintenance Director Mike Groth. The item had been sitting in an area of the budget that Groth usually doesn’t have access to, Schwarz said.
Schwarz recommended using part of the money to pay the balance needed for handicapped-accessible doors at the eagle and Arrowhead Center for Arts entrances. Whatever is unspent this fiscal year can be rolled over to next year.
Capital outlays needed this year will bring the capital account from a balance of $490,540 to a balance of $130,210, Schwarz said.
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