The Cook County I.S.D. 166 school board met on Thursday, November 15 at the Jane Mianowski center and conducted a good deal of business.
Cook County enrollment increased by 16 students this year over 2017, with 450 students enrolled.
“We calculated that this district is spending about $13,000 per student,” said the accountant from Wipfli who was there to present an overview of the school budget.
“Cook County spends more money per student than most schools statewide,” he said.
In 2017 Minnesota outlaid $11,949 per student while the national average was $11,009. Meanwhile, New York spent $21,000 per student while Utah spent $6,575 per child on education.
In a breakdown of expenditures, “salaries are the most significant expense,” noted the accountant.
“The food service does almost too well. It makes quite a bit of money. I know quite a bit of that has to do with the relationship with the YMCA,” said the accountant, pointing out that revenue increased by more than $44,000 over the previous year.
The Community Service fund balance increased $39,000 plus.
As for the debt service fund, it decreased $2.7 million. A refunding that occurred in 2017 was placed in an escrow account showing $298,000 as an ending fund balance. All of the spending for debt service, he said “means that debt is going away.”
When it came to the building construction fund (which was tapped to build the new school garage, fix the roof, add new flooring to many school rooms, and build the new science and culinary arts rooms, among other things), he said, “Expenditures are a capital outlay. When you issued bonds it’s spend, spend, spend because you issued bonds and that money has to be spent.”
World’s Best Workforce
Superintendent Dr. William (Bill) Crandall gave an update about the World’s Best Workforce. The program was begun six years ago in Minnesota and is a requirement for school districts to follow.
Crandall said there are five goals outlined in the program. The first asks, “Are all children ready for school? 2) Can all of the third-grade kids read at the third-grade level? 3) Are all racial and economic achievement gaps between students gone? 4) Is the career and college program working well so that students are prepared for college and or work? And finally, are all of the kids prepared to graduate?
In 2016 CCHS graduated 87.8 percent of its students. In 2017 the graduation rate from the Minnesota report card showed that the district had graduated 90.5 percent of its students, meeting the short-term improvement goal that will hopefully lead to 100 percent graduation in the future.
In 2016, 88 percent of the district’s children began kindergarten at age 5, and all of those children starting at age 6 were retrained in kindergarten.
In 2017 the school maintained 88 percent of the children in kindergarten at age 5 with none of them retained at age 6, another goal met.
The goal to improve third-grade reading proficiency was also met, but the district did not meet its intentions to close the achievement gaps among all groups of students, falling just short of achieving a 61.7 percent efficiency in reading for grades 3-10 in the MCA Reading Scores. And for grades 3-5, Sawtooth Mountain Elementary School failed to meet its goal of increasing its spring 2017 score of 69.3 percent to 73.8 percent proficiency by the spring of 2018. The spring 2018 MCA reading scores were 70.7 percent.
The objective for raising the spring 2017 MCA reading scores for all students in 10th grade from 57.1 percent in the spring of 2017, to 64.1 percent in the spring of 2018 fell short, with 48.9 percent showing proficiency.
And while the middle school students tested 46.8 percent for the NCA reading tests, the goal was to achieve 48.5 percent. Still, in 2017 the middle schools tested at 39.5 percent in reading, so there was an improvement.
Billy Mills
As part of celebrating Native American Heritage Month, legendary Native American long-distance runner William (Billy) Mills was invited to speak to children both in Grand Portage at Oshki Ogomaag Charter School and at I.S.D. 166 on Wednesday, Nov. 28.
Mills, an Oglala Lakota (Sioux) who grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, is the only American to win a gold medal in the 10,000 meter run in the Olympics, taking the gold in 1964.
Because he was unknown to so many at the time, Mills’ gold medal is still considered to be the greatest upset ever in the summer Olympics.
But Mills, or Makata Taka Hele as he was called growing up, was a first lieutenant in the Marines, and had been stationed in and trained the year before the Olympics in Europe, racing against the best runners in the world, and beating them at times.
So even if no one else stateside knew it, Billy Mills knew he could run with Ron Clarke of Australia, Mohammed Gammoudi of Tunisia, Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia and Kokochi Tsubuaya of Japan, and the rest of the top athletes in the world.
In 1965 Billy and Olympic teammate Gerry Lindgren tied for the world record in the six-mile run, finishing in 27:11.6, ending any speculation that his epic gold medal run in 1964 was a fluke.
Not only is Bill Mills an inspiration to Native American children, he is an inspiration to all children—and adults—who can appreciate his struggles through an impoverished upbringing, succeeding and never giving up despite stiff odds against him.
As for his native name? Makata Taka Hele, it means “love your country.” It’s a name that fits. Billy Mills isn’t just a great athlete, he is a great person, and in that, Mills sets an example that is golden, a gold medal that is within everyone’s reach.
On other matters before the board they:
. Approved hiring Cindy Johnson as the new choir teacher. She has 18 years experience as a teacher with various schools, the last two in Mounds View and Chisago Lakes. She began her new job on Nov. 12. She has a master’s degree to go along with her experience.
. Set a date for the public open house for the new culinary arts and science department rooms on Friday, December 14 from 5 to 7 p.m.
. Invited the public to the middle school/high school band program on Tuesday, Dec. 4. The concert will be held from 7 to 8 p.m.
. Approved the hiring of Brad Shannon as the new guidance counselor. Brad will start full-time in early December.
. Discussed that work on repairing the Arrowhead Center for the Arts roof will begin when the youth play is finished.
. The school board agreed to hold a levy workshop on Thursday, December 6. The school board will set the levy at the board’s Thursday, Dec. 20 meeting which will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Jane Mianowski Conference Center in the Arrowhead Center for the Arts.
. Hired Jody Turbo Roberts as the new Early Childhood instructor.
. Accepted the resignation of Andrea Orest as a paraprofessional. Her last day was Nov. 1.
. A date was set for the Common Ground Summit. The program is called Seeds of Change for the elementary students. This will take place on March 1 and will take the position of the social justice program held last year. The school district met its goals for students career and college ready by graduation, said Crandall, noting that overall, the kids and teachers were working hard overall to meet its educational goals.
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