A group of tennis proponents attended the Monday, November 16, 2009 ISD 166 school board meeting to request that tennis be included as a school sport.
Mark Summers of the Cook County Tennis Association said the club would provide coaching and scheduling and anything else the program needed. They were asking the school to merely provide Minnesota State High School League sanction. Cook County would be in a Class A division, competing with schools on the Iron Range and in the Duluth/Superior area.
A girls’ team would compete in the fall and a boys’ team in the spring. Five girls and seven boys are currently participating in U.S. Tennis Association competitions. Some girls would need to join the sport to reach the sevenmember team requirement, but Tim Scannell said he believes they could generate enough interest to get a girls’ team going.
School staff members at the meeting asked whether girls’ tennis would compete with volleyball or crosscountry. We shouldn’t worry about that, school board member Leonard Sobanja answered.
The board approved a motion to consider the request and pass it on to a committee that will make a recommendation at the March 2010 school board meeting.
For a second year in a row, the board approved an agreement with Great Expectations Charter School (GES) allowing GES students to participate in Cook County Middle School cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, cross-country running, and golf.
Programs and personnel
“The school year is officially 25% over,” Principal Gwen Carman reported. Superintendent Beth Schwarz added that attendance is back to normal after many kids were out of school with the flu.
Superintendent Schwarz reported on several staffing changes. Rollin Baird was hired October 5 as a school bus driver. Susan Ahrendt was hired with Title I grant funding to mentor teachers in implementing the math curriculum. Theposition will end after she completes 126 hours.
The board approved a request from Marie Helbach to reduce her teaching load by going on part-time leave without pay. Helbach, a third-year teacher, has been preparing for four different class levels a day: two seventh grade math classes, two ninth grade intermediate algebra classes, pre-calculus, and calculus.
Superintendent Schwarz applauded Helbach’s request, saying that teaching different levels of math, including calculus, “is as close to impossible as you can get.” A long-term substitute is being sought. Schwarz hopes to find someone to teach the ninth grade math classes.
Leonard Sobanja said when he was principal of CCHS, he tried to make sure no teacher had to prep for more than three different classes in a day.
Superintendent Schwarz has been meeting with staff and school board member Sobanja on upgrading the industrial arts program. Short-term projects include fencing for outdoor storage, installation of electrical outlets, computer upgrades, and grantwriting for improvements to the pole building.
The industrial arts curriculum is scheduled for review during the 2010-11 school year. Superintendent Schwarz will require that the curriculum be defined prior to major renovations.
High School Policy Changes
Theboard approved several changes to CCHS policy. The first one will require that ninth- through twelfthgrade students reach specified credit thresholds before being promoted to the next grade and earning the privileges associated with that, such as offcampus lunch for juniors and seniors.
The second policy change requires that students in the Alternative Choice Education (ACE) credit recovery program make up lost credits by midterm of the last quarter of their senior year in order to graduate, except in extraordinary circumstances.
The third policy change allows only students enrolled at CCHS or in a program affiliated with CCHS their last quarter of high school, such as the Post-Secondary Educational Option or a foreign exchange program, to participate in the CCHS graduation ceremony. Exceptions may be made in unusual circumstances, such as if a senior moves to Cook County in his or her last quarter of high school because of a parent’s job.
Favorable audit, challenges ahead
While the continuing decline in student population is “significant” according to auditor Carl Nordquist, results of the 2008-09 audit were better than expected. Increases in special ed funding and Impact Aid last year along with a refund from Energy Services Group, the company that is monitoring the school’s new HVAC system, generated more income than expected.
“This temporary increase in our fund balance certainly improves the district outlook,” Superintendent Schwarz stated in a November 16 news release. “TheISD 166 board will need to study the results of the audit and determine whether or not an operating referendum is needed or if it can be placed on hold for a year.”
On June 30, the school had a fund balance of $1.4 million, equal to 23% of its operating budget. Thisis within the 20-25% recommended by the school’s auditing firm. On November 16, the board approved a motion establishing a minimum unreserved fund balance equal to 45 days of operating expenses, or $1.1 million of this year’s operating budget.
When asked how much fund balance is too much, Superintendent Schwarz replied, “That’s a good question, and the one the ISD 166 Finance Team looked at carefully. …The team recommends that whenever the general fund balance exceeds 75 days, administration should be directed to identify ways to enhance or expand programming.” In the board’s motion was approval of a 75-day maximum fund balance as well.
Schwarz sees rough waters ahead for the school. “Minnesota State Aid to ISD 166 dropped by over $800,000 this year,” she wrote. “Part of this money was replaced by federal stimulus dollars. We are unsure what will happen when the stimulus dollars are gone and the state needs to balance the books.” In addition, she expects Secure Rural Schools funding to decrease.
“In short, ISD 166 could see a significant drop in state and federal revenue as early as the 2011-12 school year,” Schwarz wrote. “I am quickly learning how unpredictable school funding is and therefore how important a healthy fund balance is to weathering the unpredictable financial storms.”
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