ISD 166 Board Chair Mary Sanders swears in the newest school board member, Terry Collins of Grand Marais, on March 14, 2011. He will be filling the term of Rod Wannebo, who retired from the board last month.
As enrollment continues to decline at ISD 166, Superintendent Beth Schwarz continues to look for ways to cut the budget while continuing to offer a wide variety of classes and keep things running smoothly. On March 14, the school board held a work session at which they discussed numerous scenarios for cutting administrative staff/student support costs by at least $100,000 by the beginning of the 2012-13 school year.
The school is currently spending $556,000 a year on administrative personnel, including salaries, benefits and other related costs.
Options considered include reducing the superintendent’s position to half-time or combining it with principal and community education director positions. Combining the school counselor and dean positions was on the table, as well as replacing the counselor position with a combined social worker/student support/ dean position.
The board solicited input from the staff. One person who would be affected by the proposed cuts pointed out that supervisory cuts in transportation, information technology, and food service were not being considered at this time. Another suggested an across-the-board, district-wide cut in staff salaries. A 5 percent cut would lower costs by $168,843.
The options were presented at the March 15 regular school board meeting. During the public comments portion of that meeting, former school board member Eric Kemp urged the board to initiate dialogue with the staff about how to deal with the budget challenges. He said he has encouraged staff to discuss their ideas with Superintendent Schwarz as well.
The board plans to make a decision on these cuts at its April 19 meeting.
At a cost of about $1,000, ORB management analyzed the cost of reconfiguring various areas in the high school to consolidate administrative space and reduce sec- retarial, heating, and cleaning costs. The estimate came in at about $72,000 plus the cost of permits, fees, and relocation.
The superintendent recommended against this but did propose a scaled-back remodeling of the high school office to accommodate district office staff at a cost of just under $14,000 plus “soft costs” such as moving furniture.
Recognizing top graduates
A change was made in the recognition of honor students at graduation upon the recommendation of administrators, faculty and the Academic Team.
Previously, everyone with a 3.0 grade point average (GPA) or above wore a gold cord at the commencement ceremony. The school board approved a new policy that would recognize those with a GPA of 3.25 to 3.79 as honor graduates, and they will wear white cords. High honor graduates must have GPAs of over 3.8 and will wear gold cords.
Over the last 18 months, discussions have taken place on how honor graduates, salutatorians, and valedictorians are determined. A report from Principal Gwen Carman states in a report to the school board, “The discussions have been philosophical, pragmatic, and at times emotional.”
Adding complexity to the fairness of GPAs are issues related to students transferring credits from other schools, from non-CCHS classes taken online or at community colleges, home schooling, and AFS programs as well as varying levels of difficulty among the courses offered at CCHS.
Some schools have chosen to discontinue recognizing valedictorians and salutatorians. A recent survey of 24 faculty members showed a majority (21) supported continuing the practice but establishing criteria possibly requiring that students take a minimum number of classes onsite, attend a minimum number of semesters, and be in school their entire senior year.
Carman’s report states, “Because there is such profound faculty support to continue the awarding of valedictorian and salutatorian at this point in time, it seems that now is not the appropriate time to terminate the practice. It is still very important that we establish a written policy about our selection process. I am not comfortable denying a CCHS graduate the valedictorian or salutatorian award if he or she has the highest GPA simply because he/she did not take ‘enough’ CCHS classes.”
In other school news:
Terry Collins was welcomed to the school board and took his oath of office.
Superintendent Schwarz read a letter from a great-grandmother who had encountered the CCHS girls’ basketball team at a convenience store in Silver Bay as they were returning from a tournament this season. She was impressed with how well behaved they were.
Schwarz attended a meeting at which Governor Dayton made an appearance. “Education is where this governor seems to want to leave his legacy,” she said. “That’s encouraging.”
Maintenance staff encountered five young men who appeared to be teenagers walking through the halls around 4:30 or 4:45 p.m. on March 14. The boys were unknown to the staff and were asked to leave, which they did. The outside doors were locked and law enforcement was notified. Their pictures were recorded on the school’s surveillance cameras.
Visitors are expected to check in at a school office and wear name badges inside the building, and staff is instructed to approach people they do not know who are not wearing name badges and ask if they can help them find what they are looking for.
One of the more difficult decisions being made as the 2011-12 school schedule is ironed out is whether to divide next year’s sixth grade class, expected to include 32 students, into two groups or to keep them all together in light of extreme budget challenges.
Bryan Carpenter was hired as Upper Shore Center for Athletics and Fitness manager at 29 hours a week for a salary of $19,500 plus a $3,000 stipend to coordinate Community Education youth sports. Interim Manager Seth Falk will stay on as support staff.
In 2010, the fitness center had 76 student members and 80 adult members.
Thirty-two students gave blood when the Bloodmobile came to CCHS recently. Teacher/Dean Pam Taylor organized the event.
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