Superintendent Beth Schwarz
Beth Schwarz, currently director of education and licensing at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, has accepted the position of ISD 166 superintendent. She signed a three-year contract at a salary of $95,000 a year. She will officially begin July 1, 2009 but plans to make trips to Cook County before then.
Elementary class sizes
After a meeting was held with Sawtooth Elementary parents to discuss classroom configurations for next school year, the ISD 166 school board approved a plan proposed by Principal Gwen Carman at the Monday, May 18 school board meeting. Last month, the board had put off approving the proposal to allow more time for review and discussion.
Sawtooth will have at least 20 fewer students in the fall than it does now and will have nine classrooms instead of 10. Last month’s plan was changed after teachers proposed having three combined fourth and fifth grade classrooms they would call “intermediate learning communities.” Teacher Julie Viren said the staff has been discussing this approach for “quite some time.”
The three classrooms would have a total of 62 students who would have homerooms but be divided up according to academic level only for reading and math. The intermediate teachers will be Julie Viren, Jana Larson, and Deb Waage.
Carman said the proposal was well received by the 25 or so parents who attended the meeting at which the proposal was discussed.
Next year’s kindergarten class is expected to have about 25 students. Given student numbers available at this time, plans include one first grade class of 20, a combined class with seven 1st graders and seven 2nd graders, one 2nd grade class of 17, and two 3rd grade classes of 18 students each.
Band lessons to continue
At the urging of Cook County High School band teacher Bill Tormondsen, the board voted to not reduce the music-teaching job being vacated upon the retirement of John Redshaw. The board had planned to reduce the position in the face of declining enrollment, but Tormondsen said the reduction would leave many students without enough small-group band lessons.
“Music is more than just music,” Tormondsen said. Playing an instrument enhances the rest of the learning process, he said.
Tormondsen, CCHS’s band director several decades ago, will begin his fourth year as parttime band teacher after retiring from the Duluth schools. Next year will be his last, he said.
Tormondsen has repeatedly brought high school bands to high levels of performance. “You came in and you did a terrific job,” said board member Leonard Sobanja. Music in this community “has been a cementing thing,” Sobanja said, drawing geographically separate sectors of the county together in the 54 years he has lived here.
Superintendent Chuck Futterer said the additional staff time requested by Tormondsen would cost the district up to $13,000 a year at a Step I level.
Tormondsen said the band program is in need of new instruments as well. Some of the instruments being used by students were here when he taught CCHS band in the 1960s.
Downsizing buses and garages
Facilities director Mike Groth suggested that the board consider selling the district garage at Birch Grove Community Center. The bus that services the West End could be housed in the Grand Marais bus garage, he said.
The board authorized Superintendent Futterer to obtain a market analysis on how much the garage is worth.
The board voted to trade in one of the district’s buses and exchange two leased buses in order to lease a new 83-passenger bus to service the Grand Portage route. Parents had raised concerns regarding overcrowding on the East End bus earlier this year.
Board member Eric Kemp said he wants to make sure a larger bus would still be able to go where it needs to go to pick up students. Groth said the larger bus would be able to go everywhere the current bus goes. One of his upcoming tasks will be to analyze bus routes and safety issues for next year, he said.
Anticipating that lease rates will go up in the next several years, the board decided to spend an extra $2,500 to lock in a rate for five years rather than spending less on a three-year lease.
Four-day week possibility
Jane Gellner updated the board on the work of a committee investigating the potential cost savings of a four-day school week.
The scenario they are envisioning would keep annual student contact minutes the same but reduce school days from 175 to 140. The school day would start at 8:10 a.m. and end at 4:17 p.m. The school week would run from Tuesday through Friday. Gellner said many doctors and dentists take Fridays off, so giving students Mondays off would facilitate scheduling of medical and dental appointments. The middle and high school day would go from seven 50-minute periods to six 73-minute periods and would include no study halls. Lunch periods would decrease from 50 minutes to 35 minutes.
The committee estimates an annual savings of about $77,000 from reduced bussing costs, paraprofessional time, substitutes, and utility costs.
Parent, staff, and community input would be sought if a four-day week were to be considered further. The plan could be implemented as early as January 2010.
New heating system
Energy costs were significantly lower this year after installation of a new heating and ventilation system, Superintendent Futterer reported. Some small tasks still need to be completed over the summer when students are not there, he said.
The project came in under budget. Themoney saved must be used on facilities, so a list of priorities will be made regarding how that money will be spent.
The new system, which uses propane instead of fuel oil, saved the district $16,000 in heating costs over the winter, Futterer said.
New math books
High school math teacher Kaye Tavernier presented the board with several options for purchase of new math books and teaching aids. The district reviews curriculum needs of various departments on a rotating schedule.
“As the world is changing,” Tavernier said, “there is greater need for more students to have math competency.”
One option she presented was to not purchase a math textbook for each student. Leonard Sobanja said he believes each student (and the parents helping him or her) should have a textbook for reference
at home.
Board member Rod Wannebo asked how teachers would be trained to teach the new curriculum Tavernier was proposing. Superintendent Futterer said that teacher training comes from a different fund controlled by the staff development committee. Any time they have a new curriculum, Tavernier said, they devote staff time to developing strategies for teaching it. With the help of veteran math teacher Kathryn Ramberg and teacher trainer Sue Ahrendt, the staff will be working toward expanding their teaching strategies to help students learn in whatever ways work best for them, she said.
While the amount budgeted for the new math curriculum was $30,000, according to board member Mary Sanders, the board voted to spend the maximum amount requested by Tavernier – up to $42,307 — to allow purchase of textbooks for each student, teacher resource kits, and $11,650 in math teaching tools such as a computer projector, calculators, and math manipulatives. Tavernier will pursue purchasing used books that might be available at reduced cost.
Voting aye were Bill Huggins, Leonard Sobanja, and Eric Kemp. Voting nay were Rod Wannebo and Mary Sanders.
Mandates continue
Futterer apprised the board of education issues being discussed by the Minnesota legislature. Schools asked for reductions in 100 mandates this year but received only two. Thenext two years will bring no funding increases, but they will bring no decreases, either, Futterer said.
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