After several years of budget reductions to address declining enrollment, the ISD 166 school board is down to cutting licensed teaching staff.
At a Monday, February 22, 2010 school board meeting, Superintendent Beth Schwarz recommended program changes that would reduce or eliminate the jobs of 11 teachers. After making cuts in numerous areas such as custodial and secretarial staff, materials and supplies, and building maintenance, Schwarz said, they could not find any other places to reduce the budget. “Thisis the last place we have to go at this point,” she said.
Principal Gwen Carman handed out a list of proposed program changes based on student class requests for next year and budget reduction priorities. Courses such as Global Studies, Woods & Carpentry,
and Business Applications,
requested by only eight to sixteen students, will probably not be offered next year but could be offered on an everyother year basis. Classes like English,
Civics, Chemistry,
and Biology
as well as numerous electives will combine sections, resulting in class sizes of up to 35.
Sawtooth Elementary is expected to have 154 students next fall compared to 161 this year and will go from nine classrooms to seven.
Small class sizes are important, Superintendent Schwarz said, but research shows it is most important in early elementary grades. She knows it’s difficult to teach large classes of physics and chemistry, she said, but as a former science teacher, she knows it can be done.
The cuts go deep, with teachers like third-grade teacher Lorelei Livingston, who has been with the district for 15 years, facing the loss of their jobs. Three other teachers, Ann Russ, Michael McHugh, and Julie Brandt, are facing the loss of their jobs as well. According to Carman and Schwarz, the personnel decisions are based on a combination of certification – fitting those with the right certification into jobs that are available – and seniority. The teacher’s union is involved, and different decisions may be reached based on a better understanding of laws relating to unrequested leaves of absence.
“This is extremely difficult for everybody,” said Principal Carman.
According to school board member Eric Kemp, the cuts are “the fiscally responsible thing for us to do at this time.” In an email document he sent to the Cook County News-
Herald,
Kemp said, “Our highest student to teacher ratio was 17.5:1 in 2002-03, whereas we are around 13:1 today. …The number of students we have cannot sustain the amount of faculty we have. …We have put off teacher layoffs as long as we could, but those layoffs can be postponed no longer. …Every individual member of the board and administration has reservations about some portion of the reductions that we are considering. These are hard choices.”
Thedistrict is expected to go down to 470 students next fall, a loss of 28 pupil funding units. Next year will be the first year the district will have two graduating classes of fewer than 40. In addition to this, Superintendent Schwarz said, state funding is likely to be reduced further. She was at the capital on February 24 with other superintendents and a lobbyist, and upon returning indicated, “Things are very bleak right now.”
The preliminary budget reduction recommendations would reduce the budget by $440,005, 64% of the two- year goal of $682,588. The administrative team, however, recommended adding $5,600 worth of College in the School classes – Psychology,
Chemistry, Accounting, and Spanish
– which could be taught in the same classroom with high school-level classes. Having College in the Schools gives the district a marketing edge, Schwarz said. She believes it is necessary in order to retain students who would otherwise take the Post Secondary Education Option (PSEO) that allows high school students to attend certain colleges either in person or online at no cost to the family.
Is College in the Schools really that important, school board member Leonard Sobanja wondered, compared to teaching students things like industrial technology skills? Students will gravitate toward college if encouraged, he said, but some will get there and realize college is not the best avenue for them.
Only eight students registered for the Woods
& Carpentry
class, Schwarz said. If only eight kids had signed up for Chemistry,
they probably would have waited a year to offer it. Right now, they have 26 students signed up for chemistry and 26 for physics. “If the numbers are there,” she said, “we can offer the course. If they’re not, we can’t.”
“We’ve got to do something,” Sobanja said. “There’s no doubt about it.”
Theboard unanimously approved the preliminary budget recommended by Superintendent Schwarz. No decisions were made on the recommended reductions. Consideration of a four-day week continues, a measure that would also save the district money.
The board unanimously approved a motion to move forward with plans for an operating referendum November 2 and approved another motion to pay financial consultants Ehlers & Associates $2,500 to help them write the referendum and market it. Eric Kemp pointed out that passing the referendum would not eliminate the need for budget reductions.
After hearing pitches from two investment companies including Ehlers, the board voted to work with Ehlers in refinancing bonds from the 1996 building remodeling and addition. Al Hopeman of Northland Securities, the other company, said he has heard that the last time the interest rates were this low, Lyndon Johnson was president. Now is a good time to refinance, he told the board.
The board authorized Superintendent Schwarz and board chair Bill Huggins to watch the interest rates and refinance the bonds if refinancing would result in a minimum savings of $400,000 and an interest rate at least 7% lower than the current bonds.
Just before the end of the meeting, the board met in closed session to discuss early retirement incentive options regarding numerous employees who could retire. As of that evening, the only teacher announcing retirement was band director Bill Tormondsen, who tendered his resignation effective the end of the school year. That resignation was accepted “with great appreciation and great regret.” After the closed session, Schwarz said simply, “No retirement incentive will be offered.”
In other news: With board member Rod Wannebo absent, a motion failed by a 2-2 vote to spend $1,463 to hire an architectural firm to create preliminary plans and cost estimates for a proposed joint maintenance facility. The cost would be the school’s 21.2% share of the project that six entities have been considering.
The board will consider consider its involvement again after discussing the project at a February 25 joint meeting of the county, the City of Grand Marais, the Grand Portage Tribe, and ISD 166. Board members expressed support for cooperative ventures but wondered if the district would have money to invest in such a facility, even if the savings from increased energy efficiency would bring a return on the investment in 15 to 20 years. Voting yes were Sobanja and Huggins; voting no were Kemp and Sanders.
For the second year in a row, a letter has been sent from Cook County non-resident homeowner David Stuart to 3,000 other non-resident homeowners. It has brought in over $2,000 in donations to the district so far this year.
Also for the second year in a row, the school received a finance award from the Minnesota Department of Education. The award reflects compliance with state statutes regarding financial issues and, according to the Department of Education, “reflects a proactive stance by the district on positive fund balances, sound fiscal policies and practices, training initiatives, and accountability.”
Kristen Carlsgaard’s Spanish students raised over $3,000 for Haiti earthquake relief. The money was sent to the American Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders.
Will Brandenburg won first place in the 2010 PBS art and essay contest. Judges reviewed over 850 submissions from northeastern Minnesota.
Thetalent show to raise funds for two sets of handicap-accessible doors, originally cancelled due to bad weather, has been rescheduled for 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 13.
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