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Deer River
Schools begin preparing 2006-07 Budget
December in
Minnesota public schools means the beginning of the budgeting process.
As school boards plan for reorganization and a New Year, school leaders
all over Minnesota begin wrestling with the challenges of maintaining
high quality educational programming, meeting state and federal
standards and providing well-rounded extra-curricular programs while
reducing budgets. Even with an increase from the state, the majority of
rural schools throughout Minnesota will again be faced with budget
reductions.
For three consecutive years, the State of Minnesota held revenues to
Minnesota Public Schools flat. In school districts with declining
enrollments this becomes a double jeopardy. Even with a small revenue
increase for the next two years, rural school districts have not
recovered from the flat revenues from the past three years. Deer River,
as an example, not only saw the flat revenues with increasing costs; we
are in significant declining enrollment in our elementary schools. This
means that we are graduating classes of 95 students with our incoming
kindergartens coming in at approximately 70 students per grade level.
That will mean a net loss of 25 students coming through our elementary
schools. That in turn means a significant loss in revenue. The current
public school funding formula is pupil-unit based so the more students
you lose the greater the loss in revenue. In a supply and demand model
we could simply reduce our expenses, however, we serve children and
families, which complicate our challenge. Even with fewer students, many
of our expenses continue to increase.( i.e. transportation, building
maintenance, utilities, insurance, and heating - to name a few.)
Keeping all this in mind, building site teams and administration, with
input from our communities will begin looking at educational and program
priorities, district mission and student needs as we plan for necessary
reductions. The challenge comes into play when you have to reduce
quality programs that benefit students in order to maintain a balanced
budget. During the next couple months, parents and community members
will have opportunities to provide feedback via surveys and/or public
meetings. We need your help in moving Deer River Schools progressively
forward. Please take the time to attend a meeting and/or go to our
district website and fill out a survey about what you believe our
district priorities should be for the 2006 – 2007 school year.
In closing, the district will be coming to the communities next fall for
an operating levy. The planning process will begin sometime in January.
We will put together an active group of parents, staff, students and
community members who are passionate about high quality schools and
whose #1 priority is student achievement. We believe each one of our
students deserves the very best education we can deliver and there is no
doubt that Deer River Schools will need support from you in order to
continue offering the programs and services we currently offer. The
school board looks forward to a successful operating levy campaign
knowing that it will benefit our most precious natural resource – our
young people.
As the holiday season comes into full swing, on behalf of the Board of
Education, I would like to take this opportunity to extend a warm and
sincere holiday greeting to all parents, students, staff and community.
We are extremely blessed to have so many wonderful people working with
our young people.
STAND UP FOR
PUBLIC EDUCATION
SEPTEMBER 2005
The conclusion of the Labor Day
holiday serves as an unofficial back-to-school signal. Once again the
Deer River School District, as well as thousands of public schools
across the country, becomes the hub of activity from sunup to sundown.
Back-to-school coincides with the
release of data, which ranks how our district fared under the Minnesota
Comprehensive Assessments and Basic Skills Tests, and the targets set by
the federal No Child Left Behind Act. If you are a parent, by now you
know that Deer River Schools continues to make improvements in test
scores and student achievement. Although we have identified areas
needing improvement our overall student achievement remains positive.
Every time new data is released, there are always those who proclaim
that “quality public education” is an oxymoron.
Critics of public education like to
assert that academic achievement is stagnant, our kids cannot compete
internationally, or that vouchers are the silver bullet. Those who wax
nostalgic about “the good old days of education” forget that the system
was an exclusionary one that discriminated against children of color or
those with disabilities. When someone laments the fact that the
nation’s public education system is not what it used to be, I agree with
them and say, “You’re right! And that’s a good thing!”
Unlike private and parochial
schools, our nation’s public school system educates every child who
enters through the front doors – regardless of his/her educational,
physical or mental need. This provides children the amazing opportunity
to receive a free K-12 education in a diverse environment. I don’t know
about you, but I cannot think of a better way to prepare children to
grow up and become productive citizens of our diverse nation and the
world.
Yet public schools face the critical
challenge of closing the achievement gap. NCLB holds schools
accountable for eliminating the disparity in academic achievement
between poor/minority students and those from higher social classes.
Many Americans blame failing schools for this gap. As a public school
superintendent, raising academic levels for every child in this school
system is my No. 1 priority. But we all know that every child enters
school at a different level.
Research shows that social class
differences in health care quality and access, nutrition, childrearing
styles, housing quality and stability, parental occupation and
aspirations, and even exposure to environmental toxins play a
significant role in how well children learn and ultimately succeed.
Columbia University Teachers College
professor and former education columnist Richard Rothstein argues in a
new book titled “Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic, and
Educational Reform to Close the Black-White Achievement Gap,” that
blaming the achievement gap on failing schools is a mistake because it
diverts attention from addressing the effects of economic and social
disparities on children before they enter school.
As a public school administrator, I
am committed to closing the achievement gap. But there is a reason that
“public” appears in public schools. Without public support there can be
no public school. To accomplish this worthy goal of universal high
achievement requires the political will, the financial resources and the
educational capacity to determine how best to educate every child.
School, community, business and elected leaders must commit themselves
to work together in providing comprehensive nutrition and health
programs, early childhood education and ongoing support for families.
Educators know that as we get all
kids ready for school we also need to get schools ready for kids. We
will continue to improve our schools’ organization, teaching and
learning practices and leadership strategies to meet the needs of each
student who comes to us. Schools must offer more personalized,
individually tailored approaches that capitalize on what kids already
know, who their learning styles offer, what new brain research tells us
about teaching and learning and what technology offers us.
Finally, we all must stay focused on
the real goals of education: giving students the tools they need to
succeed in life and preparing them to be good citizens – in our
democracy and continue to be successful in this ever-changing world.
I urge every member of this
community to commit to ensuring academic success for every child in this
district. Come to our monthly school board meetings, volunteer in a
classroom, join a building site-team, district leadership team or
building committee, or contact your building principal for a host of
other opportunities to become involved. There are so many opportunities
to contribute to the success of our students.
We have an exceptional generation of
children in our public schools today, and they should expect nothing
short of excellence from all of us. I am committing the Deer River
Public School system to do its part and I look forward to working with
parents, business and community leaders and our elected officials in
making our public school district the best it can be. Stand with me in
standing up for public education.
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Thank you for taking the time to read this section of the
ISD 317 Deer River Website. Please feel free to
contact me at any time with your questions, concerns and comments.
Letters on this page are
sorted by chronological order.
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Deer
River Schools prepare for exciting 2005-06 startup…
As the summer begins to wind down, the excitement of
school startup begins. Staff begin coming in energized after some rest,
relaxation and professional growth opportunities over the summer.
Students begin trickling in to check out the school, their lockers and
sharing their enthusiasm for the start of school…ok maybe not a ton of
enthusiasm yet, as one student so tastefully put, “Come on, Mr. Adams,
we still have three weeks of summer yet and then we’ll be excited for
school to start.” Point well taken…we don’t want to rush away this
wonderful time of the year.
I would like to take this opportunity to share some
extremely positive things happening in Deer River and our region as we
prepare for the exciting and successful upcoming school year. To start
things off, on August 24, 2005 there will be a LINK CREW orientation
through our district peer-mentoring program, mini-class schedule run for
the incoming 7th grade students and an opportunity to share a meal. Lynn
Smith Evans, LINK CREW Coach can be contacted at the school at 246-2416
to answer any questions about this new and exciting way to welcome Deer
River’s “Class of 2011.” This is a great opportunity to meet staff,
become acquainted with the building, participate in a mini-class
schedule, meet the high school principal and, of course share a meal
with many great community members, friends and family.
Deer River Schools are again working proactively in
collaboration with Itasca Area Schools in an effort to insure that all
students have access to the highest quality educational opportunities.
These past couple of years of flat revenue from the state and federal
governments have stimulated opportunities for area school districts to
share our minds, our wills and resources as we move forward planning for
the educational future of our region.
The most recent success in the collaborative effort is
our on-line learning academy, Virtual Itasca Area Academy of Learning
(VITAL), which will begin this fall for all students throughout the
Itasca Area School Districts, which include but are not limited to: Hill
City, Northland, Greenway, Nashwauk-Keewatin, Northome, Grand Rapids,
Floodwood, Deer River and Itasca Community College. The on-line courses
will be offered to students throughout area school districts, and staff
from participating districts will teach the on-line courses. This
project is funded through a generous 3-year $525,000.00 Blandin
Foundation Grant. VITAL will start by offering 6 courses that include
Creative Writing, Algebra I, Advanced Placement English, U.S History,
Biology and Economics. For more information contact district
administration or Rochelle Van Den Heuvel, Program Administrator at
Greenway High School (218) 245-6214. There will soon be a link from our
district web-site too.
Another exciting project that starts up this fall and
is part of our regional collaborative approach to serving families with
young children, our communities and families is the Invest Early
Initiative. This project will incorporate a multitude of services,
programming for children and their families, while supporting early
learners during this critical time in their life. More details about
Invest Early programming specifics can be found on the district web site
at
http://www.deerriver.k12.mn.us. Go to the button regarding Programs
and Services and there will be a link with information for you to learn
more about this exciting program.
With several other grants and initiatives in the
works, you can see that Deer River Schools with our many wonderful
staff, along with the Itasca Area School Partners will be busy providing
the highest quality education for all students while working in
collaboration to make best use of our financial and human resources.
With the majority of school districts struggling with ongoing fiscal
shortfalls and declining enrollment we must continue to work together in
serving our young people and learning communities while maintaining the
integrity of each independent school district. We look forward to the
start of a GREAT school year meeting the needs of all students, their
families and our supportive communities.
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