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Curriculum reviews and debate over a school board salary increase dominated the ISD 197 School Board meeting.
School Board Salary
For the third meeting, the school board debated their annual stipend.
- Current rate: Current board stipends are $5,100 for board members and $5,800 for the board chair per year. The last increase came in 2022 and before than in 2019. There were no increases in 2018, 2020, 2021, or 2023.
- Failed motions: Previous proposals for 6% and then 5% increases failed.
- No change: Ultimately, a motion to not increase the board stipends passed on a 4-2 vote (Marcus Hill and Byron Schwab voted no; Tim Aune was absent).
- Opposed to increase: “Bottom line for me, until we’re confident on our fund balance, I’m not comfortable doing a raise,” said Board Chair Sarah Larsen.
- Supportive of increase: “We have to be brave enough to make the decision,” said Board Member Marcus Hill. “It’s not just about optics, it’ s not about the referendum. It’s about the future of what the board is and making it accessible to people.”
- Future discussion: The successful motion did include a clause for further discussion to revisit the process, likely in sub-committee. Several board members who opposed the raise were frustrated with the lack of a formal process for deciding a fair raise.
Curriculum Review
The school board received two updates on curriculum reviews for world language and career and technical education (CTE).
World Language:
- Kudos: The district’s bilingual seals program, where high school students can earn a certification on their diploma for proficiency in a foreign language, continued to draw kudos.
- Costs: The department hopes to address the rising costs of travel and other immersive language experiences.
- Transitions: One of the challenges for world languages continues to be transitions, both between middle school and high school and the levels, with the third level offering the steepest increase in difficulty. The department is working on ways to ease those transitions.
- Expanding: Offering more languages proves to be a challenge for the size of our district, though the district has applied for a grant to offer native languages (potentially Dakota and Ojibwe). But in addition to a cost barrier, finding teachers can be incredibly difficult.
Career and Technical Education:
- Popular: The CTE classes are full and creating space challenges.
- But unknown: At the same time, students and families don’t know what CTE is and are often unaware of the full breadth of options. Communication is a challenge and the district is working to introduce career and technical options earlier in middle school.
- Funding: Offering CTE classes can be a bureaucratic and logistical challenge, trying to match teachers and certifications with the proper funding sources.
- Data: It’s one of the only departments where demographics match the enrollment. Studies have also shown improved graduation rates for students in CTE classes.
- Innovation: While other districts cut back on career and tech options in the last decade or so, ISD 197 maintained their programs and now has the chance to innovate. That’s key with technology that changes so quickly. It creates a unique offering that sets ISD 197 apart.
Other Items on the Agenda
- Policies: The board discussed two policies, one related to students distributing materials and one related to police officers removing students. The latter, Policy 532—”Use of Peace Officers and Crisis Teams to Remove Students with IEPs from School Grounds”—prompted more discussion around language and specific details of practice vs. legal liability. District staff will make changes and bring it back for further discussion.
- Board assignments: The board also discussed committee and school assignments for board members, with changes for the upcoming school year.
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