ISD 197 School Board Recap: Sept. 14, 2026

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The School Board celebrated the start of another year with recognitions for student helpers, reports from new student board members, and preliminary enrollment numbers. They also reviewed the middle school technology use policy and provided an update on the upcoming levy.

First Day Festivities

• Superintendent Peter Olson-Skog recognized the district’s Web Leaders and Link Crew. These student groups have similar jobs of welcoming new students to school and serving as mentors, tour guides, and advisors. The Web Leaders are eighth graders at the middle schools, while the Link Crew are seniors at Two Rivers. Board members and staff thanked these students for their hard work making ISD 197 schools welcoming and inclusive and “opening hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of lockers,” as one teacher put it.
• New School Board student representatives Aubrey McMahon and Clara Rebhan gave the first report of their term with an overview of welcome events, school picture days, and fall extracurricular activities. They also noted Two Rivers High School’s placement (again) on the U.S. News and World Report’s list of best high schools in the state.
• Superintendent Olson-Skog reflected on the joy of being present at schools on the first day to greet students, thanked families for their patience and hard work over the summer, and recognized the School Board for their hard work during September, which is School Board Recognition Month. He mentioned that “they get paid about 13 cents an hour” when considering all the events they have to attend.

First Day of School Enrollment

Deputy Superintendent Peter Mau presented preliminary first day of school enrollment numbers for the district.

• Enrollment projections are made using multi-year averages of the “student capture rate,” or the percentage of students at one school who usually move on to the next level in the district.
• This makes kindergarten harder to predict; there is no capture rate data. Instead, they use an average of the past five years’ enrollment, but are finding the need to adjust that due to lowering birth rates.
• This count includes all students who are enrolled, some of whom may not ever attend school in the district (such as if they enrolled in another district or private school without informing ISD 197).
• The preliminary count is 5,124 students, 19 more than their estimate of 5,105.
• Student enrollment plays a major role in assigning state and federal funding to districts. The official attendance numbers on October 1 are the ones that count for those formulas.

Middle School Technology Update

Cari Jo Drewitz, director of curriculum, instruction, and assessment, and Tom Stukel, the district’s new assistant director of technology, provided an update on technology use in the district’s middle schools.

• The district is piloting a new approach to iPad use at the middle school. The biggest change is that students will now keep the iPads at school overnight rather than taking them home.
• They’ve developed new curriculum around responsible device ownership, account safety, and digital citizenship, which is being used as part of the fifth- and sixth-grade writing curriculum.
• Before any student gets access to a device from the district, they are required to view a video guide and read and sign an acceptable use policy. As a clear example of why this is necessary, Drewitz mentioned that they got multiple requests from students to access the policy form on their personal email accounts—something that isn’t allowed according to that exact policy!
• The district also rolled out Jamf Parent, a new parental control app that can let parents further limit student device use when they do bring iPads or Chromebooks home. This allows parents to have more control over how devices are used in their homes without interfering with school-sanctioned apps and activities.
• This is one step in a thorough review of the district’s policies around technology use at all levels. They’re going to continue to gather feedback from students, parents, and staff and consider new policy changes, especially around artificial intelligence (AI).

Levy Update

Superintendent Olson-Skog provided an update on the upcoming tax levy referendum, with a focus on answering frequently-asked questions:

• Why is a levy needed?: State school funding has not kept up with inflation. On average, funding goes up by about 1% per year, while inflation runs about 3% per year. Over the past 23 years (the last time the funding formula was updated), the gap has grown to almost $8 million per year.
• What has the district done to tighten the budget?: The district has cut $3.2 million over the past two years with minimal impacts to the classroom. The district also spends about one-third less than comparable districts on administration costs.
• What is the tax impact?: $14 per month on a $400,000 home (the average for the district) or $168 per year. Individual tax bills will be higher or lower based on their property values. Renters wouldn’t pay directly, but landlords would face higher property tax bills and could raise rents to compensate.
• What would the levy fund?: Technically, it’s a “Capital Project Levy,” but this is misleading. The district will not do any new building projects with the money. Instead, they’ll fund existing costs such as textbooks, maintenance, transportation, and security tools. These costs would be removed from the general fund and paid with the levy dollars instead, allowing the district to balance the budget.
• How is this levy different from the Permanent School Fund?: The Permanent School Fund amendment will give more money to local districts at no direct cost to taxpayers. It’s important that people vote “yes” on it, since a non-vote is counted as a “no” vote on a constitutional amendment. The Permanent School Fund amendment would not close the school’s budget gap. If the levy doesn’t pass, the district will have to cut at least $2 million per year, while the permanent school fund would provide about $120,000 per year.
• Why ask for more than the funding gap? ($4.6 million versus $2 million): The district’s funding gap is an ongoing, growing problem. Getting more revenue now will let the district cover this funding shortfall for multiple years. Realistically, if this levy passes, the district will have about three years of budgeting breathing room. The permanent fix to this problem is more state and federal funding.
• What happens if the levy fails?: The district will cut $2-4 million, which would reduce staffing, increase class sizes and caseloads, cut some classes and activities, and cut some transportation services.

Engage

• More: Agendas and minutes for ISD 197 School Board meetings are available online.
• Watch: You can watch the meeting online. Board Members Marcus Hill and Jon Vaupel also gave a video recap of the meeting.

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