EMID’s board meeting last night began with a “good news” tour of Harambee’s backyard with teacher and environmental education coordinator Jenny Eckman. The weather was perfect for sharing the wonderful resource that Harambee kids and teachers have all around the school. The board took a walk past where kids had recently discovered an owl pellet with a full skull inside it, saw plenty of scat, and learned from Jenny of the diversity of experience that kids bring into the field and take back home. It was a wonderful way to start a board meeting and these slides may give you a sense of what an incredible resource EMID has in Harambee’s surrounds.

The board also got a solid briefing on district finances from Shari Thompson. Shari made it very clear that the district is still in severe financial straits. While our budget cuts to the schools have made it possible for the schools to stay open this year, the district will still run a $1.8 million deficit. This will leave us with only $900,000 dollars in our general fund balance at the end of the year. Obviously, we could not run the district this way for even one more year without running out of funds. Shari noted that contributors to our deficit were declining enrollment at Crosswinds, the geographical distance between our sites, the size of our schools, the fact that our’s are schools of choice without a traditional community supporting them, and the lack of levy authority. She also added “sustainability into the future” as a financial challenge, which highlights the fact that our board has refused to build a sustainable financial model for the schools.

Three parents spoke to the board at the start of the meeting. They raised concerns about the mission and vision the board was considering in its “strategic roadmap,” offered to help the board develop the “roadmap” for the schools, and noted some continuing school bus issues in Saint Paul. However, the board really did not discuss the mission and vision present in their roadmap document at all. Superintendent Janet Mohr did say she intended to develop a school roadmap that emphasized “readiness” (presumably college readiness) to present to the board at their October meeting. She said that she would solicit family input only after that next board meeting.

Quite a few parents were present for the board meeting and had individual conversations with board members after the meeting. Continued family contact with the board is essential to a healthy outcome for our schools. Thanks to everyone who took the time to attend!