Category Archives: District 833

Bulletin: Schools have long list of legislative concerns

Judy Spooner writes in the Woodbury Bulletin: Schools have long list of legislative concerns. The article describes the list of request school officials are making of their legislators in South Washington County.

In addition to the start date issue (833 wants a start before Labor Day), special ed, and kindergarten, the article discussed Crosswinds:

Jacobus also got legislators up to speed with information about the possibility of District 833 acquiring Crosswinds school in Woodbury.

The school is operated by the East Metro Area Integration District, which can no longer afford to operate it because 10 member school districts have withdrawn their funding in order to operate integration programs in their own districts.

On a year-round schedule with a focus on art and science with about 300 students, the school is half full of students from grades 6-10.

District 833 wants to take over the school but the Perpich Center for the Arts and Intermediate School District 916 are also interested.

Jacobus said 833 is the only metropolitan entity that can take over the school.

District 833 needs the school to address growth concerns but would not continue operating the existing program, he told lawmakers.

Press coverage of the transfer of governance

Tony Lonetree wrote for the Star Tribune: Woodbury school is saved, but work still needs to be done.

The board overseeing the integration school heeded parental wishes to save Crosswinds from closure by agreeing Wednesday night to turn the school over to the Perpich Center for Arts Education.

But the Perpich Center now must win legislative approval and funding by April 1 or see the building claimed, instead, by the South Washington County School District, under action taken by the East Metro Integration District (EMID) school board.

Christopher Magen wrote for the Pioneer Press: Harambee and Crosswinds: Transfer of the integration-focused magnet schools OK’d.

Crosswinds families will now turn their attention to the Capitol, where they have a short time to win over lawmakers in order to keep the school open.

“It means will still have a massive amount of work to do,” Zaiman said.

Judy Spooner wrote for the South Washington County Bulletin: South Washington County Schools in line for Crosswinds if Perpich can’t secure state money.

Deciding the future of Crosswinds, valued at $25 million including its property near Tamarack Road and Interstate 494, took a series of votes and amendments.

The final vote, to give the school to the Perpich center if it can secure funding from the Legislature, failed on a 5-5 tie.

After a short break, a second vote to amend the motion with a deadline of April 1, passed 6-4.

If District 833 acquires the school, it will be at no cost if the building is used for education. It was built with state funds.

EMID board votes for Perpich and Roseville plans

The EMID board voted to close Harambee and Crosswinds tonight. EMID will not be running schools next year. They also voted to accept the Roseville proposal to take over Hararmbee. The real question was, what would they do with Crosswinds.

The EMID board tonight voted to give the Perpich Center for Arts Education until April 1 to get the authority and funding it needs to run Crosswinds. If Perpich fails to get that authority and funding by April 1, the building will go to South Washington County.

This makes the legislative task for Perpich enormous. Perpich will have to seek a separate bill and early action by the Minnesota legislature. By forcing this to be an early vote, they have made this a very difficult task. Difficult, but not necessarily impossible.

Step by step.

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Come to the EMID Board Meeting, Wednesday 1/23

This is it. Since August 2011 we have been doing all we can do to see that our schools can keep doing the wonderful work they do. Over two years have gone into saving our schools, and the EMID board meeting tomorrow will decide their fate. Whether or not you have something you want to say to the board, just being present to witness the board action will send a message. Please come to the meeting tomorrow. The EMID board meeting will be at Harambee, Wednesday 1/23, 5:30pm. Childcare will be provided.

The big question of the meeting is whether the EMID board will allow Crosswinds a chance of holding together its program as part of the Perpich Center for Arts Education.

If you do want to testify, the public forum will begin at 5:30pm. Some of us will gather early, starting at 4:30pm, to share ideas and feedback on our planned testimony. Feel free to come early if you would like to get feedback yourself.

We are expecting that there may be media at the meeting tomorrow. The Pioneer Press, Star Tribune, and Bulletin have all been covering the story. Meanwhile integration has also been in the news, putting our board’s action even more in the public eye.

If EMID does allow the Perpich proposal to move forward, then our attention turns to the Minnesota Legislature. Stay tuned!

Star Tribune: Fate of Crosswinds Arts and Science School in Woodbury may lie with Perpich Center

Tony Lonetree writes in the Star Tribune: Fate of Crosswinds Arts and Science School in Woodbury may lie with Perpich Center. This article focusses more on the money and includes quotes from Perpich, our board, parents, and administration. The article ends with a not-quite-quote from Jim Gelbmann:

Wearing multiple hats in the situation is Jim Gelbmann, a South Washington County board member who also is an appointee to the EMID board.

The Perpich Center proposal has gained strength, he said, primarily as result of the hearing earlier this month. But he and a couple of EMID colleagues are concerned, he said, about the center’s ability to raise $2.5 million to $3 million as state leaders grapple with a $1.1 billion deficit.

Crosswinds, he said this month, is an expensive program, but an effective one for some students.

It’s likely, he said, that those students would not have succeeded if not for Crosswinds.

Pioneer Press: Crosswinds school will know its fate soon

Christopher Magan wrote a story for the Pioneer Press: Crosswinds school will know its fate soon. It is a terrific summary of the current situation and the decision the board faces this coming week.

“Certainly for families, this was a light we were excited to see shine,” Crosswinds Principal Bryan Bass said of Perpich’s proposal. “These parents searched for a place to call home. and to hear and know it could be in jeopardy is an awful feeling.”

Crosswinds families have coalesced behind the Perpich proposal, but it is far from a sure thing. They need to persuade lawmakers to give Perpich the authority to govern their school, then designate a source of money to operate it.

The story also includes some wonderful pictures like this one!

Bulletin: Curriculum key for Crosswinds backers

Amber Kispert-Smith writes in the Woodbury Bulletin: Curriculum key for Crosswinds backers. The article describes the hearing at Crosswinds and the choice facing the EMID Board.

The EMID School will review proposals during its Jan. 16 meeting before making a final decision at its Jan. 23 meeting.

“I do not envy you at all,” said Crosswinds special education teacher Jeff Parker. “I’m not here to change your mind, but I am going to push on your mindset – it’s not wise to spend energy fighting the change, but it is wise to spend energy shaping that change.

“I don’t believe that school closure is a term that I want to hear anymore because that is a mindset of decay; I want to shift our mindset to a more preservation mindset – turn away from closing and turn toward preserving the program. I don’t believe this is the end, it does not need to be the end.”

Transcript of Crosswinds Hearing

A number of you have been awaiting the transcript of the public hearing last week at Crosswinds and Harambee. EMID just put the Crosswinds transcript on their website (PDF).

Hearing Re The Proposed Closing of Crosswinds Arts & Science School, Public

Contents:

  • George Hoeppner Opens the meeting / 5
  • Shari Thompson presentation / 6
  • Jan Mohr presentation / 17
  • Dan Larson, parent / 21
  • Fred LeBlanc, parent / 23
  • Abby LeBlanc, student / 25
  • Kim Zaiman, parent / 26
  • Kathy Romero, teacher / 28
  • Jonah and Dalton Thomas, former students / 31
  • Leslye Taylor, parent / 34
  • Laurel LeBlanc, parent / 35
  • Ihsan Ingersoll, student / 37
  • Holly Ingersoll, parent / 38
  • Dave Bishop, parent / 41
  • Jeff Parker, teacher / 43
  • Bev Sellie, parent / 45
  • Kayleigh Schlenker, student / 47
  • Tim Stepan, teacher, union president / 49
  • Dan Stein, student / 52
  • Josh Kenow, student / 53
  • Casey Markovich, student / 54
  • Jill Markovich, parent / 54
  • Zander Danielson Sellie, former student / 56
  • Cornelius Rish, teacher / 59
  • Savannah Taylor, student / 61
  • Kelly DeBrine, parent / 63
  • Eric Celeste, parent / 64
  • Mike Boguszewski, parent / 68
  • Leah Bourg, teacher / 71
  • Amanda Hoffman and Madison Linke, students / 73
  • Susan Larson, parent / 76
  • Denise Dzik, teacher / 77
  • Rose Vang, student / 80
  • Anna Barker, teacher / 81
  • Shannon Hannigan, parent / 83
  • Tami Bayne-Kuczmarski, parent / 85
  • Yolanda Rivera, parent / 87
  • Jan Mohr, proposed findings / 88

EMID Board Discusses Perpich Option

Tonight the EMID Board spent most of it’s discussion time talking about the option to have the Perpich Center for Arts Education take over governance of Crosswinds. The board also heard briefly from the two other interested entities: South Washington County Schools (ISD 833) and Northeast Metro (ISD 916).

Once again, Perpich was the only one of the three enthusiastically embracing the July 2013 deadline originally proposed by the board. Perpich wants to take over Crosswinds starting next school year, keeping most of the program and staff intact. 916 said that they would certainly not continue the current Crosswinds program and would also not be ready to move into the building this fall. South Washington still prefers to have more planning time, but said that the would “do our darndest” to open the building in the fall if they were given clear indication that it was theirs by April 1st.

The board spent quite a bit of time interviewing Perpich Executive Director Sue Mackert about Perpich’s intentions and the legislative process Perpich must go through to acquire the authority and funding it needs to proceed. Mackert said that Perpich had already made appointments with various state agencies and was ready to contact legislators on January 24 if the EMID board decides to give Perpich that chance next Wednesday.

Superintendent Mohr described an option to give Perpich the first go at governance of Crosswinds while also giving South Washington an option to govern should Perpich not get legislative support. This would mean that the EMID board would not have to vote again to transfer governance to South Washington if Perpich runs into a road block at the Capitol.

However, some board members were hesitant about the risks involved in that plan. They noted that the legislative process might scuttle the Perpich proposal as late as May or June, well after South Washington’s April 1st deadline for planning anything for the 2013/2014 school year. This might leave EMID in the position of owning the Crosswinds building without any program to put in it since the school would already be closed. Mackert pointed out that she would probably get some early indications of such a failure at the legislature and would be very open about sharing the state of affairs with EMID and South Washington. She thought Perpich should have a pretty good read on the legislative progress by the end of March.

The board will move this matter to a vote at next week’s EMID board meeting, Wednesday 1/23, 5:30pm at Harambee. The public forum at the start of that meeting will be the last chance to be heard on this matter, so please come to the meeting and share what you have to say with the board.

We have video of key portions of this meeting (just click on “next” to see more videos below).

We also audio recorded this evening’s meeting, available as this MP3 file. Highlights include:

  • 00:18:00 Jim Gelbmann asks what would happen to Crosswinds if the board conveys the building to Perpich and Perpich fails to get authority and funding.
  • 00:42:45 to 01:05:00 an extended Q&A with Sue Mackert of Perpich.
  • 01:54:00 to 01:10:15 a brief set of questions for the 916 representative.
  • 01:10:30 to 01:13:30 a brief exchange with the 833 representative.
  • 01:15:00 a discussion of the risks of the Perpich proposal.

EMID school closure hearings Wednesday and Thursday

The EMID Board hearing on closing Crosswinds will be this Wednesday at 6:30pm at Crosswinds. The hearing on closing Harambee will be this Thursday at 6:30pm at Harambee. The public is welcome to testify at either or both hearings. Some folks who wish to share the themes of their testimony and get feedback ahead of the hearings will be gathering at 5:30pm at each location, so feel free to show up early if you wish.

You may also wish to write down and share your testimony with the board (their addresses are available on the EMID Families website) or other families (just send a copy to info@emidfamilies.org).

According to board chair George Hoeppner, both hearings will follow a similar format. Superintendent Janet Mohr and Finance Officer Shari Thompson will present information related to the reason we are at the current point. After their initial comments,
there will be opportunity for public testimony.

Public testimony will follow the structure of the open forum at a board meetings. There will be a five minute limit for each speaker.

Mohr and Thompson will then speak a second time.

The board will not have discussion either of these evenings.

If board members can find an evening to meet before their January 23 board meeting, they will try to refine the criteria for selection and discuss options. That date will be made public if it can be found.

Decisions will be made at the EMID Board meeting on January 23, 5:30pm, at Harambee.