After a final set of interviews on Wednesday, the EMID Board decided to offer the permanent superintendent position to Janet Mohr, who most recently has been the director of the Northeast Metro 916 Intermediate School District. We don’t yet know a start date since the offer must first be negotiated and accepted, so stay tuned!
Category Archives: EMID
EMID School Board Hosting Community Budget Forum, 3/14
The EMID School Board will hold a Community Forum at 6:30pm on March 14 at Harambee. The topic will be proposed budget reductions. They are asking for input from the community on the “Budget Adjustment Recommendations” shared last week. The board will take action on these recommendations at their regular meeting on 3/21.
The PDF adjustment recommendations are a bit hard to sort out, so here are some of the impacts described by that document.
Structure of Education
Harambee would see the elimination of the magnet foci specialists ($53,340) and their music specialist ($103,000).
Crosswinds would remove one of its four houses (no mention of which one or what this restructuring would look like). This would eliminate math, science, social studies, language arts, and AVID in that house ($264,000). Presumably this would increase class sizes as well, but again, no details about that.
Crosswinds would also move from a seven to a six period day, reducing language, technology, pays ed, music, visual arts, and theater budgets in the process ($253,215).
Special Education
The loss of a house at Crosswinds also results in the loss of one special ed position there ($60,860). Another three educational assistants for special ed are lost due to “restructuring” ($93,156).
Harambee reduces all educational assistants by one half hour a day and eliminates a media/clerical assistant ($31,130).
If the board approves “Tier 2” cuts then Crosswinds would eliminate another educational assistant in special education ($33,168) and Harambee would lose two intervention specialists ($49,130 each).
Intersession and After School
“Increase participations fees for intersession programming, $12,000.” If we assume 2/3 of the current roughly 800 students attend three intersessions, this works out to something on the order of a $10 increase per child per intersession.
“Restructuring of after school, $34,000.” It sounds like they suggest only having after school during quarters 2 and 3 (not 1 and 4) and only for five of the eight weeks of each term, plus increase the fees for that amount of time.
Administrative Cuts
“Elimination of Director of Teaching and Learning Position, $129,920.” That would be eliminating Greg Keith.
“Eliminate TOSA position” ($59,218 at Harambee, $54,000 at Crosswinds). These “teachers on special assignment” have served as almost an assistant principals at our schools and their elimination results in significant additional burden for our principals.
“Reduction of 10 percent in consumable supplies, $28,750.” More money out of teacher pockets and longer supply lists at the start of the school year.
Overall the cuts fall very heavily on Crosswinds, but then crosswinds has also had traditionally more expensive operations. If both tiers of cuts are approved by the board then Crosswinds would see an $868,000 cut, Harambee a $402,000 cut, district wide cuts would be $394,000, and member services would lose $90,000.
Please do look at the “Budget Adjustment Recommendations” for full details.
If you are unable to attend the forum you may email your comments to Mary Ojile who will pass them along to school school board members or send mail to board members directly.
Documents to review for EMID Community Council on 3/3
Dr. Robicheau shared three documents this week that those attending the Community Council meeting this week should take some time to review. Two of these documents are a result of an analysis of the data that was collected at the February 4 Community Council meeting. The first document is a listing of the major themes from the discussion that was held during small groups. The second document is a draft of strategies that are recommended to address the overarching themes. According to Robicheau, this is a draft document that is still in its development stage. The third document is the Guiding Change document approved by the School Board last December.
The next Community Council meeting is this Saturday, March 3, from 8:30am-Noon at Harambee. Everyone is welcome, even if you were not able to attend the first meeting.
During this Community Council meeting Robicheau will be asking participants to respond to and discuss the following questions regarding the draft strategies:
- Do the draft strategies address the overarching goals; a) close the racially predictable achievement gap, b) foster an integrated learning environment?
- Do the draft strategies reflect the values of EMID?
- Do the draft strategies honor the Guiding Change Document approved by the board?
- Do the draft strategies honor the input from the February 4 Community Council?
- Do you see any gaps in this document? What recommendations would you offer?
Everyone in the EMID community is welcome to both meetings, whether you have “signed up” for the Community Council or not. However, if you have not yet signed up it would be very helpful if you let either your principal, Dr. Robicheau, or Sharon Radd know you plan to be there. The administration is trying to get a good count so they can have the space prepared adequately.
Update: On Thursday March 1 Robicheau shared these further docTable 6 Small Groups 2-4.pdfuments from the first Community Council meeting. “This is the feedback from the flip charts complied at the February 4th Community Council meeting. Each document represents one tables notes.” These additional documents may be a response to criticism leveled at the process from some participants stating that the “themes” shared earlier (above) did not seem to represent the output from the first meeting.
Take the EMID budget survey by tomorrow!
Please don’t forget to fill in EMID’s budget survey by tomorrow, Monday 2/27. Do it right away if you can, it is only one page long and EMID needs your input. More information about the survey at the Crosswinds website:
Our commitment to quality teaching and learning remains steadfast. At the same time, we recognize the fiscal crisis we face is very real and difficult decisions will have to be made. Your feedback as we balance our commitment to quality instruction and fiscal demands is essential.
Integration Task Force Considers Metro-wide Integration District
The Integration Revenue Replacement Advisory Task Force is picking up steam and the discussions are getting interesting. You can check out our own updates on our task force page, but one bit of today’s discussion deserves special attention from EMID families.
Scott Thomas, a co-chair of the task force, presented the third draft of his “One Minnesota” proposal to the task force. In it, he proposes:
4. Establish one collaborative Metropolitan Integration School District that folds in the services of existing integration districts to create efficiencies and eliminate duplication of services. This Collaborative Metropolitan School District serves all metro-area districts within the seven county area that receive integration revenue, compels them to participate, and assumes the following responsibilities:
- Develop and operate a choice program similar to the Choice is Yours that promote public school choice and integration across the metropolitan area.
- Evaluate the program and make recommendations for modifications.
- Operate existing magnet schools (FAIR, Harambee, Crosswinds, etc.) that function under one administrative structure (Admin, Human Resources, Finance etc.).
- Efficiently plan for future regional magnet schools in cooperation with metro districts.
- Develop a regional transportation structure that is efficient and maximizes choice within the seven-county metropolitan area.
- Review and approve transportation plans of districts for the purposes of integration.
- Coordinate and provide high quality service for:
- Professional development
- [sic] [there is no item two in the draft]
- Conducting research and collect data for metro-area schools on the uses of One Minnesota revenue.
- Become a “Center of Excellence” for best practices of integration, equity, and achievement and support districts with training.
- Transportation services to choice schools.
- Facilitate school choice lotteries for inter-district magnet schools.
- Establish a governance structure using the open appointments process for an initial school board that will develop the long-term governing structure.
The task force talked extensively about this proposal, with heavy resistance from Katherine Kersten in particular, who likened it to plans 20 years ago to form a “mega district.” Thomas reiterated that he was trying, in this proposal, to capture economies of scale for integration districts that they currently lack. Of course, as we’ve seen in EMID, the devil is in the details, in particular the governance structure would be a very touchy subject. Still, this proposal would hold out significant hope of giving Harambee and Crosswinds the footing they need to become sustainable schools. It is the most positive development yet from this task force.
Of course, they don’t finalize their report for a couple weeks yet, so this is by no means sure to get into the final recommendations. In fact, even today the discussion moved on and more or less left this recommendation behind. It will be interesting to see if it is still there next week.
If you feel like writing to the task force, they can be reached at integration.taskforce@gmail.com.
MPR: Parents worry budget plan could close schools
MPR ran a Tom Weber story today, Parents worry budget plan could close schools, about the EMID budget situation.
Kelly Debrine’s daughter attended Crosswinds. She was surprised by this week’s proposed budget that would move all integration dollars away from the two schools, leaving them to survive on reserves and general state aid — something she said traditional school districts would never have to do.
“It just seems like a mean-spirited move, and it’s unsustainable. And it indicates they have no investment in the schools being a part of the collaborative.”
Daily Planet: Integration programs face uncertain future as task force deadline nears
The Twin Cities Daily Planet ran an article by Alleen Brown about the work of the task force: “Integration programs face uncertain future as task force deadline nears.”
This summer’s legislation leaves out integration altogether. It says revenues must be evaluated and repurposed to pursue specific achievement goals aimed at closing the achievement gap.
“There are people on the task force who believe that integration is important and adds value,” Thomas said, including himself. There are also people who don’t, like conservative columnist and task force member Katherine Kersten.
“Personally, I believe that as we repurpose the revenue, it may be inclusive of integration efforts such as magnet schools, family liaisons and a whole host of things districts are doing that we know work,” said Thomas who is also educational equity coordinator for the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school district.
Participating on the “Community Councils”
Jerry Robicheau writes: “Here is what I am sending out to parents who have so far volunteered to participate on the Community Councils. I have 6 from Crosswinds and about the same number from Harambee. Please share what you wish with EMID Community. We will place the dates and location on the web.”
Dear______,
I want to thank you for your willingness to assist with developing the Integration Plan for EMID and Phase 2 of its Strategic Plan. EMID is at a critical time and your participation to assist in developing these 2 plans is essential. I have attached a document that outlines the process that will be used to develop these plans. The process includes the formation of a Community Council. The charge of the Community Council is: Develop and recommend a final plan to the EMID Board that satisfies requirements of the Integration Plan and Strategic Plan in collaboration with EMID Administrators. The Community Council will be responsible for developing a plan that focuses on programs and services of EMID.
We have set the 2 meeting dates for this Community Council. To be respective of the parents evening commitments, we have set the following two Saturdays: February 4 and March 3. The meetings will be held from 8:30-12. The location of the meetings will be determined within the next week. Once that place is set we will let you know. However, we wanted to get the dates out to you so you can get them on your calendar.
I sincerely hope you will assist us in this critical work. You participation is essential in determining the services and program to be available to student in EMIDs Districts. I look forward to you participation on the Community Council.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Jerry W. Robicheau, PH.D.
Interim Superintendent of School
651-379-2701
jerry.robicheau@emid6067.net
Volunteer for the EMID Community Council
If you are interested in being part of the EMID Community Council, please let your school principal know (Bryan Bass at Crosswinds or Kathy Griebel at Harambee). If you do not have a chile attending an EMID school, then please let the Integration Specialist in your district know. Make sure to express your interest before Friday, January 13th.
The Community Council will develop and recommend a final strategic plan to the EMID Board that also can serve as EMID’s new integration plan for the state of Minnesota. It will be made up of parents of student and students attending the magnet schools, parents and community people from the member district, EMID staff, and staff from member districts.
Dr. Robicheau envisions that the Community Council could get quite large, as many as 50 people. Everyone reading the EMID Families list is probably welcome to join. If the group gets to be bigger than envisioned, two groups may be created. The Community Council will probably meet two to three times for two to three hours in the evening between now and the end of February.
Once you have expressed your interest you can expect a personal invitation to serve from Dr. Robicheau. A list of those selected to serve will also be available on the emid6067.org website.
EMID Board to continue to operate in secrecy
At the last EMID Board meeting I pointed out to the board that the its Steering Committee meetings, which board chair Cristina Gillette had told me were open public meetings, had never been posted publicly. I noted how much of the board’s decision making was happening behind these closed doors and asked them to let the community know when these meetings were happening so we could observe the process.
Today I got a response from Interim Superintendent Robicheau: no. Here’s what he has to say:
After the last board meeting when allegations were made that our board acting in “secrecy” I asked our school attorney investigate what constitutes the requirement of the Open Meeting Law. I wanted to make sure we were in compliance with those requirements. Based on his opinion we are not required to post the Steering Committee meetings. His opinion, based on court rulings, is a) there is not a quorum of the board, and b) the committee is not making decisions and is only in discussion. All decisions are made at the open meeting of the board. Based on this we will continue past practice of not posting the Steering Committee meetings.
So we will not be told when and where the Steering Committee meets. However, this note does not say that we are not welcome in the room if we can determine when and where they meet. Chair Gillette did tell me we could be at the meeting, I wonder if that still holds true.
…Eric