REGIONAL- Parents, staff, and community members had the chance to express their opinions and ask questions at public meetings at North Woods School and Tower-Soudan Elementary School on Monday about the St. Louis County School District’s proposed change to a four-day school week next year.
The proposal represents an about-face for district officials, who last fall recommended putting the idea on ice for at least another year, but the proposal gained new life as the district continues to contend with a projected $1.5 million shortfall in its 2025-26 budget. With a state application deadline looming in April, the 2142 school board will vote on the proposal at its March 25 meeting.
The group of more than 30 who gathered in the band room at North Woods School had more than just the four-day school week on their minds, as many continue to harbor ill feelings over cuts in teaching positions at the school for next year that could affect the quality of education their children receive.
North Woods Principal Kelly Engman facilitated the meeting, supported by school board members Mallory Manick and Jarrett Bundy, and between them they were able to keep the focus mainly on the four-day week proposal.
Manick fielded the first question about why the district had changed its decision from the fall, noting that extensive work in a subcommittee showed the district was ready for the change.
“We’ve been meeting twice a month, and we felt like we were far enough along,” Manick said. “We’re actually ahead of Mt. Iron-Buhl (which has already committed to a four-day week for next year), so we felt like if we’re going to be ready for it and then sit here for a year and we have the plans in place, why not try to get it going for next year?”
The issue of class sizes came up immediately afterward, and while Manick was openly critical of the large projected class sizes for next year at North Woods at the last school board meeting, Engman fielded the question.
“We’re really looking at that right now and exploring our options, the balances, meeting kids’ needs and making sure the class sizes are the smallest that we can make them,” Engman said. “We’ll have another time to explore those questions.”
Bundy took the opportunity to weigh in on the teacher cuts.
“Nobody wanted to do teacher cuts by any means,” Bundy said. “The way it works is that if we don’t cut them we have to stick with them, even if our numbers fell off the bottom. So, what we did was to cut early and we can always hire them back – that’s why they’re watching the student numbers so closely. Once they get back to that point we will hire back if these classes get too big.”
But when asked what “too big” means, Bundy didn’t have a specific answer.
“We don’t have an actual number,” he said.
For parents, it was the first time they had an opportunity to ask about the district’s proposed school-age care program that will be offered on Fridays, something that hadn’t been on the table when the district surveyed parents last fall. Questions were raised about enrollment and drop-in care, cost, support for children with disabilities, meals, staffing, teacher-child ratios, and more.
Manick said the cost will be more reasonable than regular child care rates to make it as affordable as possible, and said they would look at rates for families with multiple children needing care. Part-time staff wanting to pick up more hours would be able to work in school-age care, Manick said, as would older high school students who would be used to enhance teacher-child ratios. A lunch and snack will be provided, she said. Parents would preregister and pay a week in advance through the district’s continuing education web page. Transportation would not be provided. Children with disabilities would be able to attend, although Manick said additional planning would need to be done to flesh out more specifics. Drop-in care, which had initially been ruled out for planning purposes, would also need a closer look, she said.
A concern expressed by many was the impact on students of a school day that would be 34 minutes longer under a four-day week.
“This school has a hard time getting all the academic standards in as it is with a five-day week, and that’s with smaller class sizes,” one person said. “So, you’re going to take teachers away, you’re going to put more kids in a classroom, especially on the elementary side, and then you’re going to shorten the week. A longer day is not going to allow you to learn more, it’s just going to be more exhausting. That’s my concern.”
Manick said that other districts they had looked at, such as Superior and Carlton, have longer class times than what ISD 2142 is proposing, but that didn’t slow the comments.
“They also probably don’t have kids that ride the bus for a long time,” was the response. “Your kids aren’t even going to get home before five o’clock in the evening – where’s your time for homework? Where’s your time for dinner? Where is your time for relaxing and spending quality time with your family? This is just too long of a day.”
“There are a lot of teachers here,” another person said. “I’m curious to know how they feel. I mean, not necessarily just about our students, but they also have to extend their days in the morning and evening. Are they for it or against it?”
The fall survey included staff, who skewed favorably toward the four-day week, and North Woods Kindergarten teacher Beth Wilenius said she would like the consistency in attendance that would come from parents having Fridays to schedule appointments for their children rather than have sporadic absences throughout the week. She also indicated that the longer days would not be too hard of a challenge to deal with.
“We do a lot of moving, we do a lot of changing activities,” she said. “We go for walks outside whether it’s 20 above or 20 below. I don’t feel concerned about that piece. As a mom, I feel like (Friday) with my family I would absolutely treasure.”
Industrial Arts Teacher Bruce Black said his classes and others with labs or activities that require more set-up time would benefit from the extended days, particularly given the constraints of the district’s current partial day on Wednesday schedule.
“On Wednesdays we have 38 minutes, so they barely get their stuff out and get started before they’re out,” Black said. “A science class, an art class, a shop class, any class that has something you have to get out, some kind of project to work on, you get that much longer.”
Several parents expressed the desire that if their children were going to be in class longer that teachers try to cut down on homework assignments and teach some of that material in class.
The discussion took up the full hour allotted and covered numerous other questions, but at the end the general consensus of the group leaned toward favoring the switch to the four-day week, with only a few expressing their dissent.
Tower-Soudan
It was the nitty-gritty details that raised the most questions at Monday’s meeting at Tower-Soudan Elementary. TS Principal John Jirik led the meeting, with about 20 in attendance, including parents and school staff. The four-day proposal, he said, shows school starting 10 minutes earlier, and ending 23 minutes later, Monday through Thursday. The bus schedule in the morning would remain mostly unchanged, with buses arriving at 8 a.m., but then departing 30 minutes later than the present schedule at 3:40 p.m.
“The number one reason for looking at the change is financial,” Jirik noted.
The district has estimated the switch would save the district about half a million dollars, off a projected $1.5 million shortfall next school year.
The district had surveyed parents about the issue earlier in the school year, but results showed that so many families would look at open-enrolling their children to other districts that it would counteract the cost savings of moving to a four-day week. But after the board talked about cutting 10 licensed teachers, including five at North Woods, which angered many parents at North Woods, the issue once again was on the board agenda.
The main concern expressed by parents involved bus times, especially for high school students. Tower-area students who stay in the district for high school are transported to either Northeast Range in Babbitt, or North Woods, north of Cook. Bus pickup times are already early, at 6:30 a.m. in Soudan for students attending North Woods, and 6:56 a.m. in Soudan for NE Range.
“It’s a long day for kids,” said Amber Zak. “They are getting up so early, and then would be keeping them later.”
Cade Gornick wondered if the district could set a later start time, and then extend the school day in the afternoon.
Jirik told parents he was noting all their questions, which would then be relayed to the district for review.
As far as child care options on Fridays, Jirik said the district was looking to possibly partner with the Boys and Girls Club on the Vermilion Reservation.
Parent Monica Porter said the Boys and Girls Club sets hours in response to the school schedule, so that if school was not in session on Fridays, they would be open. She said the club stays open until around 6 p.m. on weekdays and they might be able to offer transportation back to Tower in the late afternoon, if there was enough interest. Porter said the club is currently fully staffed and serves around 30 kids a day for afterschool hours. The club could add up to 20 more children, age 5 – 18, by adding more staff. Club membership is open to all area children and is free of charge. The club also provides meals and snacks and programming includes homework help and academic supports.
Jirik told the parents the decision will be made by the school board, but that the input from the meeting, and similar meetings held at all the school sites, would be important.
Jirik noted the longer school day would give TS teachers more time to provide educational programming in the newly-established school forest.
Several of the parents said they could see the four-day week working for their families, but they noted that it would be harder to manage for single-parent or dual-parent working households.
Tower-Soudan was on a four-day week schedule for several years prior to consolidating with ISD 2142, and some of the parents said their experience with the four-day week was positive.
But others wondered if the four-day week would further lower enrollment at the elementary school, and possibly force its closure. They noted that parents at North Woods were wondering why TS Elementary was kept open with smaller class sizes, when North Woods classrooms were overfilled.
“You could bus kids from Cook to Tower,” one parent said. “We have the room here.”
School staff at the meeting said the administration had told them there was no talk of closing the elementary school. Jirik noted the school had added programs, including extra-curricular sports, this year.
But parents, especially those who had graduated from high school in Tower, were not ready to trust the district.
“I see some of you were deeply hurt when the high school closed,” Jirik said.
One school staffer noted that many area school districts are facing similar financial shortfalls.
Cade Gornick commented that many parents chose to open-enroll their young children to other districts because they want their kids closer to where they work. Another reason, said Jirik, is when the oldest sibling moves to another school or district, parents choose to move all their children.
“It can be easier for parents to worry about one school, not two,” Jirik said.
Greg Dostert said his grandsons, who attended NE Range, and this year decided to go to Ely, would probably choose to go back to NE Range if the district switched to a four-day week.
Jodi Summit reported on the Tower-Soudan meeting