Take-aways from a community meeting on schools

TOWER—Schools matter in a community, and that’s why the declining enrollment of the Tower-Soudan Elementary was front and center at a community meeting here last week. At a time when these communities are poised for growth, the elementary enrollment is continuing to decline, and Mayor Josh Carlson wanted to talk about why.

All agreed it isn’t a question of educational quality, since the school has proven to be academically strong. The staff is experienced and dedicated. Class sizes are astonishingly small (the fifth grade has just three students and a full-time teacher), which ensures heaping helpings of direct one-on-one instruction and the opportunity to undertake enrichment activities that most elementary schools in the region can only dream about. Despite a student population that’s overwhelmingly from low-income households, test scores are top-notch. By rights, the school should be overflowing with students.

Instead, nearly half of the parents in Tower-Soudan are choosing to put their young children on buses, often before 7 a.m., to have them attend schools 25-30 miles away where they are part of classes of 20-25. How can this be?

Turns out, there are any number of reasons. It’s clear that the loss of the former Tower-Soudan High School is a factor. The transition from sixth grade to the middle school years is a tough one under any circumstance, but when it involves not only a new school but a new community, it’s more challenging still. So parents, in some cases, are opting to transfer their kids out of Tower as they reach the upper elementary grades, giving them the chance to integrate into a new school environment before they hit their middle school years. That’s made easier in many cases when older siblings are already attending middle or high school in other communities. This is just another case where the school district’s decision to close the Tower High School is negatively affecting the community.

In other cases, it appears parents see long distance busing as free child care. For parents commuting longer distances who need to be to work by 8 a.m., being able to put their child on a bus at 7 a.m. is more convenient than having to arrange an hour of day care and transportation to school at 8 a.m. The Tower-Soudan Elementary sought to address this issue by implementing an extended day, but many parents still aren’t aware they can now drop their kids off earlier and pick them up later than they could in the past. The extended day means that young students, rather than picking up the lessons and language kids learn on the bus, can experience a positive learning opportunity.

The lack of day care in Tower and Soudan is plainly a factor, and it often prompts parents who work elsewhere to utilize day care providers in those communities. When they do, they meet other parents and their kids make friends there as well. They become more integrated into those communities and that makes it easier to send their kids to school there.

And then there is the issue of sports, which for some parents and young people is what high school is really about. In Tower-Soudan, the loss of the high school meant the end of the Golden Eagles as a sports identity. That’s had a number of implications, including the loss of a sense of identity for many. Humans, at our core, remain tribal by nature, and for many of us, sports remain the most meaningful part of our tribal identity. Tower-Soudan residents were part of the Golden Eagles clan and that brought a sense of community loyalty that has diminished since the closing of the high school.

While the Vermilion Country charter school has provided a grades 7-12 educational option, the lack of a sports program has prevented many Tower-Soudan parents and students from considering the local option.

It’s not the only school that has failed to attract significant interest from Tower-Soudan students. The St. Louis County School District had hoped that Tower-Soudan high school students would attend at Northeast Range in Babbitt, in hopes of bolstering flagging student numbers there as well. But few parents have chosen to do so. In part, that’s because few Tower area residents work in Babbitt, which makes it an inconvenient location for parents. And the Northeast Range sports teams haven’t seen the kind of success experienced at the North Woods School, near Cook, which is where many Tower-Soudan area students now attend.

My take-aways from last week’s meeting are these:

‰ Lagging enrollment in Tower-Soudan schools is a problem that can be solved, and that must be solved. Tower is poised for progress that could bring new businesses and residents to the community. Yet the loss of either of the community’s schools would represent a major setback, one that would be nearly impossible to overcome. Communities need educational opportunity to succeed.

‰ The future of the elementary and the charter school are inextricably linked. Lose one and you will inevitably lose the other. The best way to boost enrollment at the elementary is through increasing local acceptance of the charter high school. When parents and students begin to recognize once again that Tower-Soudan offers quality K-12 educational opportunity, they will no longer see it as a given that they will eventually be leaving town to complete their K-12 education. Parents won’t feel the need to start their elementary students in a new system before seventh grade, as is happening now. And they won’t be sending their younger students down the road with older siblings if the older sibling is attending high school locally.

‰ While some at the meeting advocated for the re-creation of an independent Tower-Soudan School District and the construction of a new high school, that’s pie-in-the-sky. There is no statutory process in Minnesota for creating a new independent school district by breaking apart an existing one. That would require special legislation and the Legislature isn’t about to approve such a proposal. Why waste time on a fool’s errand when you already have a viable high school in the community? Work to support what you already have. If it’s just about Golden Eagles sports, then get students back to town and the charter school can bring the Golden Eagles back to life. It just comes down to numbers. Tower-Soudan already has an independent school district, it’s Vermilion Country School, otherwise known as ISD 4207. Why undermine it in an long-shot bid to create a new district?

‰ Deal with the childcare shortage. This is a critical service for any community and the lack of a full-time childcare facility is a serious issue. It adds stress to family life and, as was apparent from last week’s meeting, it undermines the elementary school.

‰ Getting the conversation started was important. With nearly 100 people at last week’s meeting, the event was a good starting point for more discussion on this issue. Now, it’s time for follow-up on some of the issues that parents and others raised. This is a significant problem, but it’s one that can be solved.