Support the Timberjay by making a donation.

Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Vermilion Chamber touts school choices in Tower

Marshall Helmberger
Posted 8/24/16

TOWER—The Lake Vermilion Chamber of Commerce is spreading the word about the educational opportunities in Tower-Soudan, in hopes of boosting enrollment at both the elementary and the charter high …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Vermilion Chamber touts school choices in Tower

Posted

TOWER—The Lake Vermilion Chamber of Commerce is spreading the word about the educational opportunities in Tower-Soudan, in hopes of boosting enrollment at both the elementary and the charter high school in the community. Through advertising, both in print ads and through social media, the chamber has long encouraged local families to “shop locally.” Now, they’re making the pitch that attending school locally is just as important.

“We really want to ask Tower-Soudan families, if they’re going somewhere else, to take a second serious look at what their community has to offer,” said Troy Swanson, executive director of the local chamber and Tower-Soudan’s representative on the St. Louis County School Board.

“We have one of the best elementary schools in the state and without a doubt the best one on the Iron Range,” Swanson said. “Year after year we have among the top test scores in the state, we have incredibly small class sizes and a great environment for kids, and yet we have too many families opting for long distance bussing to send their children elsewhere. We really don’t know why that is.”

It’s a similar story at Vermilion Country School, where at least half of the 45-50 students that attend the grades 7-12 charter school come from neighboring communities, like Virginia and Ely. Meanwhile, so many families living in the Tower-Soudan area choose to send their middle and high school age students to school anywhere from 25-30 miles away. “It’s surprising,” said VCS Board Chair Jodi Summit. “We have many students willing to travel to take advantage of the highly-personalized, project-based teaching model here at VCS, yet students who could literally walk to their own community-based school are choosing to go elsewhere.”

“Unfortunately,” said Summit, “too many people in the community still say Tower-Soudan doesn’t have a high school anymore. We’re always having to remind them, that yes, we do have a high school and it’s made tremendous strides.”

Swanson and Summit agree that both schools suffer from the perception that students don’t have K-12 educational opportunities in Tower. In the early grades, families who are sending older children to other communities for the secondary grades will often send their younger students along with them, draining students who could otherwise excel at the community’s elementary school. And as those students leave in the early grades, they are less likely to opt to stay in Tower as they reach the middle and upper grades.

“Ideally, by working together, the two schools can help each other in a significant way,” said Swanson. Summit agrees. “The fact is, we have an exceptionally good elementary with great staff cohesion and a charter secondary that provides students exceptional opportunities. I think families would be surprised at how far the school has come in just three years.”

Swanson credits the quality staff at the elementary for the school’s success. “They’re a dedicated, experienced staff who really care about every single student. They’ve created the conditions for students to successfully learn and grow.”

Neither school is currently at risk of closing. While the St. Louis County School District projects elementary enrollment in the low 70s when classes start in just over a week, Swanson notes that the school does get a significant amount of special funding that helps the school remain financially viable even with lower student numbers.

The project-based educational model at VCS gives the charter school a lot of staffing flexibility, which has helped the school achieve significant budget surpluses the past two years, despite limited enrollment. School officials expect to have an unreserved general fund balance of about ten percent of their annual budget once the books are finalized on the 2015-16 school year, which is better than many much larger districts in the area.

Even so, Swanson notes that maintaining, and even growing enrollment is key to the long-term survival of both schools.

Sports an issue

Summit notes that for many parents and students, sports are a major part of their educational experience, and that’s kept some students from considering the charter school. While the school has a significant physical education component, including many life sports and community service projects that frequently get students working outdoors, it hasn’t focused a lot of resources on competitive team sports.

Swanson said that’s one of the areas where the schools could work together. He’d like to see a pairing and sharing agreement that would allow students attending the charter school to take part in the sports program at Northeast Range. The two districts have taken some tentative steps in that direction, but Swanson said there’s plenty of potential to do more, and he’s convinced it would be a win for both schools.

Summit and Swanson say there are other ways the schools could work together. Vermilion Country has its own in-school kitchen with a popular cook who serves from-scratch meals that are both healthy and popular with students and with senior diners who come for subsidized meals every day during the school year. Swanson said he’d like to see those meals served at the elementary as well. Currently, the school ships in ready-made meals from Babbitt each day, to less than rave reviews from students.

Summit said the food service at VCS has been a huge asset, but it comes with high overhead costs, so finding additional sources of revenue can make a big difference. Adding senior dining last year brought in about $8,000 in extra revenue, according to school officials.

The chamber’s push comes at a time when the community is beginning to organize around a new development push that is aimed at giving Main Street a significant facelift, increasing and improving the affordable housing stock, and bringing new economic vibrancy to town.

Swanson said ensuring the survival of the community’s two schools is a vital part of that mission. “Losing either one of the schools due to lack of interest by local families would be a tremendous setback to Tower’s future,” he said. “Ensuring their success is critical to getting Tower-Soudan growing again.”