FIELD TWP – Frustration and anger is running high among many North Woods School parents who are upset with teacher staffing cuts at the school to address ISD 2142 St. Louis County Schools’ projected $1.5 million shortfall for next year.
Parents are concerned that the school, located four miles north of Cook, is taking the brunt of the district’s staffing cuts. They’re also concerned about rising class sizes and the quality of their children’s education and they plan to bring those concerns to the school board meeting at Tower-Soudan next week.
Whether they get any satisfaction remains in doubt, for two reasons. First, board policy for public comment at meetings is to listen but not respond to speakers, a common practice among governmental bodies. The second has to do with the district’s contract with its teachers’ union. Proposed cuts for full and part-time teaching positions had to be locked in by February, and district administrators used all the available data on enrollments, course offerings, and alternative arrangements to determine what they believed to be the most appropriate cuts by the required deadline. While no more cuts can be made after the deadline, Superintendent Reggie Engebritson assured the board at its last meeting that administrators would continue to closely monitor the data and that they would be able to perhaps restore some positions if it was financially viable to do so.
But for now, with uncertainty about what the future holds, parents and many students are frustrated and want to see the changes reversed. And some are considering taking their children out of North Woods and enrolling them in the Rock Ridge district.
Suzie Holter, of Cook, was one of the first to take to social media to encourage parents to attend next week’s board meeting.
“North Woods parents, a school board meeting is scheduled for Feb. 25 in Tower,” Holter said. “Please attend if you can! We must demonstrate to our superintendent and school board that we oppose the ongoing cuts. Our school’s limited resources will only decrease with further cuts, causing us to lose students. Each student is valued at $10,000, so losing 10 students to Rock Ridge would be substantial. Maybe it’s time to close underutilized schools with few graduates or those that financially burden our district. We need to fight for our kids and community!”
A couple of days later, Holter posted that she was compiling a list of parents to present to the board who would consider transferring from North Woods to another district.
One of those parents who has considered leaving the district is Jennifer Herdman, although she told the Timberjay that because of the logistics involved, homeschooling may be a more viable option for her family. Herdman has a seventh grader and a fourth grader who attend North Woods.
Herdman said she learned about the staff dismissals through her seventh-grade son.
“(Head boys basketball coach) Andrew Jugovich let his basketball players know at practice, and he also works with the junior high,” Herdman said. “He let the team know that he was being cut and my son came home and he was really upset about it.”
As a middle school science teacher, Jugovich has also facilitated STEAM activities (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) for younger grades.
“Then my daughter heard and he’s her STEAM teacher, so she was upset about it,” Herdman said.
Herdman is worried that the cuts to teaching staff will lead to an increase in class sizes, which she believes will hurt the quality of education children receive and amplify her longer-term concerns about behavioral issues and communication at the school.
“If they can’t control a class of 17 students because of a couple bad eggs, if you have 32 in a classroom, what’s going to happen then?” Herdman said. “I don’t see how they’d actually be able to sit and learn without being constantly distracted from their lessons. So that will go towards even lower test scores, which North Woods is not doing so great in anyway. The larger classroom is just not okay with me, and I foresee people pulling even more students because of this.”
Music teacher Lorenda Daugherty also won’t be back next year. Herdman is concerned about elementary teachers being assigned to take over music instruction, something that was mentioned as a possibility at the last school board meeting.
“They have no idea about music. They’ve never taught music,” Herdman said. “Why would you ask them to step into a music position? That’s very frustrating.”
A look at the curriculum of one elementary education degree program, at Minnesota State University – Mankato, lends some support to Herdman’s concern. There is not a single course dedicated to music. Rather, it appears to be incorporated into a course focusing on integrating the arts, physical and health education into the curriculum.
A grandmother’s concerns
Tammy Palmer, of Cook, has six grandchildren who attend North Woods, five of them in the elementary grades. She also believes that classrooms will be combined, and that children’s education will suffer as a result.
“One (of her grandchildren) is already in a combined class of 31 students,” Palmer said. “And to think that they’re going to be doing this to all the classes is absolutely ridiculous. They’re so scrunched in those classrooms already, and talking with the teachers there’s no one-on-one time with the students and the teachers have difficulties getting through their lessons, let alone helping kids who need additional help. I think you’re definitely going to see teacher burnout. I’m just concerned for the teachers and the students to get the quality education I think they need.”
Palmer also questioned why the district chose not to go to a four-day school week, a plan that was initially estimated to save the district $500,000.
“It just seems like it may have been the way to go,” she said. “You have a shortage of bus drivers, teacher retention would be higher and you’d keep your classroom sizes. I have three grandchildren who go to a school now that has a four-day school week in Virginia, and the kids love it. The teachers love it. They, too, had concerns at first, but you make it work.”
However, as the Timberjay has previously reported, a survey of parents found that the loss of state aid from the number of children parents said they would pull out of the district if a four-day week were implemented would wipe out the projected savings, leaving the district with the same budget problem it has now.
Palmer emphasized that she just wants to find some way that the teacher cuts can be avoided.
“I’m just trying to be proactive here,” she said. “I’m very concerned for the education, and our school is a major part of our community. So, if our school is going to be hurting, our whole community is going to be hurting. And I just absolutely believe we’re losing some great teachers. I just want answers, and I’m looking into this as a grandma and a concerned community person.”
It’s important to note that the above comments are not based on any formal specific plan that’s been presented to parents. School board members at their last meeting were presented with a more generalized set of talking points about the budget cuts that emphasized reasons for the cuts and various options likely to be included in the final plan. Engebritson stressed that the plan is still a work in progress as district staff continue to monitor enrollment data, developments in the Legislature, and other information. While the cuts are set, specific plans for dealing with them at each school are not yet set in stone, and the board will continue to consider them at upcoming meetings, Engebritson said.
“This is a moving process as we continually look at the numbers and any staff changes – retirements, resignations or requests to transfer to another school in the district,” Engebritson said. “We are doing everything in our power to keep as many people whole as possible. We are applying for grant dollars and if we receive those dollars that will allow us to hire staff to be in those positions and they can continue working for the district.”
Those wishing to speak at the Feb. 25 board meeting at the Tower-Soudan School should arrive at least 15 minutes ahead of the 5 p.m. start time and request to be put on the list for public comment. The board has no obligation to allow anyone who arrives after the meeting begins to speak.