The Bemidji listening session was held Feb. 15 at the Holiday Inn Express. Participants' comments about public schools included these:

What is working well?

• Good work ethic, good teachers, schools are accountable

  “We do a good job meeting the needs of a very diverse population. We do everything from Advanced Placement to wood ticks.”

• Value and importance placed on education
• Good articulation between levels of education – technical, Advanced Placement, high school and college level
• Meet the needs of a diverse population – “from AP to wood ticks”
• Product – young adults – become successful, contributing citizens
• Curriculum works – offers wide scope of opportunity, including the arts and technology
• Community support, residents approved a levy to build a new high school.

Challenges:

• Keeping up with the fast pace of technology – dollars to fund it; equipment, training
• Declining enrollment
• Under-reporting of reduced price lunches
• Testing – tests are stressful to kids, teachers, but are meaningless to students.  Students don’t see the importance of outcomes – “no punch”
• Funding issues: declining enrollment,  meeting needs of special education students, flat funding from the state; combined impact: less breadth of curriculum, opportunities, larger class sizes
• Services lost due to funding shortages; greater number of special education students, all students suffer
• Cuts in special programs, Title I, special education, gifted and talented
• Special education – full inclusion.  Difficult for teachers to meet needs of all students, need full-time paras.
• Communicating our successes – we could use data (on www.schoolsfirst.org) as a start.

What should quality schools provide?

• Life skills
• Academic challenges
• Social services
• Caring teachers
• Low class sizes
• Safe places, both mentally and physically
• Students have opportunity to explore who they are
• More media staff
• More individual help for students
• Effective communication

What we can do:

• Listen to people, collaborate with other educators and community members
• Be accountable
• Get support from parents, legislators
• Don’t complain, get involved with government at all levels, problem-solve
• Promote what’s good in schools
• Establish community pride in school activities
• Solicit newspaper stories about good things happening in schools (Bemidji Pioneer provides very good coverage of schools)