What do schools do well?

• They offer Advanced Placement classes, and have high ACT scores and a high graduation rate.
• Schools educate everybody – needy, minority, special needs. They deal with kids as individuals.
• More kids who are struggling academically are taking the ACT, so the schools are encouraging a broader group of kids.
• Teacher quality is high.
• The schools offer an excellent reading program and all-day kindergarten.

What challenges do schools face?

• Testing. Is the information useful? Are teachers teaching to the test?
• It’s a challenge sustaining programs that aren’t tested – music, arts, languages. Finding funding for them is becoming more difficult.
• The schools are serving a changing student population, including students with more problems.
• Referendum failures make it difficult for schools.
• There’s a lack of respect for and distrust of teachers.
• The schools have fewer counselors to work with students – Minnesota has one of the worst ratios in the country.
• There are too many families without health insurance, and kids without medications who should be taking them.
• Funding has decreased, which leads to increased classes sizes and fewer programs.
• The population without kids in school is growing, which leads to less support for schools.

What should schools provide?

• Buildings that are adequate, not rundown, and appropriate for learning.
• Afterschool programs, athletics, the arts and foreign languages in earlier grades. There should be more awareness of connections to the broader world. There is a need for foreign languages.
• Students need a well-rounded education, not just facts. Kids should also have the ability to adapt to a changing society, and have good preparation for the workforce.
• Schools should establish an alternative pay system.
• Community wants more help in parenting. They need more parenting classes.

How do we achieve those goals?

• Through year-round schools. This is not an agriculture-based economy anymore.
• In some communities, 40 percent-plus do work in agriculture-related activities. Year-round schools would be disastrous in some communities.
• We can’t do it without public involvement. It can’t be just teachers or just parents.

Other concerns

• Post-secondary enrollment options (PSEO) and online courses are taking kids away from the schools. Can we keep juniors and seniors in high schools? Fewer students means less funding and fewer programs.
• We have 21 students leaving for PSEO. The schools lose money and teachers.
• This conversation is good but we need more public participation.
• We should reduce the scope of what schools are trying to do. They can’t do it all.
• Local control is being eroded. Politics are being injected into everything, including funding.
• The amount of testing has increased significantly. There were four to five days last fall, and another four to five days at the end of year, plus teachers’ assessments. We need more time for teaching and less time for testing.
• Home schooling is becoming more common. We lose money, courses, etc. How do we alleviate this?
• Schools are where students go to be educated, to socialize, to be active there. They’re a microcosm of society. They should have a sense of community. Students should understand need to be there.
• Schools are much more diverse. It’s not just that students are English language learners – some have never been in a school.
• We have to focus on what we’re trying to accomplish. We need community ownership of schools.