With most of its summer building and repair projects complete, the Montevideo School District is nearly prepared for the new school year. Projects include the installation of a new phone system, a card access system, and upkeep repairs on the existing school buildings.
This year, there is an expected enrollment of 560 students at the high school and 364 students at the Ramsey Elementary School, with class sizes increasing all around; there are currently 40 students signed up for advanced algebra II, and 28 in some art classes when the maximum used to be 15.
Principle Vatthauer of the middle school introduced concerns she was having about the success of students. While there have been some improvement over the last year, students are still not up to standards in mathematics. Furthermore, among students on the honor roll, seven students on the A roll and 50 on the B roll were found not to be proficient in reading and/or mathematics.
Superintendant Dr. Luther Heller reports that, despite whatever forecast there may have been, it is unlikely that the state will step up its efforts to help with the costs of running Minnesota schools.
“In the worst case scenario, we might see a 50/50 shift,” said Heller. “The financial crisis in education is not yet over.”
While he admitted that this was certainly not good news, he pointed out that it was not unexpected news, citing the lack of any new money as one of the primary causes.
Fortunately, not all news is bad news: The school board agreed to accept a donation of $30,694.29 from the Chippewa County CARE collaborative.
Principal Bruce Bergeson announced the launch of a number of new projects, including the re-launch of the focus program that will help teach students skills they will need to succeed in school, the introduction of an accelerated English class in the 9th grade, and new robotics and digital photography classes.
Asst. Principal Bob Grey spoke of the implementation of a new, aggressive plan to encourage good sportsmanship amongst students.
“So far people (staff) have been receptive to the ideas,” he reported.
Finally, the council voted on and passed a motion to recognize the administration team for an admirable job preparing everything for the new school year, and another to recognize Jamie Harrington as the state assistant cross country Coach of the Year.
