• A recommendation to address educational adequacy in our elementary building

• Potential Levy to fund needed changes to elementary building

• Develop a plan for the replacement of the administration building

Our strategic planning team met and the Elementary School was identified as the priority. We moved forward with a recommendation for proposals and the school board approved LHB to conduct a facilities analysis of the elementary to determine educational adequacy and recommend a plan moving forward. On Monday, December 9th, LHB shared with the board a couple options. The board decided to examine the 5-12 building in addition to make sure we are utilizing all space and examine all options.

With board approval on a plan we will be pulling a community group back together for feedback and determine how to best move forward.

• Create expanded CTE opportunities for students

• Hire a CTE coordinator

• Meet grant expectations in industry, technology, and health care, and continue to grow the program

• Examine partnership opportunities with neighboring districts

The goal was to create expanded CTE opportunities for students. The committee met, Ashley McFarland spearheaded, and we acquired a Youth Skills Training (YST) grant for $100,000. Scott Larson was hired as the CTE Coordinator in July. We are working on our two-year goals on student CTE exposure, classes, certificates and work experiences.

In combination with Proctor and Esko, Representative Natalie Zeleznikar secured $172,000 in State funding to look at how we can expand CTE programming in the region. Jay Balcastro, retired Superintendent from Lake Superior School District, was hired with that funding to spearhead this vision. He is currently meeting with political leaders and developing a plan for a Northern Connections Center that includes setting 4 students along with expanding CTE opportunities. We also utilized these funds to hire a grant writer to apply for federal grants that were recommended.

• Create opportunities for the community to engage including:

  • Frequent input through surveys

  • Facilities committee

  • Levy committee

  • Volunteer opportunities

The focus of this group is to create opportunities for us to engage with the community, including volunteering and gathering input. This charge has been led by our principals to encourage teachers to find more opportunities for volunteers in the schools. We discussed different ways to communicate back out survey results, progress and what is happening in our schools. This is a key group that will be needed if we move forward with plans for an elementary school that requires a levy.

This goal was in line with Time for Educators to Collaborate, so these two groups were combined.

See Time for Educators to Collaborate

• Find time for educators to participate in PLCs during their work day

• Provide training on expectations

• Gather feedback and report to the community

• Make recommendation for PLC time moving forward

Find time for PLCs was the common goal from these two groups, so they combined their efforts. The group created multiple schedules to provide time for teachers to collaborate and landed on a 30 minute early release that was recommended and approved by the School Board. We are currently piloting this schedule. We have put together and provided training on expectations for PLC time and gathering feedback each week from teachers.

Our next step is to meet and determine how to share what is happening with the community.

• Make improvements to the website to address identified areas of need

• Work with Facilities Committee and Levy Committee on communications plan regarding needed changes to elementary building

The group spent a lot of time discussing how to disseminate information and what parents need to know. We started out with an idea of a Parent Information Handbook, but ultimately concluded that all of the information can be found on the district website. We created a list of improvements to the website to address identified areas of need. Changes made information available and easier navigation on the website.

A district wide consistent communication tool was researched. Staff feedback was not to give up current communication tools.

This group will need to be pulled back together if the Facilities committee comes forward with a recommendation for improvements to the Elementary school that require a levy.

• Examine and continue to develop programs such as:

  • MTSS

  • YST

  • Research-based curriculum

• Share what we are doing with the community

• Incorporate counseling department goals to insure fidelity

With County involvement, the focus was on these areas: feel adults in the community care, educational engagement, feel teachers care, positive identity, social competency and empowerment. As information was gathered, on the many things we are already doing, we discovered the problem may be in communicating out what is already happening. The counseling department has created ongoing plans so much of the "whole child" focus is being led by our counseling department. A grant was submitted to the county to enhance whole child development.