12/10/81 Agenda & Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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°�°n,b°r, ,s:3 , I School Talk MOUNDS VIEW PUBUC SCHOOLS iNDE►ENDEHT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO.671 If pressure was money, the Mounds View School The next five years were in sight when the ' Board is handling enough these days to take care of School Board reorganized the configuration of grade District budget problems for a decade. Both the levels at their November 23 meeting. The organ- "problem budget" for 1982-83 and the pressure for ization that will become effective at the start immediate decisions it is commanding are being of the 1982-83 school year is K-6 (elementary), tackled with some far-reaching rr:ult; by District 7-8 (middle/jr. high), and 9-12 (senior high). decision-makers. • During the closing days of 1981 and the begin- The plan will maintain as many elementary ning of 1982, the District 621 School Board and District administrators will be making decisions school neighborhoods as is feasible expected to shape the present and future of Mounds View Public Schools. Grade reorganization was the first of the major decisions to be made because of the impact grade The major issues are those of grade reorgan- configuration has on the remaining issues of ization; building closings; substantial alter- building usage, curriculum and program planning, ations in programs and services, which include and staff cuts. • . student activities and athletics; and reductions The plan will maintain as many elementary to be made in the District 621 staff. school neighborhoods as is feasible, considering Prompting the crit- such factors as en- ical need for the de- rollment decline, visions to be made at boundary adjustments, this time is a complexECISION long term program General Fund operating needs of the District, budget problem for and fiscal responsi- I982-83 coming as a bility. resuitof the October 5 The School Board ,vy referendum failure noted that the grade the bleak status reorganization could . stale aid to public result in building en- education. rollment capacity to Some schools are to FOR THE 80's be tight in some ele- be closed for good mentary schools next this June. A number year, and in the sen- of teachers will be for high schools for laid off and others transferred to remaining several years. Overriding considerations favoring schools. The curriculum to be offered students, the plan were that it creates a grade organization particularly those in the secondary schools, must that will work in the District for at least five be set. A scant two months remain to accomplish years, and is a cost effective measure. these tasks. The grade organization will : The budget building process for 1982-83 origi- nally focused on budget cuts of 53.2 million. That • Maintain the neighborhood "feeder concept" of total has been expanded by about Sl million given the schools with the elementary schools each channeled into one of two middle/junior high schools, which would, in turn, be directed "Short—sighted solutions into either lrondale or Mounds View High Schools. simply won't stand the test , 001L- of time 4„,•glit,, Superintendent hurt Nygren 'l'. �;f • Kindergarten students could be instructed in } 1 .., shifts in the elementary schools rather than have their classes held in secondary build- - the erosion of District 621 projected income re- fags. venue for next year. • Sixth grade students would stay in, or return • Regardless of why the decisions have to be to, their neighborhood elementary schools. rDistrict adminiade, it is strationintent otof tmhe akecjrudgmentsdonnd •,- The grade level organization arrangement would . ,se tough issues with a commitment to long- be consistent across the District, permittingm planning. "Short-sighted solutions simply greater uniformity of programs offered to all ' t stand the test of time," Superintendent students. Burt Nygren stated at a recent School Board • The accepted plan saves the most dollars for` meeting. "They may please people initially, the 1982-83 General Fund. Preliminary esti but public service requires leadership and mates place the savings at about $828,400, • vision or we condemn those who wool . follow to which includes the closing of two elementary correcting our problem," 4, -•-id. and two middle/junior high schools.