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Wednesday, October 10, 2007 Eagle Valley Coalition Time to look at change by Karin L. Nauber "If you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got." Perhaps it was that quotation that helped Coalition Member Pat Lunemann effectively change the course of the discussion during the first meeting of the newly formed coalition at the Eagle Valley School on Monday, October 3. After a Power Point presentation the group of approximately 35 people were to rank focus group topic sessions and break into those groups to discuss them. The groups were: curriculum pre-k through 8 excluding technology; curriculum 9-12 and post secondary excluding technology; technology; facilities (new and old); combination with other districts; and community education and community services. After Superintendent Stephen Twitchell asked which groups people had ranked highest and it was found that most people ranked facilities and combination with other districts the highest. Lunemann then asked, "Why are we dancing around the real issue? We want to see where the school will be. What are we going to do? The core issues are "d" and "e" (facilities and combining) not having focus groups for a year." He continued by saying he felt the board knew what they should do, but aren't comfortable politically to do it. "I remember the issue of Eagle Bend and Clarissa consolidating. I would like to think we are one community now. It might be sad for one community to gain, but we can't skirt the issues and prolong this. We have got to hit it head on," said Lunemann. Twitchell said that architects would tell them that if they were to build, a new k-12 facility would be the cheapest route. Coalition Member Dale Greenwaldt said that what was needed for the students was what was important and that included a quality curriculum. Coalition Member Charles Ring was concerned about the number of students who hadn't passed the state standards tests. Twitchell said they were working on that with a new focus with the staff. He said that the state has put such an emphasis on testing and not on learning. He said that he thought this would be turning around really soon with less emphasis on testing. "I don't think the school board is in agreement on what should be done, I don't have that sense," said Twitchell. Another member of the coalition said that when architects talk about building or remodeling, they always estimate much higher than the actual cost and when building new they always tell you less than the actual cost. Twitchell said that with the high school facility, the greatest curse was also its greatest benefit, that it was built of solid concrete. He said that while this made the building very sturdy, it was also causing problems with functionality. "It would be nice to have nice bathrooms and a nice commons area, but it could be cost prohibitive," said Twitchell. He also said that he wasn't trying to skirt the issue, but that he had needed a starting point and thought the focus groups would be a good place to start. He also said that they couldn't exclude technology in their discussions. School Board Member Tom Eckel said that it seemed apparent that all the other discussion topics depended on the "d" and "e". Greenwaldt said the cost to maintain the buildings was much more expensive than it was 30 years ago. One coalition member suggested they vote on who wants to keep the district as two schools. Twitchell said that schools are the lifeblood of a community, but from an economic standpoint, it was correct thinking that it cost a lot more to operate two facilities. Questions were raised like what was the value of having all of the kids in one facility and would having a new building draw kids in and draw those back in who had open-enrolled elsewhere? Twitchell said he would never be able to promise that a new facility would draw students to Eagle Valley. Ring said that the district itself did not have enough students in the school to get enough state money to hire a qualified staff for the curriculum. He said that they had an average of 25 students per grade and that the 7th grade only had 13 students. Twitchell said, "Do we have what Wayzata has? No. But that's just one grade level. Some other grades are small and some are large classes." Former School Board Member and current Coalition Member Conrad Stoterau said that with an average of 25 per class it was a very functional size class for a school this size and could keep the school operating comfortably. Twitchell agreed that 13 students did not support a teacher, but that 20 plus did generate enough revenue to support one. By what Twitchell called "straw votes" those in attendance were asked how many wanted to keep the district going? While no actual count was taken, most hands in the room went up in support of keeping the district open. Someone asked if it made sense to have one building or keep two. School Board Chairman Joel Godding said that it would be a different answer as a district than as a community. Someone asked how much building or remodeling had been looked at. Twitchell said he had talked to someone who told him there was one independent guy who could appraise both sites for the remodeling costs of each and the cost of building new. The man also told him that they could go with an architect who has a track record, in other words, someone who has built at least a half dozen schools. There was some discussion about open enrollment and the hope that whatever was done would help them get some of the kids back. Twitchell said it was appalling to him that districts were able to cross district lines to pick kids up in a school bus. Ring asked if the district had explored why the kids had open enrolled in the first place? Twitchell said it was hard to get answers on why they do. Ring said that he knew of three for sure who had gone to Long Prairie for the music programs and the curriculum. Board Member Sharon Notch said that she heard what was being said. "We could hash it over for another hour. But let's move forward. We will make a decision for the district, but we wanted to get input," she said. Twitchell said he thought it was time that the issue of finding out what the costs will be to remodel or build new would be. He said it would be on the board agenda soon. "We will keep sorting it out and make Eagle Valley a good place for young folks, old folks and people in between," said Twitchell. The next meeting of the coalition will be on Monday, October 29 in Eagle Bend.