North Winneshiek School Board facing tough decisions

Good people doing good things, and facing tough decisions – that was the somber picture as the North Winneshiek and Decorah Community School Board met in joint session Monday night.

North Winneshiek Superintendent Tim Dugger began the discussion by noting that in 1960 there were 4,652 school districts in Iowa, and there are now 346. North Winneshiek is the 12th smallest, with 148 students enrolled in K-8 programs. Dugger shared the good news about North Winneshiek:  they have met all academic progress points and passed the recent site visit accreditation visit; the well maintained $9 million dollar facility will be debt free in two years; the school is a vital community center.

Dugger said the board vision is simple – to do what is best for students and families and to protect the interest of taxpayers. He also stated their goals: to provide the educational needs of students in a safe and efficient manner, to provide continued employment for staff, and to continue use of the facilities.

All this was an introduction to the inevitable bad news. A recent feasibility study concluded North Winn could not operate as a kindergarten through 8th grade facility in a financially sound way beyond 2017. Dugger said that in the past 9 years, the population had dropped by 70 students, and there was no way that trend would be reversed.  Dugger and the board said there were four options for them to consider, and that their first step would be to meet with the Decorah School Board to discuss and engage in planning with those options. The options included:

• Attempt to maintain the status quo
• Let the state dissolve the district and have the district divided up into the neighboring   school districts
• Increase realistic whole grade sharing options
• Reorganize (another term for consolidation)

Discussion began with North Winneshiek Board President Brenda Krietzer stating that the option they would not consider was dissolving the district. Beyond that there was limited discussion, other than an agreement that the two boards would begin meeting to discuss the options.  Each board appointed their superintendents to meet with a smaller group. The two Decorah representatives are Ron Fadness and Melanie Tietz; the North Winneshiek representatives are Brenda Krietzer and Ben Lange. There was agreement that they would meet soon, but a specific meeting date was not set.