The North Winneshiek student shuffle – where will they go?

The merger of North Winneshiek and Decorah Community Schools meant students would be going someplace other than North Winneshiek. The Decorah Interim School Board had approved, after labored discussion, the open enrollment of North Winneshiek students to Mabel-Canton Schools. That agreement is for a five year period, allowing those students in 7th grade this year the ability to graduate from Mabel-Canton. There is no guarantee beyond that point, so parents who are open enrolling younger students and desire their continuation at Mabel-Canton are taking a considerable risk.

It was not known at the time how many students would open enroll. At their Wednesday night meeting when they approved the open enrollment applications, the School Board members expressed surprise at how many students had completed the paperwork for open enrollment next year. Here is the breakdown:

• 15 open enrolled who had previously attended Mabel-Canton.
• 23 additional students completed open enrollment paperwork for next year.
• 48 students will be absorbed into current Decorah grade K-7 classrooms.

That high number of additional students requesting open enrollment was an apparent surprise. The obvious implication is the loss of potential state funding that will flow to Minnesota, rather than to Decorah. Here is the math: $6900 per student x 38 students = $262,200.

It is not certain how many of those 23 students will actually follow through on their application.

In an additional twist, the Board approved the open enrollment of a student who lives in the extreme northwest portion of the district to attend Fillmore Central. Since the Board had approved the open enrollments to Mabel-Canton, they felt they had no option but to do so for a similar request.