Recommendations of the South Winneshiek Future Direction Committee "aren't real dramatic"

There will be another presentation about South Winneshiek Schools at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday in the HS Auditorium

The 23 members of the South Winneshiek Future Direction Committee have spent the past year looking into whether the school district should do whole grade sharing, partial day sharing, create a charter school or form consortiums with other school district.

On Monday night the group presented its finding to a crowd of around 90 people at the South Winn HS Auditorium.  Co-Chair Steve Carnesi says members of his group have discovered the school district's financial performances "aren't as bad as rumored."

In fact, the picture presented by several members of the group on Monday night was of a successful rural school district.  35 percent of all South Winneshiek teachers have Master's Degrees.  That figure rises to 50 percent of all South Winn High School teachers.  That allows the high school to offer classes for college credit, which saves parents a lot of money on college tuition.

In addition, South Winn's projected enrollments for the next ten years look fairly stable, despite the loss of students to neighboring districts through open enrollment.

Superintendent Clark Goltz says the district's financial status is fairly good, despite some "drastic" cuts that had to be made last spring.

The South Winneshiek Future Direction Commission will present its recommendations to the South Winn School Board in two weeks.  They will include continuing the South Winneshiek/NICC partnership, working closely with parochial schools in the district and continuing to share resources with other school district.

Carnesi admits "None of these are drastic changes," but he says that's a positive sign for the school district.  "We don't need to do all that much," he concludes.

Superintendent Clark Goltz answers an audience question