Beginning last year, the district began conversations with the school board about possible changes in boundary lines for our elementary school attendance. Three main reasons for this: 1. increased enrollment at some of the schools (now exceeding capacity at Lincoln) with room to spare at others (Wilson). 2. Maintain or improve program equity so all students have the learning opportunities they need. 3. Balance enrollment trends as the Owatonna community is expanding and more housing is available. The process is outlined on the school district website: https://www.isd761.org/our-district/school-board/boundaries/
Tonight was the first Input Team meeting at the Owatonna Middle School. This meeting was open to the public to observe, but only Input Team members were allowed to give formal comments as the “input team.” Up to this point, the Design Team has been working with a consult group, Teamworks, using their analytics services and projected enrollment process to look at many factors affecting boundary lines. Two models, including maps and data information, were presented to the Input Team tonight.
Superintendent Elstad began the meeting, stressing the importance of transparency with the community, then introduced Ray Queener, with the consult group Teamworks, who led the meeting. There were about 27 members present tonight for the Input Team and consisted of parents, teachers, a social worker, a behavior interventionist, a school counselor, a few administrative staff, and a few Early Childhood Advisory Council members. In small groups they discussed benefits and concerns for each model, plus gave suggestions for improvements. Each small group presented a summary to the group as a whole and the completed notes were given to the Teamworks leader for review by the Design Team and Superintendent.
Ray Queener also stressed that once the Design and Input Teams are finished with their work, 2 model plans will be presented to the school board. The board will then either accept one of the plans or reject both plans at which time the Design Team will go back to work making modifications. The school board will not change or even tweak the model plans, but simply accept or reject the plans.
The public can review all the information on the district website and anyone can fill out a Feedback Form which is available through 1/26/2024. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd8W2BW1u2hI_vb878uQSKsGs7CxTSDTaMRg02SW0vse7In3g/viewform.
The Design Team will meet again on 1/29/2024 to review the feedback.
The second Input Team meeting will be on 2/20/2024 6-8pm at OMS.
Coffee with the Superintendent is Friday 1/26/2024 8:30am at the district office on Bridge Street.
Tomorrow I will post a summary from Monday’s school board meeting!
Elizabeth for Owatonna Schools 