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Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com

Published - Saturday, April 12, 2008

Education in Winona: Moving forward

By Brian Neil / Guest view

Please allow me to share with you some of my feelings regarding the state of public education in Winona.

In pursuit of educational excellence, all of us cherish our roles as serious and caring individuals who strive to maximize the quality of learning for all of our citizens. At times, the most conscientious of us will make mistakes and miss opportunities, yet I believe the employees of the Winona Area Public Schools are succeeding in the pursuit of stronger schools and overall excellence. Here is some evidence:

Our school district has received the Minnesota Department of Education Finance Award for a third year.

We have successfully renewed contracts with all of the employee bargaining units. This will help greatly in stabilizing our financial plans for the future.

We recently received recognition for our efforts to reduce our energy consumption thereby saving taxpayers more than $500,000 since the program’s inception. This savings is the result of conscientious efforts of all district employees.

Beginning early in 2007, district employees and community members began a comprehensive planning process that culminated last month with sufficient input to provide direction to the school board for the district’s future. Much gratitude is owed for the many hours of personal time that were given up by all participants.

Release of staff development funds by the WEA will result in technology upgrades in classroom computers and related technology. Since general fund money that would be budgeted for teacher computers now can be used for other technology needs, students also benefit. Due to the foresight of our administrators, those monies are already producing the desired effect. Pilot programs in selected elementary schools have shown that student technology needs can be served with limited hardware and reduced energy expenditure.

In the past year, we’ve seen several improvements to our district-wide buildings and grounds. The completion of the new Area Learning Center building with its innovative and frugal geothermal heating and air conditioning, the remodeling of Central Elementary space to house Community Education offices and programs, initiation of a long overdue Library Media Center at Washington-Kosciusko elementary, and curriculum-related landscaping that started at W-K has spread to Madison and Goodview and most likely will continue to enhance our school campuses.

Due to extra effort on the part of teaching and support staff, a high school curriculum audit has been completed and an action plan for improvement developed. A similar review is now being conducted by middle school staff with an elementary effort scheduled for the near future. It is herculean tasks such as these that clarify the dedication of the district’s teachers to evaluate the curriculum content and delivery methods to guarantee the best effort possible for serving our customers.

Administrators, staff, and volunteer groups continue to pursue and receive grant monies that augment public revenue for such programs as science, technology, engineering and math initiatives; information systems upgrades; landscaping materials and miscellaneous classroom media.

Of course, the true source of pride in the district is the accomplishments of students themselves. Here are just a few examples of the many student successes over this past year:

Art and music students displaying and performing at state and regional levels.

Exceptional athletic performances in swimming, gymnastics, weight lifting and adapted floor hockey to name only a few.

Placement in regional, state and international science competitions.

Outstanding representation in gifted programming such as “Destination Imagination.”

Continued strong showing in the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Community Education staff have recently conducted a needs assessment to evaluate their programs as they continue to serve 8,000 people and families. The GED program housed at the new ALC building is just one example of service that community education provides. Individuals who come to recognize the value of a high school diploma late in life can have their hope renewed by such a program.

Ultimately, we are all challenged locally by the actions, or inactions, in St. Paul.

At times, we all feel our hands tied by actions at the state and federal levels. Our economy is rolling into recession as the state of Minnesota predicts a nearly $1 billion shortfall in funding. This will have drastic effects on our local schools and the children we serve.

We will see only a 1 percent increase in state funding next fiscal year. All of us must begin to ask the difficult questions. Why is education not a priority for our lawmakers? When will we again realize lack of education is at the root of most of society’s problems?

The more we provide for developing minds at the appropriate time, the more we will see the benefits of our efforts as those people grow to become the new community. The nurturing of that next community must remain our highest priority.

Neil is the chairman of the Winona Area Public Schools board.