Delano Middle School and High School will be Honoring All Who Served on Wednesday, November 11 at 9:30 a.m. in the Delano High School Tiger Activity Center.
The program will include an address from a World War II Veteran and POW, presentation of the winners of the Patriot Pen essay contest (a middle school writing contest on "When is the Right Time to Honor Our Military Heroes?") sponsored by VFW Post 1901 of Montrose, presentation of the Blue Ribbon School Award to Delano High School and music from the high school band and chorus.
The public is encouraged to attend. Bus transportation from the Delano American Legion Post 377 to Delano High School will be provided courtesy of Stahlke Transportation for veterans, their families and others to avoid parking problems at the high school. The bus will depart the Legion at 9:00a and return after the program.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Schools for Equity in Education (SEE)
Delano Schools belongs to SEE, a consortium of 56 Minnesota school districts that represents about 250,000 Minnesota schoolchildren. SEE advocates for the establishment of legislation that assists low property wealth school districts, like Delano.
Homeowners in low property wealth school districts pay two or three times more to generate the same amount of revenue per pupil as high wealth districts on operating levies. For instance, for every $100,000 of assessed home value Delano residents will pay $89 as compared to a wealthy neighboring district that will only pay $32 on the $430 per pupil operating levy that Delano carries.
The neighboring district carries a $1,205 per pupil operating levy and a taxpayer in that district will annually pay $89 per $100,000 of assessed value. If Delano carried that kind of levy the annual tax burden would be $250 per $100,ooo of assessed value.
Look at these numbers again. The neighbor gets $1,205 for $89 per $100,000 of assessed value and Delano receives $430. Is there something wrong with this picture? This is an example of the kind of inequities that the legislature has allowed to exist at the expense of both taxpayers and students.
On November 9 the school boards of Delano, Rockford and Buffalo/Hanover/Montrose will be meeting with legislators in the Rockford Community Center at Rockford High School at 7:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend.
On November 30 at 7:00 p.m. the Delano School Board will be holding a Public Forum on the State of the School District's Finances and Building Capacities in the DMS Auditorium. The public is invited to attend this event.
Homeowners in low property wealth school districts pay two or three times more to generate the same amount of revenue per pupil as high wealth districts on operating levies. For instance, for every $100,000 of assessed home value Delano residents will pay $89 as compared to a wealthy neighboring district that will only pay $32 on the $430 per pupil operating levy that Delano carries.
The neighboring district carries a $1,205 per pupil operating levy and a taxpayer in that district will annually pay $89 per $100,000 of assessed value. If Delano carried that kind of levy the annual tax burden would be $250 per $100,ooo of assessed value.
Look at these numbers again. The neighbor gets $1,205 for $89 per $100,000 of assessed value and Delano receives $430. Is there something wrong with this picture? This is an example of the kind of inequities that the legislature has allowed to exist at the expense of both taxpayers and students.
On November 9 the school boards of Delano, Rockford and Buffalo/Hanover/Montrose will be meeting with legislators in the Rockford Community Center at Rockford High School at 7:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend.
On November 30 at 7:00 p.m. the Delano School Board will be holding a Public Forum on the State of the School District's Finances and Building Capacities in the DMS Auditorium. The public is invited to attend this event.
Friday, October 23, 2009
School Finance Update
There was an interesting piece on Minnesota Public Radio regarding the "shift" or delayed payments that schools are experiencing. The legislature put this shift into effect to help balance the state's budget. It is a $1.77B deal for the state.
Some think the state may not repay the delayed payments next year. Others say the best case scenario is that the shift will continue into the future. The delayed payment for Delano School District is approximately $3.8M. The school district will be able to cash flow this for this year. If we didn't have reserve funds we would need to incur borrowing costs. We will lose some interest income as a result of the shift.
The school board is planning on holding a public forum on the state of the school district's finances in November with the date to be determined at the October 26 meeting. We want to keep school patrons up to date on school funding issues as there are challenging times ahead.
Stay tuned to this blog for information as it develops.
Some think the state may not repay the delayed payments next year. Others say the best case scenario is that the shift will continue into the future. The delayed payment for Delano School District is approximately $3.8M. The school district will be able to cash flow this for this year. If we didn't have reserve funds we would need to incur borrowing costs. We will lose some interest income as a result of the shift.
The school board is planning on holding a public forum on the state of the school district's finances in November with the date to be determined at the October 26 meeting. We want to keep school patrons up to date on school funding issues as there are challenging times ahead.
Stay tuned to this blog for information as it develops.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
New Board Member to be Named
The vacancy created on the school board with the passing of Sam Nelson will be appointed at the October 26 meeting. Joy Bodin, who applied for the previous opening, has been asked to fill that vacancy and she has agreed to serve.
She is the Director of Marketing and Admissions at Hennepin Technical College and holds a Bachelor of Arts from Metropolitan State University in psychology and business. She and her family moved to Delano in 2000 because of the qualities they found in Delano Public Schools. She has been a volunteer for Destination Imagination and a parent volunteer for Lego League in south Minneapolis.
It was the opinion of the school board that her extensive experience in public higher education, which includes marketing, quality improvement initiatives, public relations activities, experience with budgets and technology will be a great asset to the school district.
This position will come up for election in the November 2010 election and will then be for the remainder of the term that ends December 31, 2012.
She is the Director of Marketing and Admissions at Hennepin Technical College and holds a Bachelor of Arts from Metropolitan State University in psychology and business. She and her family moved to Delano in 2000 because of the qualities they found in Delano Public Schools. She has been a volunteer for Destination Imagination and a parent volunteer for Lego League in south Minneapolis.
It was the opinion of the school board that her extensive experience in public higher education, which includes marketing, quality improvement initiatives, public relations activities, experience with budgets and technology will be a great asset to the school district.
This position will come up for election in the November 2010 election and will then be for the remainder of the term that ends December 31, 2012.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Special School Board Meeting
A special school board meeting was held on October 8, 2009 and discussion was held regarding the following items: the status of the operating levy and shortfall of revenues to finance current operations into the future; the over-capacity of the buildings and possible solutions; holding a community forum to inform the community of the financial status and building capacity issues; items for discussion with the City of Delano including growth projection, joint survey, School Resource Officer Agreement and snow removal agreement; and filling Sam Nelson’s seat on the school board.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Delano Area Ed Foundation Reception/Orientation
The Delano Area Educational Foundation (DAEF) will be hosting a reception and orientation on Monday, October 12 beginning at 7:00 p.m. at 3 Crows Restaurant.
DAEF conducts two fund raising events each year; a gala in February and a trapshoot in September. Last year DAEF contributed $26,000 to specific classroom activities and projects in the school district.
The reception/orientation is open to anyone who would like to get involved with the organization either as a board member or one of the committees.
DAEF conducts two fund raising events each year; a gala in February and a trapshoot in September. Last year DAEF contributed $26,000 to specific classroom activities and projects in the school district.
The reception/orientation is open to anyone who would like to get involved with the organization either as a board member or one of the committees.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
H1N1 Update 10/1/09
We continue to see the symptoms of influenza like illnesses in our schools. We would like to thank parents for their reporting of these symptoms. Please continue to report and describe the symptom that your child is experiencing. Some of the things you might be seeing are fever, cough, and sore throat. If your child is experiencing body aches and tiredness, please report that as well.
The Minnesota Department of Health has asked us to report influenza like illness when absenteeism reaches five percent per building and three per classroom in the elementary. You may see news media reports regarding these statistics.
We continue to advocate good hand washing hygiene and cough etiquette as our main defense against influenza like illness. Also, keeping your child home when he or she displays the symptoms of fever, cough or sore throat is vitally important to the health of everyone.
The Minnesota Department of Health has asked us to report influenza like illness when absenteeism reaches five percent per building and three per classroom in the elementary. You may see news media reports regarding these statistics.
We continue to advocate good hand washing hygiene and cough etiquette as our main defense against influenza like illness. Also, keeping your child home when he or she displays the symptoms of fever, cough or sore throat is vitally important to the health of everyone.
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