Minot Daily News
BUILD IT – FOR THEY HAVE COME
Education
SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2016 MinotDailyNews.com • Facebook.com/MinotDailyNews
Enrollment growth means construction for area school districts
Berthold students are busy in a new classroom in a completed portion of an ongoing building project March 16. Photo by Jill Schramm
The modern cafeteria in the new Watford City High School was built to accommodate the districtʼs increased enrollment.
Submitted Photo
By JILL SCHRAMM
Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com A rapid population increase, much of it spurred by oil development in the past six years, has put pressure on local school systems to keep up with rising enrollment numbers. Many school districts in northwestern North Dakota have engaged in building projects in recent years. Some still are in a construction mode, and indications are that the building boom may not be quite finished.
Alexander Students at Alexander Public School look forward to new facilities next fall. When completed, the construction project will provide twice the space for the student population, which has nearly quadrupled in recent years. The new addition will add classrooms, a new kitchen and cafeteria,
a second, larger gymnastic and a fitness area that will be open to the public outside of school hours. Supt. Leslie Bieber said the cafeteria has been so crowded that the dining area had to be extended into the gymnasium. The construction of a new cafeteria and gymnasium will solve that space crunch and allow for more physical education for elementary students, who haven’t been able to have daily phyed classes due to space considerations. The spike in enrollment enabled Alexander to revive a football team after a 27-year hiatus and bring back basketball and volleyball after 12-year absences. The volleyball program ran into a hurdle early on when excavation on the school construction caused a wall of the gymnasium to shift. Bieber said only partial use of the gym was available for a while, so girls practiced at East Fairview and held games at Williston State College. Basketball practices took place at the community center in Watford
City until the gym was fully repaired, three days before the first home basketball game. “The surrounding communities definitely helped us out,” Bieber said. School enrollment grew from 55 students during the 2009-10 school term to a peak of 210 students. Enrollment this spring stood at about 200. In response to the growth, the district purchased two classroom
modules. The district plans to repurpose those modules for its agricultural-industrial shop program, which currently operates out of a module purchased during the previous oil boom in the 1980s. That older module will become storage. Voters approved a $17.1 million bond issue to facilitate the construction. The district also received about $500,000 in oil impact grants. See BUILD — Page 2
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Another $183,000 was allocated from an impact grant but put on hold due to a drop in oil tax collections. Through private fundraising efforts, a new playground is in design. At the close of school for summer break, the district will begin moving items into completed portions of the new building. Renovation then will begin immediately on the existing building, including removal of asbestos, new floors, ceilings and sprinkler system and remodeling of special education, administration and library areas.
The elementary was expanded with an additional wing and new gymnasium. February enrollment showed 471 students in the elementary, up by nearly 100 students from several years ago. There are an additional 204 students in middle school. Bluestone said the district would like to construct an addition to the elementary school, which is nearing its capacity. “We have to start thinking about what that might look like in the future,” he said. “We are kind of landlocked.” The district also built new bus barns and is developing 10 acres with infrastructure to support housing that will be built for staff. The first five houses should be completed this fall.
Burke Central
Parshall
Burke Central in Lignite saw an enrollment increase from 86 students to 135 students, which since has dropped back to about 125 students. The increase didn’t prompt the need for more space, but the school will be adding more lockers next spring, Supt. Sherry Lalum said. This past summer, the district invested in updates to the school’s science lab.
In 2011, Parshall’s school district opened a $1.5 million elementary addition that added four classrooms and remodeled a kitchen. The district also purchased and built housing to be able to make another 22 living units available to staff.
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Divide County Divide County voters narrowly approved a ballot proposal in February that would permit up to $9.9 million in bonds for school district building projects in Crosby. The design work on that project has started. Supt. Sherlock Hirning said the first piece to be tackled is a new heating system. “The building itself needs a considerable amount of renovation. The heating systems in both buildings are pretty much worn out, and we need additional classroom space,” he said. The schools need more space for their computer technology and science programs and new STEM programs, he said. The high school also needs more space for special needs students. The addition will provide four classrooms for the elementary school and three classrooms for the high school, along with a physical fitness center to include a weight room and exercise room for physical education classes. The renovation portion will remodel restrooms to become accessible to people with disabilities and will add an elevator in the elementary school. Administrative offices in both buildings will be remodeled. The district anticipates finishing the construction project for the 2017-18 school year. The school has seen enrollment grow from just over 200 students to a peak of 360 students last year. This year’s enrollment is 345.
Powers Lake Powers Lake students are making use of new facilities that opened last fall. Supt. Sue Gunderson said the district renovated its high school and added an addition to accommodate the elementary. The former elementary building closed. Voters approved borrowing of $5.74 million, and the project received a nearly $1.19 million Energy Infrastructure and Impact grant from the North Dakota DeSubmitted Photos partment of Trust Lands. TOP: One of several new classrooms constructed at Tioga Public School offers a colorThe new facility features improved science and music classful, more spacious educational environment for students. SECOND TOP: The new New Town High School is accommodating the enrollment rooms, new computer labs and a new kitchen and cafeteria. Eight growth and educational needs at the secondary level. classrooms were added. Grades four through six are located in the new addition, while grades kindergarten through three and the junior high and high school are located in the renovated building. Gunderson said the consolidation eliminated the need for staff to travel between the elementary and high school buildings, which had been occurring in areas such as physical education, music, library and special education. Powers Lake has seen its enrollment increase from 90 students six years ago to a high of 185. There are about 173 students this spring.
LEFT: A well-lit concourse through the Watford City High School runs past a new performing arts center. Ray Jill Schramm/MDN The Ray school district built a RIGHT: A corridor of lockers leads between classrooms in a new portion of the Berthold $7.5 million addition three years High School. Submitted Photos
ago that included four high school classrooms, a new lunch room, gymnasium, weight room and administrative offices. Supt. Ben Schafer said since then, some elementary classes have moved into the high school area due to overcrowding in the elementary building. Ray’s enrollment increased from 160 students seven years ago to 299 students today, which is a slight decline from 308 students last year. Voters overwhelmingly approved a $5 million bond issue for the school expansion project.
8 Mile High, Trenton The district is investigating a potential building project. The district started its school year last year with 217 students in kindergarten through 12th grade and by the end of the year had 250 students. It started this year with 277 students. Only a few years ago, enrollment was 188 students. The school added another firstgrade classroom and may be required to add sections at other grade levels, Principal Steve Morben said. That presents a problem. “We are actually at capacity with our school space in our building,” he said.
The new Watford City High School opened to classes on Feb. 16. closet. The construction is funded by a $7 million construction loan from the Bank of North Dakota, which will reduce the bond approved last summer.
Kenmare Grenora A school addition is under construction in Grenora that will provide seven new classrooms, a second gymnasium, a weight room, two locker rooms, concessions and a teachers’ work room. Grenora has experienced an enrollment increase from 44 students in kindergarten through high school to 180 students at its peak. Enrollment this spring was 169 students. Voters approved a nearly $10 million bond issue for the construction. Energy impact money paid for a nearly $400,000 new boiler system in the existing building, which was separate from the construction. Another $100,000 impact grant went to build the district’s first bus barn. The seven-stall barn replaced a small garage that was all the district had, Supt. Troy Walters said. Walters said the school should take occupancy of the new addition by about May 1. After graduation, renovation of the existing building will immediately start. That work will expand a lunch room and kitchen, adding a walk-in freezer and refrigerator. It will create two ITV rooms and repurpose some classroom space for a larger library and to create a room special education, which now operates out of a
A new 7,000-square-foot vocational agriculture facility is under construction in Kenmare. It is expected to be completed in May and put into use during the 2016-17 school year. The building will provide space for welding, horticulture, meats and FFA activities. Supt. Duane Mueller said the school has a small shop that it has out-grown. Once no longer needed for shop space, the area will be converted into a classroom and weight room for students. The district sold bonds to pay for the $2 million project.
Lewis & Clark Remodeling of the Plaza and Berthold schools in the Lewis & Clark School District has been underway this past year. Plaza Elementary is being expanded to create new space for grades 7 through 12, bringing the total enrollment of 140 students under one roof. Supt. Brian Nelson said the Makoti junior high and high school, built in 1933, has been in need of major repairs. District residents determined the best solution is to build onto the elementary in Plaza and demolish the Makoti school. The work is to be finished this summer. The school addition will include
new classrooms for math, science, social studies and English as well as a room for family and consumer science and a remodeled science lab. There will be a new weight room, special education room and offices. The building’s heating system was overhauled and a switch made from fuel oil to propane. The building also includes a second gymnasium, which has become necessary to accommodate all the classes and activities that go on during the school year, Nelson said. He said the district covers such a large area that it becomes difficult to have students travel to school for early morning or late evening practices that are required when trying to schedule in a single gym. The Berthold school also is getting a second gymnasium in its remodeling and addition project. The new gym will be capable of seating 1,000 people. With four gyms, the district would be able to host large tournaments, and Nelson hopes to eventually see that happen.. “That’s pretty significant,” Nelson said. “We are the only school district in the area, if not in the state, that has that option.” The Berthold addition also includes a new shop for vocational offices and classes and classrooms for family and consumer science, business and junior high. Nelson said the school will be able to offer woodworking, metal working and will have a greenhouse and a meats lab. The remodeling portion of the Berthold project will redo the science room and turn the former vocational agriculture area into a new music room. Meanwhile, the old music room will become a board
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room and superintendent’s office. The cafeteria will be expanded, creating a larger area for the kitchen staff and for student dining. The school’s enrollment has grown from 216 students in 1996-97 to 280 students today, which Nelson attributes to community growth not directly linked to oil development. The Berthold construction project is to be finished this summer. The vocational education portion has been completed and is in use. Voters approved a $15 million bond issue to fund the construction at the two schools.
New Town A new career and technical education center is under construction in New Town. The building is expected to be completed this summer and will provide for building trades, auto mechanics and vocational agriculture education starting next fall. The building also will house an alternative education classroom and a daycare. The project is part of about $30 million in improvements in the district in the past few years. The district built a new high school a couple of years ago, adding on a new gymnasium last year with seating for 1,100 spectators. The high school has 187 students, and the new building has capacity to handle considerably more students as the district grows. Supt. Marc Bluestone said the building is state of the art with three computer labs, surveillance throughout the school, entrance security, and smartboards and other technology in every classroom. The two-story building includes an elevator.
Stanley A second round of construction is set for completion sometime this fall in the Stanley school system. In 2012, the district added five classrooms, a special education room and a science classroom and laboratory at its high school. At the elementary school, an addition included a new library, technology office and kindergarten rooms in 2012. Now an elementary addition is being built that will add 11 classrooms, a new kitchen and administrative offices. Stanley’s enrollment fell to a low of 340 students about 10 years ago, Supt. Tim Holte said. The school population more than rebounded to 704 students last year before dropping back this year to about 675 to 680 students, which is still double the number of students in years past. Holte said the elementary building had been cramped enough this year that the district moved sixth graders from the elementary building to the high school, which had been housing grades eight through 12. Sixth-graders will move back to the elementary once the addition is finished. The current project is being funded by a loan through the state. The district bonded for $4.6 million and also received oil impact grant funds.
Tioga The Tioga school district opened new additions to its elementary and high schools last fall. Voters there approved about a $10 million bond issue, which added to about $2 million available in oil impact grants. See BUILD — Page 3
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The largest project occurred at the elementary, where the addition included eight classrooms, a music classroom, administrative offices and a new kitchen and cafeteria. The cafeteria can accommodate up to 100 students at a time. Previously, the school had been using a couple of classrooms for its cafeteria overflow. The former cafeteria became a computer room in the remodeling. With the new administrative offices, the school was able to convert the former administrative area into more classroom space. For the past three years, the district had been using a separate modular unit to provide enough classroom space. The high school addition expanded the cafeteria and kitchen and added restrooms that are handicapped accessible. Supt. Carolyn Eide said the former cafeteria and kitchen were cramped and in need of updating. The concessions for sporting events also used the cafeteria. With the redesign, the concession area was moved to a new portion of the cafeteria, creating an arrangement that is much less congested, she said. The number of students in Tioga has doubled in the past 10 years. Enrollment was at 465 students in March, down from 490 students last year but well ahead of even five years ago when the 2011-12 enrollment was 309 students.
Watford City Watford City began offering classes in a new $53 million high school Feb. 16. The construction was undertaken to help accommodate kindergarten through 12th grade enrollment that has grown from about 512 students in 2009 to 1,331 students today. The three-story, 167,672square-foot school serves grades seven through 12 with technology-equipped classrooms, a performance theater, more science labs, a gymnasium and larger cafeteria. The collaborative learning areas as well as the amount of natural light with the large expanse of windows are major benefits of the new facility, Supt. Steve Holen said. The theater will seat 544 people and the gymnasium 1,375 spectators. Holen said the school didn’t previously have a full theater and is looking forward to the fine arts opportunities that the new theater presents. Overall, the building will accommodate about 800 students in its current configuration, including seating 354 people in the cafeteria. The latest RSP & Associates study in January shows the school population will continue to increase by 10 percent a year for several years. “The school district monitors the trends closely to see if the student population will continue to follow the study predictions. We expect somewhat steady student population to slight growth through 2016 and increases to follow based on the status of the oil industry and prices,” Holen said. “Continued growth in the lower grade levels will drive any further discussions of an elementary school project in the future.” The school district’s longterm facilities plan includes the study of an additional elementary school. The current kindergarten through third grade population is slightly over 550 students in a school designed for 600 students. Two years ago, voters overwhelmingly approved a $27 million bond issue for the high school construction. The debt capacity at that time only allowed for $27 million to be requested of the voters. The district pieced together loans to cover the remainder of the cost. It is using energy impact grant funds and local funding sources to help with costs. About $6 million was received in impact grants over a two- to three-year period. Half of those funds were received in a joint application with the city involving infrastructure to the new school site.
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A new addition at the Tioga School opened last fall to accommodate a large growth in enrollment.
Williston Williston broke ground last spring on a new high school. It is scheduled to open this fall. The school will accommodate up to 1,100 students, with room to construct an expansion to increase capacity to 1,500 students. The district has seen its student population jump significantly every year, increasing from 2,334 students in May 2011 to more than 3,500 today. Enrollment is up about 500 in this past year. “Overall this year, we have had students leaving but we are also having students enrolling yet,” Supt. Viola LaFontaine said. The result has been that the district has held to strong enrollment numbers this year. Much of the growth has been at the elementary level, and once the new high school is completed, the district will remodel the existing high school into a building for grades five and six. That will alleviate some of the overcrowding in the elementaries, where modulars take overflow students and reading skills classes are taught in hallways. LaFontaine said the district won’t be able to eliminate modular units. They likely will be needed for special services, if not classrooms. The district will be looking at constructing a new elementary in the future, she said. Voters approved a $39 million bond issue for the high school. The district also used oil and gas revenues and impact funds to finance loans through the state. Schools more removed from the Bakken are seeing the need to do some construction as well. Often aging facilities are forcing school boards and communities to consider their options.
Bottineau Bottineau voters turned down two bond issues, but the district continues to look at what it might do to address its aging facilities. Before it can proceed, the district wants to hear from the attorney general regarding the use of land for possible construction. “Our need hasn’t gone way,” Supt. Jason Kersten said. The district’s building housing pre-kindergarten through second grade is becoming out-dated and the solution being considered is a new elementary building.
Garrison The Garrison school district is prioritizing its needs to determine how to proceed after voters rejected four proposed bond issues since 2012. Supt. Nick Klemisch said the buildings need a lot of updating. However, he said the school has managed and will continue to manage with situations that aren’t necessarily ideal. For instance, the high school does not have a lunch room so students walk or are bussed to the elementary, which ties up space in the elementary gymnasium and cafeteria that the younger students could use for their activities. The vocational shop
also needs electrical updates, and staff and students are having to work around the system’s limitations to avoid blown fuses. Some shop classes are taught in the bus barn because of shortage of shop space. Klemisch said the district is sorting through the needs to determine whether it can address them individually without a bond issue.
Max Voters in the Max School District rejected a measure that would have funded new construction, but the district was able to go ahead with a $3.2 million renovation project. The renovation, largely completed last summer, included a new heating system, new lighting, drop ceilings and a fire-suppression sprinkler system throughout the building. It added a cooling system and a speaker system with alarms for fires or other emergencies. The project was funded through bonding that is being paid off with a special mill levy for miscellaneous expenses.
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Saturday, April 9, 2016
districts offer something new for students By JILL SCHRAMM
Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com New high schools for South Prairie and Nedrose and a new elementary school in Minot have been among school construction projects completed and ongoing in the region. A $39.5 million bond issue approved by voters in April 2014 is paying for construction of the new John Hoeven Elementary in southeast Minot and new school additions at Edison and Perkett elementaries, as well as safety improvements at all schools. The four-classroom addition at Edison was completed last fall, while the new elementary and the Perkett addition will be completed in time for the start of school this coming fall. The Perkett addition includes 10 classrooms, a gymnasium and cafeteria. The existing gym will become a library and more classrooms. The new 81,000-squarefoot elementary will look similar to the new Erik Ramstad Middle School, which was built to replace the middle school lost to the Souris River flood of 2011. Like Ramstad, the new elementary at 13th Street and 37th Avenue SE will feature lots of windows that let in plenty of light. The front entrance will open to a corridor that will usher members of the public to the gymnasium. Academic areas of the building can be shut off from that corridor. The school office will also be near the entrance. The school will be large enough to accommodate four sections of each grade level along with special education and preschool classrooms. The school is being built for 550 students. The district felt the need to expand its schools to get students out of portable structures. “Portables will become the exception and not the rule,” school Business Manager Scott Moum said. Also in southeast Minot, construction is continuing on the new Nedrose school. Dozens of students are already attending classes in completed portions of the building. Classes started for about 180 students in grades 6 through 12 in the new building at 15th Street and 55th Avenue SE on Feb. 12. The City of Minot granted partial occupancy to allow the move to occur since no construction is occurring in the areas currently being used by students. The remaining construction will finish a second gymnasium, music and art rooms and career and technical education facilities, including space for vocational agriculture and shop classes. Students can take vocational courses over interactive television this year, but the district has hired a vocational agriculture instructor for the next school year. Even without the full use of the building, the existing facility is providing a better educational experience than the district was able to offer with the portable classrooms established as an interim measure, High School Principal Matt Norby said. Students have been getting by without lockers, and folding tables are substituting for the dining tables yet to arrive, but these are temporary. The building is expected to be fully completed yet this spring, and about 80 students in grades 4 and 5 could be moved into the building before the school term ends if the building becomes ready this month. Kindergarteners through third-graders will remain at the original school site east of Minot, which could eventually undergo renova-
TOP RIGHT: South Prairie Public School, shown March 14, completed an addition last fall for a new high school. RIGHT: The John Hoeven Elementary School is under construction in southeast Minot March 14. It is scheduled for completion by fall. Photos by Jill Schramm
LEFT: The new Nedrose school in southeast Minot partially opened Feb. 12. LOWER LEFT: A computer lab at Nedrose school is well equipped to serve larger classes. LOWER RIGHT: The library in the new Nedrose School, shown March 10, serves students in grades 6 through 12. Photos by Jill Schramm
tion. Norby said the district expects to take three years to get to full occupancy in the new building. Nedrose, formerly a K-8 district, established a high school last fall, but students living in the district who were already attending other high schools in the area had the option to continue doing so. Consequently, Nedrose has only six seniors this year. The high school is expected to grow as the district retains its students in the years ahead. Norby said the transition to the new school this winter went smoothly, thanks to support from parents and students. It’s not just parents and students but teachers who have been excited about the large classrooms and state-ofthe-art technology in the school, Norby said. “Ask any student what is your favorite part of the new school, and they always say, ‘the gym,’” Norby said. The new gymnasium is more spacious than the gym in the original Nedrose elementary school. It has seating capacity for 1,000 people. The gymnasium serves both curricular and extra-curricular functions. Nedrose offers a full slate of high school sports opportunities, including football, basketball, volleyball, cross country and track. This past year, the school cooperated with Surrey in baseball and Bishop Ryan in wrestling. Construction of a football field is planned over the summer. The district plans a grand opening next fall in conjunction with the annual back-toschool cookout. By then, the landscaping as well as the building should be completed. Voters approved an $18 million bond issue to pay for the school project in early 2014. The cost of the project is about $22 million. South Prairie opened its new high school last August. The $12 million addition to the elementary school serves 67 students in grades 7 to 12. The student body includes only three seniors. Like Nedrose, South Prairie agreed to continue tuition agreements for students wishing to con-
tinue attending other high schools. High school numbers will increase when those agreements eventually fade away. Although three seniors will graduate, there are 33 eight-graders who would move up next year. Total school enrollment this spring is 367, up seven from the start of the school year. Supt. Wayne Stanley said the school opened with 50 more elementary students than expected, due to more families choosing South Prairie now that there is a high school option. The district also has allowed open enrollment, which has caused the school to pick up extra students. Open enrollment was limited in early elementary, though, because of the need to keep class sizes from growing behind desirable levels, Stanley said. The new addition is providing 12 classrooms and a second gymnasium that seats about 1,100 people. The 49,000 additional square feet more than doubled the size of the 48,000-square-foot school building that existed for the elementary. The new building also comes equipped with the latest technology, including flat-screen smart boards in classrooms. High school students are assigned their own laptops. Due to cost of construction, the district had to make some choices about what to include in the project. Students have access to vocational agriculture programs and use a bus barn for woodworking, but a shop was not built. Stanley said that is a project the district will be looking at in the future. South Prairie is putting finishing touches on a new football field. A track around the field is another potential future project. The new high school offers a broad array of extra-curricular sports, including volleyball, basketball, golf and track. It co-oped this past year with Bishop Ryan in football, baseball, softball and wrestling. South Prairie is one of a growing number of schools offering trap shooting.
MPS looking to restructure special ed dept. Minot Daily News PROGRESS
Saturday, April 9, 2016 By PHIL TORRES
Staff Reporter ptorres@minotdailynews.com Minot Public Schools will be restructuring their special education department in hopes of getting their students more specialized and personal attention. “If we have coordinators in the Minot school district, they don’t have to travel out of town,” says Mark Vollmer, superintendent at Minot Public Schools. Currently, the school district uses Souris Valley Special Services. While it is located in Minot, SVSS serves the following public school districts: Garrison, Glenburn, Kenmare, Lewis & Clark, Max, Minot,
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“If we have coordinators in the Minot school district, they don’t have to travel out of town. — Mark Vollmer Minot Public Schools superintendent
Montefiore, Nedrose, New Town, Parshall, Plaza, Sawyer, South Prairie, Surrey, Turtle Lake/Mercer, Underwood, United, Velva, Washburn, and White Shield. It is the largest special education unit in the state. “Any time you have 19 school districts together, they all have special needs,” says Vollmer. “It wasn’t a bad relationship with Souris, but because of the drastic student population growth we felt it was
time to expand and become a single district special education unit.” The mission of SVSS is to partner with member districts through research, dissemination, collaboration, and consultation to ensure free appropriate public education for all students with disabilities. It is the their vision to devote human resource and expertise to develop and promote results-driven and innovative special education services and programs. The
U.S. News ranks MSU’s business program among best in nation By PHIL TORRES
Staff Reporter ptorres@minotdailynews.com U.S. News & World Report reported Minot State University’s College of Business online graduate and undergraduate online programs ranked among the country’s best online education programs. Among universities reporting their graduate business program practices, the College of Business online Master of Science in management and Master of Science in information systems ranked 78th in the nation for “Best Online Graduate Business Programs.” The Business school ranked 191st for “Best Online Bachelor’s Programs.” The standings are out of the 1,200 programs U.S. News ranked nationwide, with programs needing to have at least 80 percent of their course content available online. While Indiana University Bloomington topped the rankings, this proves that MSU is one of the leaders for institutions of its size in this part of U.S. The program started 13 years ago, according to College of Business Dean Jacek Mrozik. The program came to fruition to meet the needs of students who lived too far to commute. “We were ahead of the game in terms of technology,” said Mrozik.
The school utilized HyFlex technology, which allowed in-classroom students, students streaming online and students who completed the coursework online prior to class to work together. “If you start early like we did, we have had a longer time to amass content for our online coursework,” said Mrozik. Another key to the program’s success is the department’s good student to teacher ratio, which creates a sense of being part of a classroom. While not having the same resources of larger programs, there is a “huge advantage of being smaller.” The job placement out of the program is very good, with some students receiving job offers before graduating. “Quality is our goal,” said Mrozik. “If we want to maintain quality, we don’t want to grow too quickly.” MSU’s online bachelor’s degree programs include management, management information systems, marketing, international business, nursing for registered nurses, general studies, applied management and applied business information technology. The school is in the process to add curriculum in sports management, cyber security and entrepreneurship. “It’s great to see out persistence paying off,” said Mrozik. “We definitely want to move up in the ranks.”
problem lies with the increase in enrollment. The new model means tutors will be in schools more often. “People are stretched too thin for the needs of our school,” said Vollmer. Shannon Routledge, who will be the new special education director, is currently in the process of hiring new coordinators for the department. Improving communication between the special education staff and the parents will be a key part of the new program. “Getting to know the family will help the transition from elementary to middle to high school,” said Routledge. In the old system, students would have to be reassigned
a coordinator and re-plan the various accommodations and modifications needed to become successful. The switch will not have any affect on costs, merely a reassignment of funds from the Federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The IDEA is a law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation. IDEA governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education and related services to more than 6.5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities. “We will be taking a proactive approach as opposed to a reactive one,” said Vollmer.
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Saturday, April 9, 2016
Schools strategize to qualify for students for state scholarships
Madison Schmaltz, a freshman at Lake Region State College majoring in precision agriculture, got a $1,500 break on her tuition this year. Schmaltz, a 2015 Rugby High School graduate, qualified for the North Dakota State Career and Technical Education Scholarship through course work and by passing the three tests that make up the ACT WorkKeys. Schmaltz took the Locating Information portion of the WorkKeys – a particularly challenging test – six times to get the passing score needed to land scholarship, which pays out $1,500 annually for up to
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four years. “I was going to take that test as many times as I needed in order to pass,” she said. “That is a big lump sum to help pay for college. College is expensive!” The State of North Dakota offers its high school students a $6,000 scholarship to any approved, instate institution of higher learning if they meet certain basic requirements at graduation. Those requirements include either earning an ACT score of 24 for an academic scholarship or earning scores of 5 on the WorkKeys for a CTE scholarship. In 2014-15, North Dakota
awarded 1,025 academic scholarships and 684 CTE scholarships. While that’s a lot of scholarships doing a lot of good, it’s not good enough for some educators. “There is a school in the state with a graduating class of over 500 that only had one student qualify for the CTE scholarship,” said Aimee Erdman, Succeed 2020 Project Director for the North Central Education Cooperative in Bottineau. “So clearly, there are students missing out.” The Succeed 2020 project was funded with a $25 million grant from the Hess Corporation in 2012 to pre-
pare North Dakota students for 21st century careers by strengthening their abilities to successfully transition from high school to college or a career. The project is managed across the state through the eight Regional Education Associations. NCEC includes Bottineau, Westhope, Dunseith, Newburg, Belcourt, St. John, Ojibwe Indian School, Rugby, Little Flower in Rugby, Harvey, TGU in Towner and Granville, Drake-Anamoose and Mohall. NCEC set a goal to increase the number of students in its region who passed the WorkKeys and
qualified for the CTE scholarship. “Not very many of our schools were providing that test at their schools,” Erdman said. “Obviously, if they can’t take the test, they can’t pass the test.” NCEC’s focus in the first year of its project was to encourage schools to offer the tests on site. In the 2014-15 school year, the number of schools offering the WorkKeys tests on site rose from three to 12. “Just increasing that accessibility increased our students receiving the CTE scholarship from 30 in 2014 to 55 in 2015. That’s a 109 percent increase in one year,” Erdman said. “Our goal for 2016-17 is to get all of our schools prepared to handle the testing independently and equipped to prepare their students to succeed. They need to be able to continue this effort when our grant is up in June of 2017.” NCEC expanded its focus this year to offer schools strategies to better prepare students for the test. One school that was doing a good job of helping its students qualify for the scholarship was Harvey Public School. Over the last six years, the school’s strategies helped 41 more students get the $6,000 scholarship – a $246,000 impact. NCEC used part of its Hess grant to pay for teachers and counselors to attend a workshop conducted by Harvey school staff on ways to improve the numbers of students taking and successfully passing the test. Harvey Supt. Daniel Stutlien said his school isn’t necessarily unique in promoting WorkKeys, but it was one of the first to recognize the importance of offering the tests on site. The Harvey school schedules WorkKeys testing each year the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and requires all students to take the three tests. Even students who score well on the ACT are required to take the WorkKeys. “My sales pitch to them was, walk into any Job Service in America and this is probably one of the first
things you are going to have to do,” he said of the testing. “If it’s already done, hand it in and say, ‘This is what I am capable of.’” Erdman agreed the WorkKeys is useful beyond just qualifying for a scholarship. “There are employers in the industry that use the tests for employment, and in other states, it’s actually used quite extensively,” she said. ACT created the WorkKeys tests to assess specific job readiness skills. Students who pass all three tests also earn the Gold Level ACT National Career Readiness Certificate, a nationally recognized work skills credential. The Harvey school schedules monthly re-testing dates to make it easier for students to try again on any sections they are working to pass. Stutlien said the Locating Information section is more likely to trip up students than the Applied Math and Reading for Information sections. The charts, graphs, and diagrams demand critical thinking skills. To give students a boost in their preparation, Stutlien said, the Harvey school’s math teachers start classes with ice-breaker activities that include the types of questions students are likely to encounter on WorkKeys. In attending the NCEC workshop with Harvey educators, TGU-Towner math teacher Tyler Mack learned new ways to prepare students for the tests, especially the difficult Locating Information section. “I needed to read through most of the questions at least twice to find out what information is relevant to use. Most students would have difficulty with the problems, along with most adults. This is due to more than likely reading through the problem too fast,” Mack said. “Using certain strategies, such as underlining, circling, and boxing useful information, would tremendously help students succeed. I have been encouraging students to use these strategies and also to read the directions more diligently.”
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Improved child care availability still leaves
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G A P S By JILL SCHRAMM
Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com
New center responds to child care needs
RaeAnne Chaska, director of Acorn Hollow Early Learning Center, sits in the infant and toddler room of Minotʼs newest child-care center March 2.
Jill Schramm/MDN
By JILL SCHRAMM
Ward County Licensed Child Care Capacity
Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com
Minot’s newest child-care center is opening in a community that’s eager for more daycare options. Montessori of Minot expects to open Acorn Hollow Early Learning Center this month in the First Lutheran Church education building. The location is an expansion of Montessori’s previously established operation north of Minot. RaeAnne Chaska, director of Acorn Hollow, said the center should have a positive impact – even if it’s a small one – on the demand for child-care services in Minot. Acorn Hollow is licensed for 30 children. It continued to fill those slots in March, although its openings for infants and toddlers quickly filled and developed a waiting list. Montessori offers a self-paced, childdirected program with a strong emphasis on nature. The environment includes more natural materials, such
July 2011: July 2012: July 2013: July 2014: July 2015: March 2016: *post-flood
2,309 2,238* 2,238 2,239 2,274 2,336
Source: Child Care Aware of North Dakota as wood instead of plastic, and an outdoor, natural playscape is being planned at the Minot center. Activities based on art, math, practical life, sensory development, science and culture offer educational learning, while technologies such as televisions or computers are largely bypassed for activities that encourage interaction with the natural environment. Chaska said children choose their activities, with staff available to further engage them and answer questions.
“We help them learn what they are interested in,” Chaska said. “We definitely strive to help them become independent and grow at their own pace.” Montessori of Minot also offers what is calls emergent learning, which ensures preschoolers become kindergarten-ready. Chaska said Montessori has been planning a Minot center for about a year. It has been fortunate to find a facility and to obtain grants to assist with start-up, she said. The facility includes cameras in its child-care rooms and a secured entrance for the safety of the children. The center operates from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with multiple programs for children ages 4 months to 12 years, including full day-care, after-school programs and a wrap-around for Minot Public School’s school-age programs. The center provides extracurricular programming with assistance from Taube Museum, Wise Owls Science Club and Hostfest in the Schools. Plans are to add sign language instruction.
The availability of child care in Ward County has improved in the past couple of years. Finding care for the littlest youngsters remains a challenge for parents, though. Kristi Asendorf of Minot, manager of parent services with Child Care Aware of North Dakota, said slots for infants and toddlers are in high demand everywhere. “That’s not likely to change, just because they are the most expensive group to care for,” she said. The adult to child ratio for children up to 17 months of age is one per four. For ages 18 months to just under 3 years, it is one per five. That compares to one per 10 for four-year-olds and one per 20 for school-aged children. The staffing requirement makes it difficult for daycares to handle very many infants and toddlers. Asendorf said parents patch together care systems that might involve family and friends caring for babies. Sometimes they rely on whatever care they can find. “We have parents tell us all the time they accept care that they wouldn’t otherwise if they had choice,” Asendorf said. The child care outlook for children older than toddlers is much more favorable, with slots open in Minot and other areas of the county. In the eight months prior to early March, Ward County saw 20 new daycares open, adding 315 spaces. However, the county also lost 13 providers, leaving a net gain of just 70 spaces. Ward County licensing statistics as of July 2015, showed 22 family-based programs, 72 home groups, four facility groups and 12 centers, totaling 110 programs licensed for 2,274 children. The vacancy rate was 7.5 percent. There were 336 workers employed in state-licensed early childhood programs. Asendorf said part of Child Care Aware’s mission is to assist providers not only to get established but to remain stable or transition to new ownership. However, recent across-the board state budget cuts resulted in staff reductions to the program’s consulting services and also affected child-care assistance for income-qualified families. Child Care Aware, a program of Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, has been researching information that might indicate how the slowdown in oil activity is affecting the need and availability of child care. Asendorf said it doesn’t appear at this point that there have been significantly fewer numbers of children needing care. Child care remains more of a challenge in smaller communities, although some towns have stepped up to establish community daycare facilities. Asendorf noted one small town faced a crisis when the sudden closure of a daycare left the school and other employers without critical employees because there was no backup care for the children. Child Care Aware wants to assist communities in establishing the kind of child-care resources that prevent these crises, she said.
Minot High robotics gets students excited about technology-related career fields By PHIL TORRES
LEFT: Students playing the game at the state TSA conference in Mandan. Right to left: Jake Harbaugh (Sophomore, Central Campus), Trey Strand (Junior, Magic City Campus) Travis Kelley (Junior, Magic City Campus), and Hunter Swartwout (Sophomore, Central Campus). BELOW TOP: Jake Harbaugh preparing his robot for competition. BELOW BOTTOM: Robots from Minot High School.
Staff Writer ptorres@minotdailynews.com The world needs today’s students to become the scientists, engineers and problem solving leaders of tomorrow. The constant breakthroughs in chemistry, medicine, materials and physics reveal a new set of challenges and create an even greater opportunity for problem solving through technology. The solutions could help save the world and those technology problem solvers will be the ones to make it possible. To help guide some of Minot’s youth toward these career paths, Minot High School-Central Campus will be participants in The VEX Robotics Competition. The competition, presented by the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, is an engineering challenge presented in the form of a game. Students, with guidance from teacher Gabe Rauschenberger, will have to design robots to basically play basketball. “This is just a taste,” said Rauschenberger. VEX Robotics “Nothing But Net” is played on a 12-foot-square field. Two alliances – one “red” and one “blue” – composed of two teams each, compete in matches consisting of a 15-second autonomous period followed by one minute and 45 seconds of driver-controlled play. The object of the game is to attain a higher score than the opposing team by scoring their softball-size foam balls into various goals, and by elevating their robots into the climbing zone. While preparing for the game, students will learn many academic and life skills. If the team does well, they can qualify for the VEX Worlds, which will be held April 20-23, in Louisville, Kentucky. VEX Robotics Competition is one in a series of tournaments supported by the REC Foundation and various national, regional and local sponsors. The competition season culminates each spring, with the top performing
Submitted Photos
teams from local and state VEX Robotics Competitions competing against each other at VEX Worlds. At VEX Worlds, these exemplary teams will have the opportunity to challenge their top-ranked peers from over 30 countries around the world, including Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, India, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States. Sophomore Jake Harbaugh, who will be competing in this year’s event, enjoys working with the various mechanical parts. “Everyone has their own thing. You might not like to problem solve, but I do,” said Harbaugh. While the finished product may look simple, the process to get it there is very complex. Each step from acquiring the ball to shooting presents its own dilemma. While obtaining the ball, if the robot moves too fast
the ball will bounce out or roll away. If the holding chamber isn’t secure, the ball can fall out. If the conveyor belt isn’t precise, the ball might not make it up to the basket. All this while having to worry about other robots on the field, and the objective becomes a lot more difficult. The Minot High School TSA VEX Robotics team competed at the North Dakota Technology Student Association (TSA) State conference in Mandan March 21-22. Two robots were scored individually with two students on each team. Travis Kelley and Carson Black are both juniors at MHS. Their two robots took second place and Hunter Swartwout and Jake Harbaugh, both sophomores at MHS, took third as a team. While there is a shortage of high school graduates choosing technology-related disciplines in college, this program is a good start to get youth excited about it.
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Virtual CTE extends opportunities to area high schools By JILL SCHRAMM
Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com
SCHOOLS TAP INTO ITV
Jill Schramm/MDN
Students in the Lewis & Clark Districtʼs Berthold High School take a class through the ITV network March 16.
By JILL SCHRAMM
Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com
Berthold senior Cassidy Limke knew she needed the right high school classes to prepare her for the rigorous university coursework she would have to take to become a physical therapist. By incorporating classes from an interactive television network with her school’s curriculum, Limke believes she’ll start college in a better position to be successful. Limke is enrolled in sports medicine and anatomy this spring through the Great Western Network, an ITV consortium of 50 schools. Her school made special arrangements for her to take anatomy over ITV when its on-site anatomy class failed to fit into her schedule. “It feels like it should be a college credit class because it’s so difficult, but I love it,” Limke said of the class, broadcast from a Beulah science classroom. Although the anatomy course is fastpaced and requires absorbing a lot of information quickly, Limke said she can get one-on-one help. That help has been through email rather than face-to-face as in a live classroom setting, which required some adjustment for Limke. However, remote learning, while different, doesn’t have to be restrictive. The anatomy class includes the dissection of a cat cadaver. “It seems like a normal classroom most days,” Limke said.
to broaden student knowledge
painting and drawing to origami and beading. The state’s multiple networks are linked, enabling the different consortiums to share educational resources. Each consortium sets the tuition charged to schools for their students enrolled in ITV classes. The school providing the teacher is reimbursed, and the teacher also receives a stipend. The consortium provides training to teachers who are first-time instructors using the system, but McCracken said newer teachers typically come out of colleges already trained. “I have teachers that teach full-time on ITV and don’t have any students in front of them. They might be teaching 20 students in five or six schools,” McCracken said. An example is a Spanish teacher living in rural Valley City, who uses ITV equipment in her home to teach Spanish to students in Stanley, Velva and Burke Central. She added, though, that the consortiums have had positive experiences with teachers who are instructing a classroom of students but have students from a few other schools participating
It’s a really nice supplement to the curriculum.
– Peggy Person
Berthold High School principal
ITV classes have become a common addition to the curriculum for nearly every school not part of a major, urban district in North Dakota. Several regional consortiums operate in North Dakota to provide ITV services. In the Minot region, in addition to the Great Western network, the North Central Distance Learning Consortium merged into the Central Dakota Distance Learning Consortium last July, creating a service group of 38 schools stretching from Mohall to Zeeland and LaMoure to St. John. When ITV programs began about 25 years ago, the concept was for the state’s large school districts to share programming with the smaller schools, said Kathy McCracken, director of the Central Dakota consortium, Glenfield. As the system operates today, much of the programming comes from within smaller schools that have banded together to share resources. The state provides the bandwidth and telecommunications cooperatives have installed the infrastructure, which has been upgraded so all schools have high definition televisions and cameras. High-definition document cameras allow students to present their work in detail to the instructor. That’s useful in hands-on classes such as art, which is offered in forms ranging from
with them through ITV. ITV saw a surge in popularity when the state began offering college scholarships to eligible students. One of the scholarship requirements was the completion of two sections of a foreign language. That requirement since has changed, but it brought a number of students into consortium courses whose schools weren’t able to offer onsite language instruction. Now, ITV provides a way to deliver college-level classes in English, algebra, pre-calculus, psychology, sociology and some science courses. Science courses require an on-site science teacher be available to conduct laboratory exercises. Dual credit and foreign language courses are the most common courses offered through the ITV networks. Seth Wisthoff, Powers Lake High School principal, said the district wants to increase its ITV offerings to provide as many dual credit courses as possible so students can get a semester or two of college out of the way by the time they graduate from high school. He said the school also is considering offering welding and a class related to petroleum careers because of job opportunities in the area. “Maybe students aren’t really looking to go to college right out of high school, but we can prepare them the
best that we can to step right into the workforce and be successful,” he said. Stanley High School has seen such success running two classrooms with ITV courses that it is planning to equip a third classroom. Principal Jim Swegarden estimated about 15 percent of Stanley High School’s student body is enrolled in ITV courses. The school also is looking at becoming a generating site since it is fortunate to have two vocational agriculture instructors and a marketing instructor, which are positions schools find hard to fill, he said. At Berthold, students interested in German, sign language or becoming an emergency medical technician have the opportunity to take those classes, thanks to ITV. “It’s a really nice supplement to the curriculum,” Berthold High School Principal Peggy Person said. ITV classes involve more than just sitting in a classroom watching a teacher on a screen, she added. Three students in a medical careers class had an opportunity to work with two students in Kenmare to present at a statewide student conference on health occupations in Jamestown. The medical class was offered through an ITV program of Bismarck Public Schools and Bismarck State College. McCracken said the ITV isn’t likely to replace the live classroom. “For the majority of students, they learn best with the teacher in the room with them. There’s no getting around that. But when that’s not possible with the teacher shortage, the best bet is when they see and interact with a teacher,” she said. A shortage of teachers has helped drive the interest in ITV. Sometimes ITV could use more teachers, too. Wisthoff noted the Powers Lake school wasn’t able to get some students into a graphics design class because the class had filled. Funding can be a limiting factor for schools, too, because ITV courses come with a cost. “We kind of set it as a priority. We want to expand our curriculum as much as we can so we look at it as more of an investment,” Wisthoff said. However, the biggest challenge to ITV education is coordinating class times among multiple schools. When Dunseith went to a four-day school week, it swapped ITV for online courses. In an effort to make ITV courses more available, a network might schedule a class for 7:30 a.m. Stanley has sought to accommodate the ITV schedule by adding 10 minutes to the start of its school day and extending the transition time between classes. It makes for a longer school day, but Swegarden said the district is willing to make that concession to benefit student education. “It’s really our obligation to try to give them as much opportunity as we can,” Swegarden said. “It’s really important that we be open-minded that way – to say, ‘how are we going to provide a kid a marketing class if we don’t have a marketing teacher.’ It’s our obligation to get these kids college and career ready.”
Interactive television isn’t just for the academic classroom. ITV is finding a place in career and technical education as well. In the Minot region, virtual technology centers exist with the North Central Area Career & Technology Center, a 12-school consortium based in Rugby, and the Great Northwestern Education Cooperative, a 16-member group in northwestern North Dakota. The North Central center provides ITV instruction in areas such as health sciences, family and consumer science and agriculture and offers online courses related to careers in computer science, energy and aviation. Member schools are Bottineau, Drake, Dunseith, TGU Granville, MLS Mohall, Rugby, St. John, TGU Towner, Westhope, Harvey, New Rockford, Sawyer and Velva. The Great Northwest center is just beginning to build its program, with Watford City, Mandaree and Ray currently taking the classes. Director Scott Wisness has hopes for the center to branch out next year to reach more schools and increase its programming. He envisions adding ag, family and consumer science, construction and business courses to the health sciences courses currently offered. Even auto mechanics and culinary arts could be offered. Wisness also wants to encourage businesses to get involved. “There’s a lot of businesses here that don’t know how they can partner with schools. They haven’t always made that connection,” he said. “There’s a lot of opportunities where they could help the classes provide training.” Among the ways are internships, participation in career expos, field trips, classroom demonstrations, assistance with tools or donating supplies, Wisness said the ITV program could become a huge resource for schools, especially schools such as Mandaree, which doesn’t have its own CTE program, or Burke Central in Lignite, where a shop sits empty for lack of a certified instructor. “They are pretty excited about getting these new offerings,” he said. Burke Central Supt. Sherry Lalum said the district is looking to equip a second classroom for ITV to be able to offer CTE options. The school offers ITV art and Spanish but
There’s a lot of things that can be done distantly. Students are so tech savy now. —Scott Wisness Great Northwest director the opportunity to offer health careers and industrial arts is appealing. “Our kids are going to have a lot more options to take classes,” she said. Career and technical education used to be delivered in northwestern North Dakota by Williston State College. Students had to travel to the center, and with travel time, uncertain weather and heavy industrial traffic, schools were dropping out. With the virtual center, teachers from Williston or member schools can offer those same courses long-distance. In the case of Divide County Public School in Crosby, students are able to take a welding course through an ITV connection with an instructor in Grafton. Wisness said it has been a good experience. The teacher has come to Crosby a couple of times, and students use a document to show their work to the instructor. Wisness said there’s potential to conduct a construction class using similar teaching methods. “There’s a lot of things that can be done distantly,” he said. “Students are so tech savvy now.” He added that career and technical courses require more than showing a video and giving a test. There needs to be creativity in the classroom to offer students the kind of hands-on learning that’s required. Although having a teacher in the classroom is ideal, he said, providing a quality education is virtually possible with ITV. “I would say if you have a good teacher who is willing to go the extra mile, you could provide those opportunities,” he said. “If you have a good teacher, anything is possible.”
Online education expands options at Wolford
Interactive television isn’t the only way to deliver distance education. Wolford Public School, with just 21 students in seventh to 12th grades, has found online courses to be good way to provide elective courses to its students. “We have been pleased with it. The content and the rigor of the classes has been good,” said High School Principal Joel Braaten. “It has worked out well.” The school receives online courses through the North Dakota Center for Distance Education. Agriculture and college-credit courses are popular, but students also have had the opportunity to take classes such as photography, art, independent living skills and even strength training.
Submitted photo
North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler gets a look at the online learning being conducted at Wolford High School March 15 in this photo by Eric Wasvick. Online courses play an important role in the schoolʼs efforts to given students an expanded curriculum. Braaten said students en- at the school to complete rolled in strength training activities required in the can use facilities available course.
The school carves out class time during the day for students to work on their online courses. Because online courses are independent study, students can work on the material at their own pace. School staff monitor their progress to ensure they complete the courses on time. Braaten said a typical student might graduate with 6 to 8 online elective credits to complement the required core courses taught at the school. Each online course is a credit or half credit, depending on whether it is full year or one semester. Students need a combined 22 classroom and online credits to graduate. The Wolford school covers the cost of the online courses for students. – Jill Schramm
We’ve found that 90% of the time the problem is just earwax buildup.
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