Board to seek ways to fund Ojibwe program

“He not only teaches our language and our culture, he keeps it alive,” said Tammy Jones, chairperson of the Indian Education Parent Committee. “He’s a mentor...and a father figure to a lot of these children.”

Vollom, who has been employed at FHS since 2003, was placed on unrequested leave June 11 after the district was notified earlier in the month that it would not be a recipient of the Minnesota Department of Education’s Success for the Future Grant, a grant the school has received consistently in the past.

According to Superintendent Nordy Nelson, the $76,000 grant fund didn’t cover Vollom’s salary, but it did pay the salary of the class’ educational support professional Val Forsythe, as well as other costs associated with the program.

Forsythe was also placed on unrequested leave.

Through tears, Jones added that she believes Vollom keeps students on a path to graduation. “I know about four or five students who would have dropped out if it wasn’t for Tom,” she said.

She added that Vollom’s program “is the only chance” some students get to learn about their culture.

“Taking this program and taking Tom away is like telling our students you don’t care,” she told the board. “Where else are they going to go? Ojibwe is an incredible language, and it’s dying. There has to be a way to keep him on board somehow.”

Lisa Wrabek agreed.

“I question why he needs a grant to keep him employed,” she said. “I think we could have fundraisers or something to raise cash (for costs associated with the program).”

Wrabek continued that her son attends Rainy River Community College through the post secondary enrollment option program, however, he comes back to FHS to take Vollom’s class.

“He’s an incredible mentor,” she said of Vollom. “I seriously believe in this program. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Stephanie Werdier also grew emotional as she spoke.

“This is an important program for not only native students, but for white students who take this class,” she said. “It’s important...we’ve got a lot of kids who want to learn about this. By allowing Tom to stay here, you allow us to keep our culture alive.”

Werdier noted that Tuesday’s agenda included several hires of coaches for various sports.

“That’s not education,” she said. “This class is educational. It’s helping them learn about culture...Tom’s class is one of the few places to get (Ojibwe) information.”

Nelson said that the board can reinstate programs or positions involved in an unrequested leave.

“It’s not the final nail in the piece of wood,” he said of the board’s decision earlier this month to put Vollom on unrequested leave. “The board is free in the future to reinstate.”

“We need to have some meetings with these people to find a way to fund it,” said board Chairman Darrell Wagner.

Board member Gordy Dault expressed his appreciation for the information the public brought to the board and the passion carried with it.

“I agree with what you’re saying about Mr. Vollom and doing a good job and how important it is,” he said. “We need to get together and start brainstorming if there are ways we can seek some funding to keep this program going.”

In other business Tuesday, board members agreed to allow Nelson and school administration to kick start the process of developing a plan to better secure the district schools’ entry and lobby areas as soon as possible.

“I have a real concern that we’re going to start the school year the same way it ended,” Dault said. “And that is unrestricted access to Falls High School and Falls Elementary. I think something needs to be done.”

“I think it’s important we get it moving as quick as possible,” board member Willi Kostiuk said. “I’d like to see that by the first day of school, the elementary and the high school have some kind of restriction on how to get in.”

Kostiuk explained the restriction would be for those entering the buildings during school hours.

Also Tuesday, Nelson told the board that following the May 2 announcement by Boise Inc. to eliminate 265 jobs at the local paper mill, he originally predicted the 2013-2014 school year would see a reduction of about 5 percent in students, however, a more “realistic” number was about 1 percent.

“It takes approximately about a year to really see the effects of a major closure like this,” he said. “A year from now the 1 percent may be increased. It would be nice if it wouldn’t, but we’ll see a year from this fall.”

The superintendent added that the 1 percent equals about $75,000 loss in revenue to the district.

The board agreed to hire an additional sixth grade teacher to create four class sections for the grade. Nelson said with 93 students expected to enroll in sixth grade for the upcoming school year, class numbers will be limited to about 23 students per class.