Opportunities to strengthen the education systems in the International Falls area through improved collaboration are expected to be identified in a study proposed by the Falls school district and Rainy River Community College.
Sue Collins, president of the Northeast Higher Education District, of which RRCC is a member, and Falls School Superintendent Jeff Peura have been meeting with local leaders to explain the proposed study and to seek contributions toward funding the commissioned study.
Estimated costs of the study run from $75,000 to $100,000, but Collins told The Journal this week that she hopes the cost wouldn’t exceed $50,000.
“But we don’t know until we have responses to the request for proposals,” she said.
Peura and Collins are seeking $35,000 from the Blandin and Bremer foundations, and are asking local governments to help fund the study, which would also indicate to the foundations local support for the study.
The International Falls City Council agreed to provide up to $10,000, depending on how much other entities contribute. Several councilors wondered if meetings facilitated locally could take the place of the study. One member of the Falls School Board recently questioned the study’s cost and its intended goal and also wondered if meetings would have the same results.
Peura has said he won’t ask the Falls School Board for money toward the study, but instead will serve as fiscal agent for the funds.
Both Collins and Peura said the contributions from the district and RRCC would be “in-kind” by providing resources and staff to take part in the study.
Koochiching County commissioners last week heard in committee about the proposal and seemed reluctant to offer money toward the study that targets just one of several school districts within the county when money to other county-funded programs is being cut during these tough economic times. However, at least two commissioners offered to donate personally toward the cause and wondered if others in the community wouldn’t be compelled to do so.
Outcomes
Collins and Peura say they believe spending money on the study could result in a pilot program that could benefit many other schools in small, rural communities.
“The goal is to produce solid citizens who are able to move forward into the job market and into secondary education,” Peura told the county board.
The idea of a study stems from a “community conversation” held in April when local leaders gathered to discuss whether a “deeper relationship” between the two Falls school systems would be in the best interests of local students and the community.
The answer to the question heard at the gathering was “yes,” said Collins. At that time, she said those participants encouraged further discussion of the topic. In addition, she said a study could yield high results, as did a study commissioned after a local plant closed in the mid-1980s, which resulted in the establishment of an insurance claims processing center in the Falls that today employs about 200 people.
Peura told the county board that the study offers an opportunity to change the shape of education as we now know it.
“We hear that it’s broken,” he said of the educational system. “But no one tells us how to fix it.”
Finding ways to better collaborate could mean sharing resources — both human and facilities, Peura and Collins say.
“In a declining resource environment, both the school district and higher education are truly being disadvantaged,” Collins said.
The opportunity to align curriculum would help ensure seamless progression toward completion of programs and toward college readiness, she said.
The study would help the systems identify community assets, and assets the two systems now have in common, as well as identify ways to share those assets. In addition, it could make recommendations for ways to benefit the community through use of those assets.
As an example of how collaboration has benefited students, school districts, higher education, and communities, Collins discusses a “K-14” model of learning, in which secondary and post secondary institutions would work together to create an integrated learning model.
She said Northeast Higher Education District, 17 school districts and 26 high schools came together to discuss establishing an applied learning institute. As a result, a renewed technical education has been brought to the high schools.
“This is what can be a K-14 model of sharing and working together to impact the lives of students,” she said. “It’s what education is all about.”
