Superintendent looking forward to school year

Two of the larger items to consider are the budget, with all state programs including schools targeted for cuts to fill a $6 billion state deficit, and the high school’s lack of adequate yearly progress two years in a row.

But with plans already in place to meet goals, Peura is eager for students and teachers to fill the schools for the first time since he took over as superintendent July 1.

Much of his first two months in office have been concerned with getting the facilities prepared for the upcoming school year, including overseeing maintenance projects on the buildings.

But he said he is very much looking forward to having the full contingent of students, teachers and faculty back for the first day of school Tuesday.

“If you really want to feel excitement, come to the first day of school when kids are coming in the door,” he said. “You can feel it in the air, the energy and the charge, it’s just exciting. I really like that day. You can just feel the excitement in the air. That’s education.”

Peura said that between 20 and 30 new students have enrolled in the Falls schools this year and student numbers were up over projections. He called this a “real reflection of the academic strength of International Falls schools.

“We’re looking forward to the year with lots of kids.”

Peura’s administration will oversee a district of approximately 1,250 students. He said that class sizes this year are looking strong, with more than 30 students in some classes. He called those sizes a manageable amount. But, he said, the final tally of students won’t be certain until the doors open for the year.

“I look at International Falls schools as a strong leader in the region for academics. We service the community. We want to be a good partner with the business community, with the college and post-secondary.”

Peura called the post-secondary enrollment options (PSEO) program with Rainy River Community College a “really good thing.” He emphasized the positive relationship between the high school and college as beneficial to both schools.

The PSEO program allows high-achieving high school students to take classes at RRCC for college credit.

“We see it as a very symbiotic relationship with the college. We’re somewhat in competition for our juniors and seniors, but we don’t see it as they’re trying to take our kids away or we’re keeping them from going to the college. We think it’s a good, healthy, working relationship.”

Peura was previously the K-12 principal and superintendent of District 2580, East Central Schools in Minnesota. He served the communities of Sandstone, Askov, Bruno and Kerrick. Prior to that, Peura was superintendent of the LaPorte School District 306 and the Evansville School District 208. He has licensing credentials for the position of superintendent, K-12 principal, elementary teacher for grades one through six, and coaching. He once taught for District 363 Indus and Northome schools.

Peura’s education philosophy is fairly simple — and it starts with students.

“I’m a kid-first person. I was a classroom teacher for 16 years and if it’s good for our students, if it’s good for kids, then it’s something that we’ll take a look at,” he said. “I believe that everybody in education works for the good of kids.”

Budget, AYP

But as superintendent, Peura will also have to concern himself with state budget woes and a high school that has twice not met adequate yearly progress.

Peura said he and district officials will be watching the elections and following the legislative session carefully for signs of changes to the amount of funds the district can expect from the state.

“Our present administration is not friendly towards education and... adequate funding for education in Minnesota has not been there. We’re hoping that this present legislative session, they won’t dip into education. We’ve been held back from the cutting room, but with a $6 billion deficit, we just want to be held harmless.”

Peura said that costs continue to rise for the district, so they hope to maintain current levels of state funding or see that budget increase, if possible.

He said that all but one of the employee union contracts have been settled for the upcoming year, with hopes that the final contract will be signed by the next Falls School Board meeting on Sept. 20.

He said the board had last year set a positive-cash-flow budget for the 2010-2011 school year. “What we’re concerned about is the Legislature in January, February, March to balance their budget — are they going to take money away from the next round of funding for us.”

But being proactive in the meantime and keeping an eye on the future based on government actions will help the district maintain the budget, he said.

“You have to start thinking everyday — we don’t want to waste our money.”

Peura also came into a district with its elementary school meeting AYP for one year after slipping below the mark the previous year.

“International Falls is not unique academically,” Peura said.

He explained that Falls Elementary School made adequate yearly progress last year, a benchmark that grades schools based on student test results, attendance and graduation rates. The elementary school will need to make AYP goals for a second year in a row in order to get off the state’s not-making-AYP list.

Peura said Tim Everson, FHS principal, is going to “really ratchet up the academic focus in the high school. He’s going to do a lot more drop-in the classroom, work with the staff, really putting a spotlight on increased academic performance.”

But Peura said that not meeting AYP goals is normal in Minnesota. Recently released AYP results this summer showed a nearly even split between schools that met the benchmark and those that did not.

“What they project is by the year 2014, every school district in the state will have been on the list one time or another,” he said.

Furthermore, he said that the test may not be a complete picture of the educational system in the school, district and state.

“We’re still one of the world leaders for academic performance for our students, so No Child Left Behind, we were doing great things in public education and we still are without the federal government getting involved.

“I think in Minnesota, public education is one of the strengths of the state and will continue to be one of our great strengths. We don’t need a nationalized, normative test to tell us where our kids are. We have great educators in this state, our teaching staff here is top notch.”

He said that part of his message this year, and that of Everson, will be for teachers to increase their expectations of students. “We need to realize that we have these kids for such a short time academically that every day we need to have increased rigor in the classroom, what we’re teaching has to be relevant and we’ve got to promote relationships with our kids.

“I have a belief that rules without relationships leads to rebellion. So if I don’t have a relationship with you, how can I enforce rules or have high expectations for you?” Peura said.

He said that one of the benefits for this community is the ties that instructors already have to students and their families. Many students have already met teachers outside the classroom and have developed those bonds.

“I think that’s a real strength for this community and for the school district.”

During his first summer in office, Peura said one item that has impressed him is the “dedication and loyalty to International Falls public schools that the employees have that I’ve been interacting with — the principals, dean of students, activities director, all of the support personnel.

“A lot of the time the people working here graduated from here and have made a career out of being in International Falls. That sense of loyalty to the community and the school district is really strong. I really appreciate that. They put the best interest of the schools and town first.”

Expect Peura to be visible at community and school activities, so that he, too, will have that bond with students. “I’m at volleyball games, swim meets, hockey games, football games. It gives people unstructured ability to meet with me. A lot of time people will come up to me and ask a question at a ball game where formally coming into the district office, into my office — that’s scary for some people.

“I love to be out and working with the kids and the staff. It would be easy to be trapped in this office all day, but that’s not how I operate.”

And he may even participate in some of the same types of activities his students enjoy. He said he likes to golf, play hockey, skate and be active.