Plan to Attend

The next Demographics Task Force Meeting: Tuesday, January 3rd from Noon-2pm at the Mark Sanford Education Center on 47th Avenue

The next School Board Meeting: Monday, January 9th at 6pm at the Mark Sanford Education Center on 47th Avenue

The bi-annual Public Forum: Monday, January 23rd with Business Meeting at 6pm and Forum at 7pm at South Middle School on 47th Avenue
Pre-Register for Forum by contacting me with your name, phone number, and address.

Consider the City's Goals

The Grand Forks Herald Opinion:

OUR OPINION: GF schools should consider city’s goals
Shouldn’t the Grand Forks School District declare that it shares with the city of Grand Forks the goal of avoiding and/or counteracting urban blight?
By: Tom Dennis for the Herald, Grand Forks Herald

The Grand Forks School District is thinking about closing a school in the north end. Parents in the area object, saying the closure will hurt the neighborhood and slow or stop its revitalization.
What does the city of Grand Forks think?
In particular, what does the city of Grand Forks think given that the city has an explicit policy of investing in Grand Forks’ traditional neighborhoods “to ensure they remain quality places for individuals and families to live, work, learn, and play”?
The school district should ask the city for its view. And if that’s the first result of Tyrone and Becca Grandstrand’s thoughtful letter on this page, it likely won’t be the last.
The Grandstrands write from a unique vantage: She’s on the School Board, he’s on the City Council. So, not only have they watched the processes in both of their organizations and seen the need for more cooperation, but also their voices and votes can be counted on to support such a change.
We suspect there will be a lot more support among other School Board and City Council members as well, because communicating and cooperating just make sense.
Take the issue of closing a school. Again, as stated in the Mayor’s Urban Neighborhood Initiative and other policies, helping the north end avoid blight and boost the ratio of owner-occupied homes is the official policy of the city of Grand Forks.
Shouldn’t the school board be brought up to date on that policy before making a decision that might affect it?
This makes more sense than having the district consider school enrollments, demographic trends and budgets in a kind of vacuum, almost as if the city government and its concerns didn’t exist.
In fact, shouldn’t the district at least consider declaring that it, too, shares the goal of avoiding and/or counteracting urban blight?
That way, the city and school district could work together to reach mutual goals rather than finding themselves at cross purposes.
This isn’t a question of blurring jurisdictions or infringing on each other’s turf. It’s a question of recognizing we’re all in this together and that in order to be at their best, Grand Forks schools need healthy neighborhoods — just like healthy neighborhoods need good schools.
The Grandstrands say it well: “We urge the city and school district to work together more closely, as we are only successful when we all succeed in the long run.” Let the mayor and other city officials give the school district their views about the impact of closing a school. And let that communication and cooperation be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Tom Dennis for the Herald

Our Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor in the Grand Forks Herald:

GF city, school district should work together
It is clear that the city of Grand Forks and the Grand Forks School District have had both successes and challenges on the north end. To ensure we succeed, we urge the city and school district to work together more closely, as we are only successful when we all succeed in the long run.
By: Tyrone and Becca Grandstrand

GRAND FORKS — The recent discussion about closing north end schools has made us start thinking about why we live on the north end of Grand Forks.
We value all of Grand Forks; in fact, Tyrone grew up on the south end of town and loved it. But we chose to live on the north end when we bought our home.
We love that we are within walking and biking distance of a grocery store, two convenience stores, the university, downtown, the Greenway, and Becca’s job at the North Dakota Museum of Art.
As a result of the higher density and character of the area, we have met many wonderful neighbors who come from all walks of life. We greatly value the nearby schools and, based on the number of younger families moving into the area, it seems to be a common trend.
We appreciate that when we have children, they will be able to walk or bike to school throughout their K-12 experience, as we are close to Winship, Valley and Central.
Walkability is particularly important considering the health benefits and the reduced risk of obesity for us and our children.
Our values and reasons for living here shouldn’t be surprising. Housing industry experts have noted that 77 percent of Millennials (our generation) plan to live in more centralized, walkable locations that promote a sense of connection and community, with access to schools, farmers’ markets, transit systems and restaurants.
In fact, the Greater Grand Forks Young Professionals have put a priority on advocating for improvements in Grand Forks’ ability to meet these needs for our generation’s preferences as well as our community’s health and well-being. This is great news for everyone who prefers lower taxes because neighborhoods that are more densely built also require fewer tax dollars to provide services.
It is clear that the city of Grand Forks and the Grand Forks School District have had both successes and challenges on the north end. To ensure we succeed, we urge the city and school district to work together more closely, as we are only successful when we all succeed in the long run.
Long-term thinking and building cooperation are two of the major reasons we ran for office. We urge our colleagues to take these ideals into account when making decisions that will affect our community now and for generations to come.
Tyrone Grandstrand is a member of the Grand Forks City Council. Becca Grandstrand is a member of the Grand Forks School Board.

Letter the Editor in the GFH

Letter to the Editor in the Grand Forks Herald:

Marsha Gunderson, Grand Forks, column: In GF, school-closing costs may exceed the benefits
Cost savings are important to us all. But on balance, will the savings really offset our losses?
By: Marsha Gunderson

GRAND FORKS — Schools, especially elementary schools, are the sustaining element in living, livable neighborhoods. The very existence of an active school can provide energy, identity and a sense of community for its students, parents, teachers and neighbors.

Active neighborhood schools support their immediate community in so many ways: 

• Walkability promotes healthy children and reduces car emissions and potential vehicle accidents. 
• Property values are maintained because homes near schools appeal to a broader segment of the population.
• After-school programs are within walking distance of homes.
• Affordable and lower-income neighborhoods retain direct access to quality education.
• Neighbors have a venue for voting, meetings, community activities and emergency shelter.
• Children have a safe, familiar, accessible playground.
• School district funding is supported more broadly by non-parent voters, who develop ownership for the school through community activities.

School closure also has impacts well beyond the immediate effect of removing children and parents from their home school. The natural cycle of neighborhood rejuvenation — older owners selling to young families — is disrupted when young parents look elsewhere for homes close to schools. Property values diminish when a significant proportion of the buying market looks elsewhere because there is no neighborhood school.
Lower-income parents and children become disenfranchised as schools are removed from the immediate vicinity. Income from property taxes is reduced as housing stock devalues.
Older, historic neighborhoods have a livability and sense of community that often is missing in newer sections of town. But, as with small towns, that sense of community is tied to its school.
Without the school, student access suffers, parent-teacher relationships decline, community programs suffer for lack of a friendly venue and even voting patterns are subject to change. And as non-parents become more and more removed from a neighborhood school and from the families of the children it serves, monetary and emotional support for school issues erodes.
The loss of a neighborhood school endangers Grand Forks’ historic cultural and built environment just as surely as do floods and fires. But the neighborhood dies slowly, unlike the process brought about by a natural disaster. And rebuilding is not an option without the nexus of a school.
Cost savings are important to us all. But on balance, will the savings really offset our losses?
I urge Herald readers to carefully consider the broader community health as West, Wilder and Lewis and Clark schools are discussed. We encourage the Grand Forks School District to adopt a proactive approach to rejuvenating and maintaining these neighborhood schools in order to better meet their stated goal of providing opportunities for all students to reach their maximum potential.
Gunderson, the Herald’s marketing manager, is chairperson of the Grand Forks Historic Preservation Commission.

Demographics Task Force Meeting in the News

Article in the Grand Forks Herald:

Closing old schools, building a new one
Members of a Grand Forks School District task force on Tuesday studied eleven scenarios that define the impact of redrawing school boundaries or closing schools. Scenarios still under consideration include those calling for a new south end school and closure of Lewis and Clark, West and Wilder elementary schools in Grand Forks and Carl Ben Eielson at Grand Forks Air Force Base.
By: Pamela Knudson, Grand Forks Herald

Members of a Grand Forks School District task force on Tuesday studied eleven scenarios that define the impact of redrawing school boundaries or closing schools.
The Demographic Task Force ruled out five of the scenarios and kept the rest for more consideration or refinement.
Scenarios still under consideration include those calling for a new south end school and closure of Lewis and Clark, West and Wilder elementary schools in Grand Forks and Carl Ben Eielson at Grand Forks Air Force Base.
Dismissed scenarios were taken off the table for various reasons, such as students having to cross busy streets to attend school.
The 30-member task force, which has been meeting since mid-November, is charged with eliminating or reducing inefficiencies in the system where some schools are crowded and others have room to spare.

Scenarios
Here are the scenarios the task force kept:
Close Wilder and send students to Winship Elementary.
Close Wilder and repurpose it for Community High School, now housed in leased space at 500 Stanford Road.
Close West and send students to Winship and send Winship students living east of North Washington Street to Wilder.
Close Eielson and send students to Twining elementary and middle school.
Close Lewis and Clark and send some students to Phoenix Elementary and some to Viking Elementary.
Send some Viking students and some from Century Elementary to Ben Franklin Elementary. Task force members said this option would be viable only if a new school is built.
Build a new school in the city’s expanding south end.
Superintendent Larry Nybladh told the group a new school would ease enrollment pressures at Century and Kelly elementary schools. Building it would take two years from the point of School Board approval to opening its doors.

Big picture
Several parents and others spoke in favor of smaller, neighborhood schools which, they said, are important to their families’ quality of life and children’s safety.
City Council member Tyrone Grandstrand encouraged the task force to consider alternatives to closing a school, such as sharing principals, a model already in place, and saving money through energy efficiencies.
He also questioned how closing or repurposing schools would affect property values, and what effect that may have on recruiting young professionals to the city, a group that’s crucial to economic vitality.
“I really like neighborhoods, and neighborhood schools,” he said. “I prefer walking and biking, as much as possible. This may be a generational thing.”
Grandstrand urged the group to continue to take its work seriously. “These decisions will affect Grand Forks for generations to come.”

‘Save Wilder’
Council member Eliot Glassheim urged the group to consider Grand Forks’ long history of supporting neighborhood schools.
A school attracts homebuyers to a neighborhood, he said, and conversely, closing a school causes them to buy elsewhere.
He represents a north end ward that includes Wilder Elementary, which has seen enrollment shrink dramatically and is being considered for closure.
Fear about Wilder’s future has led parents to enroll their children elsewhere, he said. “It’s a self-fulfilling prophesy.”
He pointed to post-Flood of ’97 efforts which resulted in building Phoenix Elementary in the area once served by Belmont Elementary, so flood-damaged it had to be razed.
“Numbers cannot tell you what the future will be and could be,” he said. “Turn your attention to how to save Wilder, then come up with the best plan to make Wilder work.”
Task force member Matt Bakke asked for additional information on how to increase enrollment at Wilder and potential impacts of redrawing boundary lines of middle and high schools.
Assistant Superintendent Jody Thompson said the task force’s scenario subcommittee would work on those, and other requests from the group, and report back to the task force.
The subcommittee meets at 9 a.m., Friday to discuss and respond to requests the task force made at its meeting Tuesday. Open to the public, the meeting will be in the computer lab of the Mark Sanford Education Center.

Reach Knudson at (701) 780-1107; (800) 477-6572, ext. 107; or send e-mail to pknudson@gfherald.com.

Grand Forks Demographics Task Force Meetings - Open to the Public

Demographics Task Force Meetings

To view the agendas, minutes, and "key messages" from the Demographics Task Force, click here.

Upcoming Meetings:

• Tuesday, December 13, 2011 Noon-2pm
• Monday, December 19, 2011 Noon-2pm
• Tuesday, January 3, 2011 Noon-2pm

*All meetings are held at the Mark Sanford Education Center and are open to the public.  I would strongly encourage everyone to attend. Unfortunately I will be unable to come today, but hope to attend in the future.

In the News

Article regarding December 12 School Board Meeting

Wilder friends: Money shouldn't be main issue in decision to close school
The Near North Neighborhood school has too few students
Enrollment has shrunk for years, but parents say closing the school would undermine efforts to revitalize the neighborhood.
By: Pamela Knudson, Grand Forks Herald

Wilder Elementary School supporters urged the Grand Forks School Board at its meeting Monday night to carefully consider the quality of life afforded by neighborhood schools and revitalization efforts aimed in the Near North Neighborhood.
With an enrollment of 75, Wilder is the smallest school in the district. Enrollment has declined 63 percent since 1995 and it has the highest percentage of students attending other schools.
The district’s Demographics Task Force charged with reviewing inefficiencies has cited the north end school for possible closure.
“Across the district, 82 percent of students are attending their home school; 46 percent attend Wilder,” said Justin Berry, a Wilder parent. “Has the district done anything to address this outmigration?”
He and others have formed the Friends of Wilder Elementary to organize parents and rally support for the school. They recently canvassed the neighborhood to inform parents about issues affecting the school and its possible closure.
Next month, the task force will deliver a preliminary report to the board that reviews different options that include redrawing school boundaries, repurposing or closing schools, and building new ones.
The task force meets today from noon to 2 p.m. at Mark Sanford Education Center. The agenda includes time for public comment.

Revitalization
“I believe in the value of neighborhood schools,” said Cory England, a UND Center for Community Engagement staff member working on revitalization of the north end. “There is a perception that the north side is stagnating. “You don’t combat that perception by closing Wilder.”
He and others who spoke at the meeting pointed to early signs of growth and the city’s revitalization efforts to attract residents to the Near North and rehab homes there.
“I’d ask you to make sure you’re not working against those initiatives,” said June Preuss. “Closing Wilder would especially hurt that effort.”
His son is a kindergartener at Wilder.
“It would be a real shame to close Wilder when the current kindergarten class has 24 students, its first increase in 15 years,” he said. “We might have just turned a corner.
“It just seems like really bad timing.”

Quality of life
Tom Bures, who lives in the Riverside area, said he understands business practices and the need for fiscal responsibility. But he said walking and biking a few blocks to school are important benefits of living in Grand Forks.
“I want to provide my kids the favorable education that I feel I received when my parents chose to locate where they did,” he said. “It’s a feeling I want my kids to have.”
The onus is on parents to take care of their kids, but in close-knit neighborhoods “it’s certainly nice when other parents are looking out for your kids too.”
Mike Berg, who retired after 31 years’ experience as a teacher and coach at Grand Forks Central High School, told the board, “When decision time comes, please don’t let a balance sheet be the deciding factor. In Grand Forks, we do what it takes to make this a great place to raise and family and a great place to live.”
Board President Roger Pohlman thanked each person for the comments, noting that a decision about closing a school will be “difficult.”
No action was taken by the board.

Reach Knudson at (701) 780-1107; (800) 477-6572, ext. 107; or send e-mail to pknudson@gfherald.com.

Also, check out WDAZ's story.

Supporters of Wilder Visit the School Board Meeting

A wonderful turnout for the start of our School Board meeting tonight - lots of parents and citizens in attendance.  Thank you for taking your time to visit with us.  Quantitative data is good, but qualitative data is essential in order for the Board to make an educated decision regarding demographics within our school district.  Thank you for your support of Wilder and the various neighborhood schools sprinkled throughout our community.

To see an overview of comments, click here.