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During the first regular school board meeting of the school year on Thursday, September 28, Director of Curriculum Sarah Schmidt presented the district-wide state testing results (see Chisago County Press, August 31), which were steps in the right direction. The district, along with a majority of others in the state, have not returned to pre-pandemic numbers in testing, but Schmidt did point out that Chisago Lakes is outperforming nearby districts in reading and math.

A resident in attendance asked if data is only compared to surrounding districts or can it be compared to some of the highest performing schools in the state as well? “Because those scores are dramatically different from our school, like 20 points higher,” she said.

“We look at all the scores,” Schmidt responded. “But for the main part, we look at same size schools because they typically get similar resources and staffing and class size ratios, but we do look at everybody, because we’re always looking to do better.”

“We're trying to push ourselves as best we can be,” Superintendent Brian Dietz added. “Sometimes you may see someplace doing something really well. I think we compare very well to the metro but there are outliers out there and I think again that's the motivation for us. We’re happy we get the results we do get but let's hope to get better results.”

Lindeman added, “I got 38 years of looking at MCA scores and test scores. When you look at them, the general idea is it’s not good if we’re at 50 percent. It’s not 50 percent passing and 50 percent failing. It’s just a benchmark and comparison to other schools. There are other measures of success. We need to look at those kids going through the schools and doing what they do now and the successes they have. You have to be careful using one little snapshot, because it’s a comparison. And that’s a dang hard test the kids take every time. I think we need a better explanation of those, but there’s a whole lot more that measures the success of our students.”

Director of Business Services Robyn Vosberg-Torgerson gave a quick update on food service in light of the new free breakfast and lunch state mandate. Through the first 11 days of the school year, breakfast count is up 305 per day and lunch is up 420 per day. “It’s a good thing that kids are eating,” she said. The district did have to add some kitchen staff at the middle school. “They just couldn’t keep up with everything with all the extra kids eating,” she noted.

The board unanimously certified their preliminary levy to the maximum amount, which they do every year. “These are levies that are not voter approved. There is a 17.3 percent increase in levy, which equates to $192,000,” Vosberg-Torgerson said. “But, just because the levy goes up, doesn’t mean revenue automatically goes up. Our state aid decreased $143,000, so we really have a net increase of $48,000.

Soderlund asked,  “We have to spend the dollars from this levy very specifically?” 

Vosberg-Torgerson said, yes, it is tied to legislation and statutes, and went through examples of what some of the funds are designated for. “So it looks like it’s paying for nuts and bolts, and not necessarily dream projects, correct?” Soderlund followed up, and Vosberg- Torgerson confirmed that.

The board set their December 21 meeting to finalize the local levies and budget and hold the truth-in-taxation hearing.

With last week’s homecoming game tickets in high demand with the team sitting at 4-0 and a beautiful night  forecasted – despite the eventual storm that cut the game short – some area residents expressed complaints on social media when they found out Chisago Lakes had moved to an all-digital ticketing process, and there were relatively substantial processing fees attached to tickets. Supt. Brian Dietz addressed that issue in his monthly update, saying, “We recognize that there are pieces that we need to look at, specifically with the processing fees. 

“We’ve talked about it and we’re going to come up with a solution to that in the next week. We always want to make things seamless and if things come up, we have to have the courage to accept that feedback and talk about how we can do it differently. We want to make sure we do things the right way.”

By Monday of this week, the district sent out an e-mail announcing ticket processing convenience fees are gone for the remainder of the 2023-24 school year for athletics and fine arts. 

“Our goal is to make the ticketing experience as convenient and affordable as possible for our families,” the e-mail reads. “We understand that every dollar counts, especially when you're planning family outings and events.”

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