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There was an air of uncertainty around the well-attended regular school board meeting for Chisago Lakes on Thursday, March 21.

Nineteen certified teachers and 10 support staff were informed a few days before the meeting that their contracts would not be renewed at the end of the year amid the district’s plan to cut their budget in the wake of a failed referendum last fall. The cuts total just over $2 million, with about $1.7 million of that coming from the 19 teachers and 10 support staff.

Among the group of cuts are two teachers and two paras at the Primary School, four teachers and a para at Lakeside Elementary, two teaching positions and a para at Taylor Falls Elementary,  and four teaching positions and three paras at the middle.  The high school will see the biggest cuts, with seven teaching positions, one para and a secretary all being eliminated. The district office will also lose one non-certified positions.

Many district teachers attended the meeting in a show of solidarity with their colleagues. Theresa Nelson, who is a Spanish teacher at the high school and also a negotiator for Chisago Lakes Education Minnesota union, spoke in the open forum.

“There was a lot of talk about building trust and being transparent. The negotiation process seemed different but I was skeptical and was buying what was being sold,” she explained. “We knew cuts were coming since the levy didn’t pass, but multiple people said cuts should be made far from the classroom. 

“Were there any attempts made to gather ideas from people outside of your circle? Did you reach out to students or teachers or parents? What about cutting non-academic programs? Cutting teachers while increasing class size is not going to make the community more apt to vote in favor of a levy next time.”

Nelson continued, criticizing the timing of the district's communication to the affected teachers. She said they were told in the middle of the work day on a Tuesday and that there were no specifics shared until Wednesday night at 10 p.m., which was seven hours past the deadline for citizens to sign up for the open forum of the school board meeting.

“There was not much time to process or think and it feels ugly and not transparent,” she said angrily. “Cuts are ugly, but where is the Wildcat integrity in this process?”

Chisago Lakes’ freshman Lacey Carlson also spoke in the open forum. “Of the people who were cut, one of them is a teacher of mine. I was so shocked at the lack of information students receive. I’m thinking about all the teachers who didn’t know about this that were cut. I just think of the valuable information that I’m losing as a student, and it’s hard.”

Superintendent Brian Dietz took some time during his monthly report to address some of the concerns from the open forum. “I’m going to apologize if that’s how it came across. That wasn’t my intention and I do apologize. I own that. Today highlights an opportunity to focus on how we can get to a better place financially. No one enjoys it. 

“It’s the worst part of the job. My heart goes out to every person that is impacted. It’s not what we are looking for but we are going to try to move forward.”

While discussing the cuts, some on the board became emotional. Board chairperson Lori Berg struggled addressing the topic, fighting through tears. She said, “We all care. We’ve read and heard your concerns. We are feeling pain with you. This is not a quick process. District leaders and the board have had multiple conversations and we’ve wrestled through decisions to build a better future. We know that those of you sitting here all care. You have dedicated your careers to students, and the Chisago Lakes district. You’re the biggest part of our schools. I'm sorry for those who have lost their jobs and who are impacted.”

She continued, saying, “We needed to look to our building leaders to look at their schools and make painful reductions, and I hope a few things are clear. We are making adjustments to get this district in a better spot in the future and it’s painful work but it's not done. We will look at all levels for efficiency in the short and long term and allow us to prove we are trying to get into a better place.”

Director of Business Services Robyn Vosberg-Torgerson added, “We need to pay staff but we also need to adjust our budget. Over and over we’ve heard we need to live within our means. We’ve heard that over the last two referendum votes. There are hard cuts and soft cuts, and we’ve used soft cuts the last few years. The goal we gave each building was based on data and enrollment, and the leaders made necessary adjustments that needed to be made.”

Board member Josh Soderlund was concerned about the long term consequences of the move. Dietz responded, “Every time you take something out, it's going to have an impact. We will get through this piece overall but will there be a struggle and unintended consequences? Absolutely, because whenever you lose something there’s effects.

“We have to keep our eyes on the prize and see what might have been missed in the process. No matter how much you look, you may have missed something, so we have to evaluate in time because it’s only fair to everyone in the process.”

Board member Jen Penzenstadler added, “There’s passion there, but our problem is funding and without our legislators hearing from us, they don’t know the problems. Until we can educate politicians, they don’t know our problems.”

Dietz did add after the meeting that due to projected enrollment numbers, class sizes would not balloon.

“We are down 164 students in the past five years.  Over the course of that time period, we did not do enough to adjust staffing to offset those losses, bringing us to our current realities.  Without further action, it exasperates the issue and we won't solve it, just continually make it worse,” he said. “Kindergarten numbers are coming in lower than past years and lower than our initial projections in January 2024.  With every student tied to funding, our loss of enrollment is a loss of revenue for us.  If we don't adjust annually to account for that, we negatively impact our budget as seen in the past.”

Speaking specifically to class sizes in the middle and high school, Dietz continued,  “For secondary course offerings, from our initial analysis, we don't project numbers jumping astronomically, but it will increase.  Next year's enrollment illuminates some of our lowest secondary student enrollment counts in a decade or more, depending on the site.” As far as elementary numbers, Dietz said, “Grade level numbers were looked at and calculated based on loss of enrollment and students moving up a grade level.  With Kindergarten numbers lower at both buildings, we feel the impact will be minimal unless we pick up additional enrollment.  At other grade levels, some will see increases by two to three students, depending on the building and enrollment, while some will see a minimal change or even a slight decrease based on current enrollment numbers.  In the end, enrollment is the key variable to everything.”

“As with anything, if enrollment increases, we can evaluate the situation and adjust accordingly.  What that means is that if more students come to Chisago Lakes, we can make decisions on the numbers we have as to what we estimate.  By shifting our philosophy and evaluating those decisions when you have concrete numbers enables our District to manage dollars based on real-time data as opposed to projections.  Practicing strong, sound financial practices will assist us in stabilizing our multi-year budgetary issues.”

Soderlund concluded the discussions, saying, “I’m very hopeful as I look towards where we are going. We are going in the right direction. We are moving towards the end goal of talking, communicating, being transparent and being better.”

The board then unanimously approved the cuts to take effect at the end of the year.

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