After a meeting last Thursday, Eveleth-Gilbert schools have agreed to join districts in Virginia and Mountain Iron-Buhl in talking about a shared Iron Range school on the east central Mesabi Iron Range. We discussed the Virginia/MI-B cooperation concept last week. The first public hearing on this shared high school issue will take place tomorrow night at 6 p.m. at Parkview School in Virginia. The next will be Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Merritt Elementary School in Mt. Iron.
Bringing E-G to the table increases the scope of the shared Iron Range school project, suggesting the possibility of a bigger school with more programming. E-G is nestled underneath the Virginia and MI-B districts, so this high school would serve a large, but contiguous and reasonably compact area.
Remember, this is being pitched as a cooperation, not a consolidation. Somehow, and this seems patently insane, they are saying that all school mascots and extracurricular activities would remain separate. I give that one year, tops. But if that’s what it takes to get people to do the right thing for the kids’ education, then go for it.
For reference, here is the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, as released by Better Together, the organization formed to shepherd this proposal into reality.
Virginia Schools • January 28, 2014
Community Session • 6:00 PM @ Parkview ElementaryOrientation 6:00
• Introductions: Board members, Deron Stender, Gary Cerkvenik, & Bruce Miles
• Purpose for this meeting: Kim Stokes
• Goals for community session – 6:00 to 7:30
1) Review informational handout
2) Audience members identify other questions on cards
3) Give cards to student volunteers
4) Audience questions will be asked of board members & superintendent
• Goals for community session – 7:30 – 9:00
5) Open microphone for 2-3 minutes per participant
6) Review next steps
7) Evaluate this sessionReview Informational Handout 6:10
• Overview – Bill Hafdahl
• Audience members identify other questions on cards
• Bruce will read questions to board members & superintendentOpen Microphone Session 7:30
• State your name & you will have 2 – 3 minutes per personReview Next Steps & Timelines 8:50
• Tim RiordanClosure 9:00
• Thank you for your work on behalf of the district and the students
• Please fill out the attached Session Evaluation
If they go ahead with this, I hope they can use the expensive lessons learned by nearby districts/schools.