(Terril)– The school is the lifeblood of any small town. Talk of making any changes to it is sure to draw a lot of attention. And that was the case Wednesday evening at a public meeting in Terril to talk about the intent to explore whole grade sharing with Graettinger.
Among those addressing a crowd of about 70 people was Bill Gerdeman, Vice President of the Terril school board. He told the crowd the need to do something stems from declining enrollments and finances. Gerdeman says the district has improved its cash flow by making cuts and not filling some vacant faculty positions, but he says those are negatively impacting programs.
Steve Hanson is President of a steeting committee the Terril school board appointed to come up with options. Hanson says after many months of meetings and visits with neighboring districts, the committee identified two neighboring districts to explore sharing with: Ruthven and Graettinger. After further discussion, Hanson says the committee recommended the board pursue talks with Graettinger. Hanson says they like what they see in Graettinger administrator, Dan Mart. He says they were also pleased with Graettinger’s industrial and economic development activities; and Hanson says most of Graettinger’s enrollment is in town…meaning it will be affected the least in the event farm consolidation continues.
The proposal, if it’s approved, would have both schools maintaining their own elementary programs. Middle school students would go to Terril, and high school students would go to Graettinger. It would be effective with the 2004-2005 school year.
Several asked questions about open enrollment and how sharing with Graettinger would affect current athletic sharing agreements with Ruthven-Ayrshire. Many residents from that district were also present at Wednesday evening’s meeting. Terril school board members admitted they couldn’t answer many of those questions right now as official talks haven’t gotten under way yet.
If they decide to pursue the talks, Gerdeman says another public hearing would be held at a November 20th Terril school board meeting, prior to an official vote being taken. Another meeting would be held December 22nd to sign the agreement.
Gerdeman also said a petition signed by more than 20 percent of the residents of the Terril school district would overturn any agreement to enter into whole grade sharing.
