26 October 2023
DULUTH Chairs of the Minnesota Senate Education Finance and Education Policy committees visited Lincoln Park Middle School on Wednesday afternoon to follow up on the legislative session’s funding impacts and learn about needs ahead of the next session.
The middle school visit was one of several stops on a state tour, including Hibbing, Bemidji, Eden Prairie, Winona, Red Wing, St. Cloud, Moorhead and White Earth.
At the middle school, Principal Brian Kazmierczak focused on Lincoln Park’s community school model, their use of positive behavioral interventions and supports, and their “alternative to suspension” room.
“We’ve been a full-service community school for six or seven years. It started with Myers-Wilkins Elementary School in town and when those students came here, the families want to see that support continue here,” Kazmierczak said. “So now we have three community schools in our district, Myers-Wilkins, Lincoln Park and Denfeld High School, which we feed into.”
Full-service community schools create partnerships between schools and community resources to help lead to improved student learning. The middle school also has many support staff, including a licensed counselor for the alternative suspension coordinator; guidance counselors and integration specialists for sixth through eighth grades; positive behavioral interventions and supports coordinator; and partners with two local services to provide mental health support.
Senate Education Policy Chair Steve Cwodzinski, DFL-Eden Prairie, noted the school’s small class sizes and focus on holistic child development.
“The school seems to be a place that is seriously looking at not just the academic needs of a child, but the social, emotional, spiritual and physical needs, and I think that’s great,” Cwodzinski said. “I’m impressed with the class sizes.
“Having taught for 33 years, there were people who told me that there’s no evidence that class size matters,” he said. “It matters. I mean, it’s a lot easier to build relationships when you don’t have 30 relationships to work on at once.”
Lincoln Park’s class sizes average from the low to mid-20s, according to Kazmierczak.
Cwodzinski asked how the district was dealing with the change to free lunch. The school receives funding for some of its services through state and federal programs and must prove the need for the funds by requiring parents to complete forms. Before this school year, the information was provided via a form for free or reduced-rate lunch applications. This year, free school meals are provided to all students regardless of need.
“We rebranded the form this year as the educational benefits form. It was mailed out to every single family in our district and included an explanation,” said district communications officer Adelle Wellens.
Kazmierczak said that the struggle to get forms back from parents would continue to be an issue. Business manager Simone Zunich said they achieve about a 60% return rate for forms district-wide.
Senate Education Finance Chair Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton, asked about the district’s main stressors. Superintendent John Magas cited the upcoming referendum Nov. 7 regarding technology funding and debt restructuring, as well as the need for more mental health and educational support in the wake of the pandemic.
“I think there’s a sense that we’ve gone back to normal, but there are still a lot of implications for mental health and learning needs of our students,” Magas said. “We were super grateful for the extra funding, but that was at the start of the pandemic and now on the other side, we still need support or we’re going to have to make cuts when that funding goes away.”
]]>