This summer, I was honored with an opportunity to join a committee of citizens to help hammer out a vision for the future of our local school district 197.  This is the SRAC – the Strategic Redesign Advisory Committee.

The roughly 50 members of SRAC have been meeting about twice a month since August 2nd.  SRAC includes school board members, ISD197 principals, teachers, and administrators, parents, and concerned citizens.  SRAC has discussed a wide range of options and ideas ranging from minor tweaks to proposals to radically “redesign” the school district.  SRAC is charged to produce a report of recommendations to the school board in December.

The SRAC process has provided me an opportunity to learn about our local district.  More importantly, it has given me an opportunity to get to know the people who make it run.  The discussion is much more interesting than a stuffy school board meeting, or a one-on-one meeting with any single participant.  In struggling with the issues and tradeoffs facing the district, we have all demonstrated our priorities and interests in education.  It’s a good group, with plenty of enthusiasm and talent.  As with any organization, the buildings and school books are important, but the people who run ISD197 are the main event.

In the next few blog posts, I plan to talk about a few of these issues, and detail some of the options we have discussed, and my opinions about them.  One big decision coming up on November 8th is whether our property taxes should be raised to help fund the school district. Citizens have a duty to be informed when casting their votes.

Has the ISD197 school district made the case that the only way forward is to raise taxes?

One purpose of the SRAC is in part to prompt community involvement in the decision making process.  This blog can help, by encouraging you to get involved and informed.

The public is welcome and encouraged to attend SRAC meetings as observers.  The last two meetings of the SRAC before the levy referendum are on the 25th of October, and November 2nd, at Henry Sibley HS.  I encourage you to attend.