Back to school reporter roundtable: Districts hone in on student safety, budget woes

NINA MOINI: It's our top story. Schools are back in session today for much of the state. We have reporters across the state. We know though it's also a difficult time for some as they deal with the news and impact of the deadly mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.

Districts are focused on keeping kids safe and meeting their many needs across the board. Here in the studio. To tell us more about that is our education reporter, Elizabeth Shockman. And we're also happy to be joined by reporter Kirsty Marone. She is at the start of the school year in St. Cloud, connecting with us from our Collegeville Bureau. Thank you both for being here.

ELIZABETH SHOCKMAN: Thanks for having us.

KIRSTY MARONE: Thanks, Nina.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, You've already had a busy morning out and about. Elizabeth, let's talk though about what is top of mind for a lot of folks right now, school safety. What are you hearing about what districts are doing, if anything differently, just this morning after the shooting last week?

ELIZABETH SHOCKMAN: Well, most districts have had safety plans and procedures in place for a long time. And so they're not making major changes this week. If you are a parent of an elementary, middle, or high schooler here in Minnesota probably got an email last week from your school district that had some details about what officials are doing to keep kids safe this week.

A lot of school leaders were doing extra check-ins with local law enforcement last week and this week, and in many cases, police departments have been deploying extra officers and patrols to neighborhoods around schools this week as a precaution.

NINA MOINI: OK. So yeah. A lot of people just wanting to what's going on. And so I know you were in St. Paul this morning. Did you see a law enforcement presence where were you?

ELIZABETH SHOCKMAN: That's right. I did see some law enforcement. There was a patrol car near where I was at Highland Park Middle and High School this morning. But that's really only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the network of safety measures that St. Paul has in place.

I really wanted to spend my morning at a St. Paul school today because I've spent the past year looking into the unique approach to safety that Minnesota's second largest district is taking. Five years ago, the St. Paul school board voted to get rid of school resource officers. What they have instead is a layered approach to safety that includes a trained team of school support liaisons, a network of student support, and close collaboration with the local police department. They've also brought on Minnesota violence prevention experts James Densley and Jillian Peterson to help them overhaul their approach to safety.

NINA MOINI: And what are some of the recommendations that those experts have made?

ELIZABETH SHOCKMAN: Well, Densley and Peterson's research shows that more often than not, violence in a school comes from a very small number of students who have a pattern of behavior issues and whose plans to hurt others are known in advance to students or school staff or parents.

So what St. Paul has spent a huge amount of time doing is making sure that everyone in their district, all the adults and staff, know what to do when they see a student acting out or making threats. They have a multidisciplinary team of school staff that meets weekly to talk about what's happening with kids in schools. And then finding ways to get them connected to what they need, whether that's time with a social worker or a psychologist, at check in with a parent, academic help, food, and so on. Here's James Densley.

JAMES DENSLEY: We are trying to shift an emphasis from being punitive to being more supportive with wraparound care and support for young people.

ELIZABETH SHOCKMAN: So the example of this approach that Densley gave me was a teacher learning a student with behavior issues in the morning wasn't getting enough to eat. So this is something that would be shared at a weekly staff meeting, and the team would then figure out how to make sure that someone meets that kid with breakfast when they are getting on or off the bus. So of course, one of the keys to this system is getting ahead of problems before they happen.

NINA MOINI: And how is this system working for them?

ELIZABETH SHOCKMAN: It does appear to be working well. Densley told me that in addition to the day to day solutions, they found to address unsafe behavior. They've also intercepted more serious threats and situations. But they're still collecting data on the effects of this system, and we plan to keep reporting on this.

NINA MOINI: OK. So you mentioned you saw maybe like a squad car. What else were you seeing out there at Highland Park Middle?

ELIZABETH SHOCKMAN: So most of the safety measures are in the background, although we did see a school support liaison standing out front, directing traffic, making sure kids got a smile and a good morning as they walked in the door.

What was really front and center today, of course, was the kids. So Highland Park Middle has a unique mentorship program, where eighth grade students volunteer to welcome sixth graders. It was great. So we saw those students wearing matching blue t-shirts today and making sure sixth graders got to the right classrooms and had a friend to sit with at lunch. I spoke to [INAUDIBLE]. She's 13 years old and woke up extra early this morning to make sure she had time to get to school and welcome those new sixth graders.

STUDENT: I want them to all that it's OK to ask for help, because it's very hard in sixth grade because it's a big transition.

ELIZABETH SHOCKMAN: So student mentors like [INAUDIBLE] actually started welcoming students at orientation activities last week, and they will continue to sponsor and lead school activities all year.

NINA MOINI: That's really cool. Though some of the older kids helping out the younger kids, I'm sure that helps with some of the nerves. Kirsty, I want to turn to you now. So you just heard what's going on in St. Paul. I know you're in St. Cloud, and you've actually been reporting a lot on the district's budget situation. How is it going?

KIRSTY MARONE: Well, things are looking better now than they were a few weeks ago. Superintendent Laurie Putnam told me that the district had been waiting on several million of federal funding that the Trump administration was withholding. Those funds are used to support language learning students, teacher training, literacy training. But the Department of Education did release those funds, and Putnam says the district has received all of its share at this point.

But you know, like other districts, St. Cloud still does face financial challenges, from inflation, changes to state education funding, and also a gap in special education funding. Those funds are really important because about a quarter of St. Cloud students qualify for special education. And almost that many qualify for English language support.

So Putnam says, many students and families who live in the St. Cloud School district do face financial hardships, and some do receive homeless services as well. How about enrollment there in St Cloud? How was it?

Actually pretty good. District officials actually were a little taken by surprise by some recent growth in enrollment. Putnam told me that they have about 450 students more than they had projected. So that's quite a few for a district with a total of about 9,500 students in all.

And the biggest jump was in kindergarten. So Putnam says they had to hire some new teachers to accommodate that growth. I asked about the reasons behind this growth, and it's not quite clear. Putnam says she would like to attribute it to the district's efforts to promote its values of safety and belonging and academic excellence.

But she did say that the economy and inflation also could be factors. They're seeing some students returning to the district from private and parochial schools, and that could be because families are struggling to pay for tuition.

NINA MOINI: Sure. And Elizabeth, as our education reporter, probably see a lot of these trends across the state. What are you seeing just in terms of finances and budget strains?

ELIZABETH SHOCKMAN: Yeah. A lot of what Kirsty is talking about is something we're seeing in other districts. Quite a few districts are facing budget issues. One way I measure this is looking at what districts are planning to ask voters to vote in referendums.

Statewide, we are seeing more districts planning to ask voters for this. In November last year, 36 Minnesota districts asked voters to approve funding school facilities and technology. This year, that number leapt to 55 districts. So quite a big jump. Schools are also asking for more money for day to day operating costs.

So last year, 32 districts asked voters to approve referendums. This year, 43 are making that ask. State Association leaders echoed some of what Kirsty just talked about. They believe these financial struggles are for a number of reasons. Inflation is continuing to hurt everyone. There's a grim economic outlook in Minnesota. And the uncertainty in federal funding is also causing districts to be cautious in their budget plans.

St. Paul, where I visited today, is one of those districts asking voters to approve financing. Leaders there want to pass a $37 million operating levy to avoid laying off staff and ending some education programs.

NINA MOINI: So there's the cost that schools incur. There's also the cost that families, individual families, are dealing with. And Kirsty, I understand that you did some reporting on an effort in St. Cloud just to help families with the cost of school supplies, which have gotten so much more expensive, it sounds like.

ELIZABETH SHOCKMAN: Yeah. That's right. Yeah. St. Cloud is launching a program called Ready, Set, School. And all preschool students in the district. And then all students at Talahi Community School, which covers kindergarten through third grade, will receive school supplies for the year at no cost to families.

So this program was funded by St. Cloud Rotaract, which is a local Rotary Club, and then also a philanthropist couple who contributed. And St. Cloud is launching this program at Talahi because over 90% of students there come from families whose income level qualifies them for free and reduced lunch. So here's Talahi principal, Sam Court.

SAM COURT: We don't know about those kind of hidden choices and other stressors that they've got beyond the school walls that they have to take care of to just get their kid here to school every morning and to be ready to learn. Our students come up, and they are the most amazing little learners ever. But to know that that's, again, one less pressure, one less task that we've got for them, I think it makes a big difference.

ELIZABETH SHOCKMAN: So the goal is eventually to expand the program to all elementary schools in the district.

NINA MOINI: Wow. Thank you both so much. There's so much to consider, financial struggles and safety issues. But for today, I think everyone can agree we just want the kids to have a good and happy day, and so wishing that for everyone who's a returning to school. Thank you both so much.

ELIZABETH SHOCKMAN: Thanks, Nina.

NINA MOINI: Kirsty Marone reports from Central Minnesota for us, and Elizabeth Shockman is our education reporter.