Letter to the Editor: "...refuse to explore options to save our school.."

Dear Editor,

On March 6 information about an upcoming school district 363 school board meeting was distributed to students and faculty at Indus school. This meeting was to be held at Indus school 2 days later on March 8. On these papers Jeremy Tammi, district superintendent, described a projected budget shortfall and listed 4 options to consider. To the best of my knowledge all of these options were assembled with no input or discussion with either Indus area board member. It’s not been determined if the 4 board members from Northome were involved.
Projected budget shortfalls aren’t that unusual. School districts face them frequently, I’m told, but this was different. All of the options listed were very extreme, with school closings among them. None of these proposals spoke of pursuing added revenues. This seems odd being that Governor Walz has pledged a boat load of money to support our schools. He has said this is to ensure every child a quality education regardless of zip code.
Many people attended the board meeting on March 8th. We were told we could only speak for three minutes and no response from the board would be given. Students, employees, parents and residents gave testimony to how important and impactful the Indus school is and has been to them. That’s when I realized this was not going to end well! All four of the Northome board members were looking down at the table and seemed very nervous. They wouldn’t look anyone in the eye. They definitely weren’t hearing anyone. Ralph Lewis and Scott Mai (Indus area board members) made a motion to explore other options. That motion was immediately voted down by the Northome four. They then moved quickly to adopt option 4 which was to close our Indus school, with almost zero discussion. Just like that the Northome 4 set in motion the process of closing our beloved school!
There are many disturbing aspects of how this went down. This decision was obviously made by the Northome four ahead of the meeting. They requested law enforcement to be there to ensure their safety leaving the meeting. Very insulting! We are not barbarians! They literally refuse to explore options to save our school. I thought that’s what school board members were tasked to do. From what I understand the MN Dept of Education is standing by ready to help us explore options, but they need the board to request their help. The calculations used to explain this supposed budget shortfall were sketchy and unverified. Even if you were to believe these projections it was also noted we have 4.5 years to solve it. What is the hurry?
The public hearing is already scheduled for April 3rd. Every indication is that the Northome 4 will attempt to seal our fate that day and once again vote to close us with no consideration for what the future holds for our students, employees, and community. There is no immediate crisis. Why are we not being given the time or opportunity, not to mention the dignity of having a say in determining our future.

Bruce Turban