Good Afternoon Bluejacket Families, 

What a week to celebrate! It’s May. It’s Teacher Appreciation Week. It’s School Lunch Super Hero Day. It’s National Nurses Week and School Nurses Day on May 12, which will celebrate an exceptional year. And with joy, we received word yesterday that the state expects to lift pandemic restrictions by July 1. We are hopeful that we will return to school next year with our pandemic learning models behind us. 

It’s amazing to think about everything we have learned over the last year. As you are taking a family walk or enjoying the outdoors, we hope you will take time to reflect and talk with your children about how much they have grown and learned this year. Just because this year looked a lot different, we have more to celebrate than ever before. Our community came together to ensure that all families with children had access to food, had access to remote learning materials, and had personal connections from teachers and staff. We are more adaptable, resilient, and skilled problem solvers. If you haven’t seen Mr. Gerlach’s School Board presentation that looked back on the last year, it is inspiring and worth your time!

Our CIHS Bluejacket activities are experiencing great success. In the MSHSL State Speech competition last month, four Bluejackets—Maisie Gartner, Ella Orvik, Rachel Watson and Molly Siedlecki— received All-State Speech honors. Their success is representative of the hard work and persistence that we celebrate in our new district video, What It Means To Be A Bluejacket. We hope you will share it with friends and family. We certainly have a lot to celebrate and our community being a great place to raise a family is right up there! 

Sincerely,

Nate Rudolph
Superintendent

Transportation Feedback

In recent weeks we have been reviewing our transportation model for next year and gathering family and staff feedback. With our most recent survey to families, we received more than 750 responses. Thank you so much to everyone who responded. We are currently working to interpret the data and put plans together that consider the feedback, ideas, questions, and concerns. We are hopeful to communicate about plans for next year’s transportation plan in the near future. 

Catch-Up on Vaccines

Isanti County Public Health has asked our district to share information regarding routine student immunizations.  Routine student immunization rates have dropped since the pandemic started. It is important for students to receive their routine immunizations, even more so this year before any student COVID vaccine for ages 12-16 is released.

Good Afternoon Bluejacket Families, 

This is such an exciting time of year, as we begin to welcome our future Bluejackets and incoming kindergarteners into our schools. This week, our Kindergarten Teachers and Primary School Principals held our Kindergarten Round Up virtually and enjoyed talking to the Class of 2034 about the excitement of becoming a Bluejacket! Round Up started out with a video starring Victoria, a second grader at Isanti Primary, and many of her kindergarten friends. Kindergarten in Cambridge-Isanti, she said, is “a pretty special place!” 

Watch the Kindergarten Video

Please share our video with friends or family members who have young children and may be thinking about moving into our community or enrolling in our schools. We want them to know it’s a great day to become a Bluejacket!

We also want to remind all parents and students that next week is National Teacher Appreciation Week (May 3-7). If you have appreciated the hard work and care of our teachers, please take a few minutes to send a note of thanks. Our staff has been caring and resilient this year. We appreciate all they do!

Sincerely,

Nate Rudolph
Superintendent

National Teacher Appreciation Week

The National PTA organizes National Teacher Appreciation Week, the first week of May each year. Let’s face it, this school year has been weird. But we’re getting through it, in part thanks to our nation’s amazing educators. Take a moment to #ThankATeacher during Teacher Appreciation Week, May 3-7.

Teachers change the lives of millions of children every day—and in a year where instruction could be virtual, in-person or a mix of both, their immense work and impact have provided a much-needed sense of community and connection. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, educators across America are working hard to ensure every student has the tools they need to reach their full potential. Looking for a downloadable card or note, click here.

Contingency Planning Due to Bus Driver Shortage

If you have seen our posts on social media and on our website, you might be aware that we are trying to recruit more bus drivers but there is a national shortage of bus drivers. Some districts in Minnesota have needed to revert to distance learning because of the driver shortage, in addition to COVID case counts.

We are doing everything we can to keep students in school, and that includes building contingency plans for bus routes when we are short bus drivers. In addition to recruiting and trying to hire more drivers, we have eliminated and combined some routes. We have also reassigned every staff member who is eligible and licensed to drive a bus — from our mechanics to our office staff — as sub drivers.

In the event, we don’t have enough drivers and your child’s route is impacted, you can expect a phone call or text message. We are doing everything we can to avoid this situation, but if need be the message would ask parents to consider driving your child to school on that date or ride a bus that will arrive later than usual (after it completes an initial route). This would likely be a one or two hour delay for that route. Students who need to be dropped off early by a parent or stay at school later in the day due to a delayed route would be able to do so and supervision would be provided by the building administration. 

We are making contingency plans for the following scenarios:

1. Route delayed - 1 hour delay
2. Route delayed - 2 hour delay
3. Districtwide - 2 hour delay
4. Districtwide - no transportation (Distance Learning Day)

Our goal is zero use of these contingency plans, but we have to be prepared and want you to know that these plans are in place. Again, our goal is to safely transport students to school on time, every day and to keep kids in school as much as possible. 

Transportation Survey Reminder

Thank you to the 500+ families who have completed the transportation survey! That information is very important to us as we are looking at options for transportation models. If you haven’t completed the survey yet, please take it here.  We will be sharing the data with our Community Task Force next month in planning for next year.

Did You Know…

• At Cambridge-Isanti High School, students have the opportunity to earn college credits, while still in high school. Through the College in the Schools program and post-secondary education options, students have the potential to earn up to 68 college credits, meaning some of our graduates enter college with sophomore standing – saving a full year of college tuition.
  
• Through our Career and Technical Education program at CIHS, students can work toward professional certification in welding and other trades. We are preparing students for high-demand jobs in manufacturing, construction, culinary, early childhood education, and healthcare.
• This year, Cambridge-Isanti High School’s FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America) organization raised over 1,000 lbs of supplies for Family Pathways. FCCLA is a great way for students to build strong character traits and learn real-world skills.
  

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Good Afternoon Bluejacket Families, 

We have two important updates for you today. Last night the School Board approved $1 million in budget reduction and the use of $700,000 one-time pandemic funding to close our $1.7 million structural deficit. As we have shared previously, this is a short-term fix to our financial challenges. Over a three-year period we have cut $8.5 million from a $60 million budget. We have a Community Task Force looking at longer-term structural changes and recommendations. 

We are also looking at changes to our transportation model. This year we changed to a single-tier transportation system that is operating at 50% capacity. It works because many parents volunteered to drive their children this year due to the pandemic. We are surveying parents and staff to rank order priorities for our decision-making and final recommendation. The survey is only five questions and can be completed in just a few minutes. We appreciate your feedback. To read more about each model, click here.

Take the Transportation Survey

At our School Board meeting last night, CMS Principal Gerlach shared a short video that recapped the last year. We saw Blue and White Hearts in windows in homes; the shift to grab and go meals; three learning models and four iterations of the master schedule; and new skills in learning and technology. He reminded us to look for the positive outcomes of change and celebrate what is right in education. Next year, when we open our doors, we will be stronger as a system. We have adapted, grown and have new skills and stronger relationships moving forward. We have much to celebrate. Despite the challenges we have endured, take time to see the beauty in the world and the beauty in each other.

Sincerely,

Nate Rudolph
Superintendent

Budget Update

At the School Board meeting last night, the School Board unanimously approved budget reductions totaling $1 million, after applying $700,000 in pandemic relief toward supporting students and avoiding more lay-offs for next fall. It is a short-term solution. You can watch the video or view the slides here.

As you know, we rely more on state funding (83% of our annual operating budget comes from the state) than the average school district, and state funding is not keeping pace with inflation. For the past decade state funding has increased less than 2% each year. This year, the Minnesota Senate is proposing no increase in education funding, the Governor is proposing a 1% increase and the House is proposing a 2% increase on the general education funding formula. At the same time, the House and Senate are more than $600 million apart on their overall spending targets, and there is little hope they will reach an agreement before they adjourn on May 17. In the last five out of six legislative sessions they have required a Special Session to resolve their differences and adopt a budget. It is unlikely that we will know our funding levels before June. 

COVID-19 Update (Repeat)

Regional Public Health officials recently confirmed that the Minnesota Department of Health has reported at least 60% of positive cases right now are a variant—mostly the B117 variant and some Brazil variants. The regional school and childcare team recorded a record high number of positive cases recently. While we’d like to be seeing the light at the end of the COVID tunnel, MDH is warning that now is not the time to be letting up on mitigation strategies. Continue to wear a mask, wash your hands, follow safe distancing guidelines, and stay home if you don’t feel well. 

As we continue to work closely with Isanti Public Health and our regional MDH team, we are happy to report that the minor shift from a Modified Hybrid to a Hybrid Model at the high school has helped slow the spread. Positive cases have resulted in a higher number of quarantines, which also has helped slow the spread. Said differently, according to public health and MDH, our protocols are working. Anyone who is considered a close contact through contact tracing protocols are notified by district personnel. As vaccine availability continues to grow and protocols remain effective in slowing the spread, we are encouraged and hopeful that we will soon be on the tail end of this pandemic. 

Did You Know...

• Cambridge-Isanti Schools is recognized as an Exemplar District (the last two years) by the Minnesota Department of Education for outstanding efforts with Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). 
• Isanti Intermediate/School For All Seasons was selected as an Ambassador School by the Minnesota Department of Education in 2019 and 2020 for strengthening the knowledge and skills of graduates in Minnesota’s educator preparation programs regarding classroom management and positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) by collaborating with Minnesota PBIS and presenting to Minnesota education preparation programs that support excellence in positive behavior and classroom management.
• Isanti Middle School and Isanti Intermediate/School For All Seasons were also awarded recognition as a Sustaining Exemplar School for the past four years. 

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Good Afternoon Bluejacket Families, 

There is a rebirth that comes with spring that reminds us there are better days ahead. In meeting with many groups over the last two weeks, we have been repeatedly reminded of the optimism and can-do attitude that is prevalent in our community. In Cambridge-Isanti Schools, we develop well-rounded individuals who EXCEL in leadership, ACHIEVE at the highest levels, and are RESPONSIBLE citizens — and every individual in our school system contributes to our mission.

Our commitment to a “well-rounded” education inspires every student to pursue their interests, explore a variety of activities, and discover their strengths. In our schools, there are opportunities for students to participate in sports AND theater, robotics AND music, mock-trial, Model United Nations, AND juried art shows. And our students excel. Just last week our speech team won their conference title, our gymnasts were conference champions AND academic champions with the highest collective GPA in the Mississippi 8, and our Robotics team completed their entry for international competition. Our students are achieving and excelling during a spring where many students across the country are only now returning to school for the first time in a year. 

Over the next two weeks, we will be hosting Kindergarten Round Up for our primary schools. Our events will look different than past years with virtual information sessions followed by an opportunity to schedule tours later in the spring, and convenient online registration (less paperwork).  Please help us reach out to parents of children who will be five years old next fall, and invite them to join us. There is more information on the Kindergarten website at www.c-ischools.org/enroll/kindergarten including the link to the Virtual Kindergarten Round Up.

The collective hopes and dreams we hold for our children are that they will enjoy childhood, make the most of their school experience, and be prepared to lead as responsible citizens in the future. If you have friends or family who are looking for a more well-rounded experience for students, please encourage them to visit Cambridge-Isanti – this is a great place to raise a family!

Sincerely,

Nate Rudolph
Superintendent

Auntie Mame

After cancelling their performance in 2020 due to the pandemic, the CIHS Theatre Department opens this weekend with the three-act play, Auntie Mame. It is a delightful reminder of the importance of family and living the life you desire. In our C-I Schools Spotlight this week, Superintendent Rudolph talked with CIHS Theatre students about the production and their CIHS Theatre family. Tickets for the show are online (www.showtix4u.com) for both the in-person performances on April 16, 17, 18  and the Video on Demand performance on May 1-2. (Limited tickets may be available at the door)

Budget Update

Over the last six weeks, we have been meeting with staff, parents, and community members to discuss our budget challenges. We have a responsibility to balance our budget, even as we expect growing needs for our students after a disruptive year. As you know, we have cut $7.5M from a $60M budget over the last two years and balanced the budget both times. To be fiscally responsible moving forward requires us to use every tool at our disposal, including one-time federal stimulus funding, and then make difficult decisions. 

Our revenue problem is not new. Our district receives less revenue per pupil than almost all other districts (bottom 7%), and $6.4M below the state average for a district our size. However, we don’t have the authority to raise revenue. The only levers we have to balance the budget are on the expense side of the ledger. As projected last fall, our school district faces a $1.7M deficit.

As you may have read, on March 25 we proposed options to close that gap with further reductions in administration, academic programs, activities and athletics, and eliminating our year-round elementary school option. We are also counting a $10,000 donation by First Bank and Trust to offset any increase in student activity fees for next year. Since March 25, we have been busy seeking and evaluating input and feedback from our families, staff, and community. Two items in our plan that have received a lot of discussion in recent weeks: School For All Seasons and the use of one-time pandemic relief funding.

School For All Seasons

In recent weeks, we have worked with families and staff to think creatively about how School For All Seasons might meet its budget reduction target, without closing the school. If we eliminate the year-round calendar and grow the program to district-average class sizes, it may allow us to maintain this special science-technology-environmental magnet/piloting program that families value. We are investigating potential partnerships with C-I Schools Online (which we are required to provide) to maximize resources and run both efficiently. If you know families who are interested in learning more about School For All Seasons on a traditional school calendar please encourage them to contact the school as soon as possible. The final details are not completely worked out at this time, but we are thankful for the insight and feedback that have helped to find creative solutions.

Pandemic Relief and One-Time Funding

This year, we received one-time pandemic relief funding that we can use to offset a portion of our student support expenses next fall and avoid lay-offs. We are proposing to use $700,000 of this highly regulated funding to avoid additional teacher reductions or class size increases. We want to be transparent about this decision because it is a short-term solution. These funds were provided to support our current students’ pandemic-related challenges, and we intend to stretch them as far as they can go. Next week, we will make a final recommendation to the Board about our FY2022 budget. There will be staff lay-offs. We will eliminate some programs. And we will balance our budget. 

COVID-19 Update

In a Regional Meeting with public health officials this week, they confirmed that the Minnesota Department of Health has reported at least 60% of positive cases right now are a variant—mostly the B117 variant and some Brazil variants. The regional school and childcare team recorded a record high number of positive cases recently. While we’d like to be seeing the light at the end of the COVID tunnel, MDH is warning that now is not the time to be letting up on mitigation strategies. Continue to wear a mask, wash your hands, follow safe distancing guidelines, and stay home if you don’t feel well. 

As we continue to work closely with Isanti Public Health and our regional MDH team, we are happy to report that the minor shift from a Modified Hybrid to a Hybrid Model at the high school has helped slow the spread. Positive cases have resulted in a higher number of quarantines, which also has helped slow the spread. Said differently, according to public health and MDH, our protocols are working. Anyone who is  considered a close contact through contact tracing protocols are notified by district personnel. As vaccine availability continues to grow and protocols remain effective in slowing the spread, we are encouraged and hopeful that we will soon be on the tail end of this pandemic. 

Transportation Study

As many of you know, this fall we changed our transportation model from a hub-and-transfer system to a single-route system due to the pandemic. That model only works because hundreds of families volunteered to drive students to school every day, and we are operating at about 50% capacity. We know that the current model will not likely work for next year. In addition, like districts across the region and state, we are struggling with a bus driver shortage which makes staffing many routes difficult. Therefore, we are again studying varied transportation models for consideration next fall. In the coming weeks, we will be surveying parents as we consider possibilities and priorities. These include but are not limited to:

1. returning to the hub-and-transfer system 
2. running a different single-tier system
3. running a two-tier system where each bus makes two runs before school and two after school. 

The third option would require a change in school start and end times. Please think about the questions or concerns you would have with any of the three options. We will be surveying all families next week.

"Bluejacket Way" Above & Beyond Award Nominations- Closing Soon!

This has been quite a year. Is there a Cambridge-Isanti Schools staff member who has impacted your child or family positively? Nominate them for the annual "Bluejacket Way" Above & Beyond Award!

C-I Schools' five character traits are ingrained in everything we do, but we know there are staff members that deserve to be acknowledged for going above and beyond to model our character traits: compassion, respect, responsibility, self-discipline, and honesty. Nominate as many exemplary C-I Schools staff members as you'd like through our online form. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, April 21.

Did You Know...

• The Cambridge-Isanti Community Education now offers Online Professional Development Courses and Certificates for adults. Community members can complete the entire certificate or just take a class or two. Upcoming courses include Data Analysis, Project Management, Six Sigma Green Belt, Copywriting, Marketing, Bookkeeping, Negotiation, Developing Leadership Skills, Contact Tracing, Web Design, Adobe Photoshop, Management, Business Writing, Conflict Management, Google Analytics and more. To learn more or to register, call the Community Education Office at (763) 689-6189 or visit https://www.c-ischools.org/community-ed.
• We are preparing to host several options for summer learning this year for students in all grade levels? If interested in participating in new summer school and summer learning camp opportunities, please contact John Droubie at (763) 552-6252. 
  

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Good Afternoon Bluejacket Families, 

Our goal all year has been to have as many students in person as possible and we are doing everything we can to keep as many students as possible in person. However, this has been a difficult week with contact tracing in our schools and rising COVID cases in our community. According to University of Minnesota Epidemiologist Dr. Michael Osterholm, we can expect some difficult weeks ahead as the number of cases are expected to continue to increase. On Monday, we were guided to make a slight shift with our High School from a Modified Hybrid to Full Hybrid through April 26 to slow transmission. As a community, we need your help.

Please do everything you can to help us mitigate transmission.

1. Students riding buses must sit in their assigned seats. This is important when there is a confirmed case identified, so we can more precisely contact-trace and quarantine a few students instead of everyone on the bus. 
2. Please encourage your child to follow all COVID safety protocols and maintain physical distancing from others when feasible.
3. Minnesota Department of Health is recommending that high school students get a COVID test at least every two weeks to prevent transmission that can occur before symptoms appear. The state provides free at-home tests that can be administered then dropped at UPS at no charge. Families are encouraged to keep test kits on hand for use as needed.
   

We appreciate everyone’s cooperation as we are working to keep as many students in school, in person, for as many days as we can. Thanks in advance for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Nate Rudolph
Superintendent

Vaccines Eligibility for All Minnesotans Age 16 and Older

As of March 30, all Minnesotans, age 16 and older, are eligible for the COVID vaccine. The following information is from the Minnesota Department of Health.

How to get your shot:

• Use the Minnesota Vaccine Locator Map to find vaccine providers near you.
• Use the CDC VaccineFinder to find pharmacy appointments near you. 
• Contact your primary health care provider or a local pharmacy.
• The Vaccine Connector will inform you about vaccine opportunities in your area. 
• You may also be randomly selected to make an appointment at one of the state’s COVID-19 Community Vaccination Program locations. If you are selected, you will be notified by text, email, or phone call by one of the state vaccination partners running those sites: Vault Health, Primary Bio, or SpeciaLysts (Solv).

Budget Reduction Update
On Wednesday evening, we held a virtual public forum with more than 80 community members during the live session and more than 230 views of the video replay. We are grateful for the staff and community members who are actively engaged in these difficult budget discussions. As projected last fall, our school district faces a $1.7M deficit, and additional cuts are needed. 

We have been working since January on the challenges of balancing a budget during uncertain times. We have received dozens of questions, attended more than a dozen meetings, and are communicating directly with staff who are potentially impacted.  We know that budget reductions in our school district means loss of services to students and loss of jobs for staff. We value every staff member and know these decisions impact lives and families. We appreciate all who have submitted thoughtful suggestions and attended additional meetings. We are committed to being transparent, involving our community and finding creative solutions. 

Your feedback is helping us refine our recommendations. We want to continue to receive your questions and suggestions through our Q & A Form. Just yesterday, we met with School For All Seasons families and staff. We have proposed ending the year-round program, and we are investigating the feasibility of keeping the school open on a traditional calendar as a science-technology magnet school —in some combination with C-I Schools Online, which we are required to offer by the state. Families have told us they value hands-on learning, focus on the environment and school choice. We agree that one size does not fit all in education, and we are eager to work with our families, as long as we can maintain equitable opportunities across our district. A final recommendation will be forthcoming by April 22.

Also included in our recommendation this year, is the use of one-time pandemic relief funding to offset a portion of our budget shortfall. We are proposing to use $700,000 of this highly regulated funding instead of teacher reductions and class size increases. This is allowable if it is spent to support students and help the economy by avoiding additional layoffs. We want to be transparent about this decision - it is a short-term solution. These funds are intended and directed to be used to offset pandemic-related challenges for our current students. We intend to stretch the dollars as far as they can go, but the fact that they are one-time dollars means that they don’t address the long-term structural deficit and will need to be revisited in the future without increased revenue. 

C-I Schools Online Information Meeting

We are excited to offer C-I Schools Online (CIO) as a flexible option for students and families! CIO will be open to students in grades K-12 for the 2021-22 school year. This includes students in the Cambridge-Isanti School district as well as any student in Minnesota. To learn more, please join us at our virtual K-8 CIO Family Information Session at 6:30 pm on April 12. A link to this virtual session will be posted on our website. The video of the session will be posted on the website after the meeting.

"Bluejacket Way" Above & Beyond Award Nominations (Repeat)

This has been quite a year. Is there a Cambridge-Isanti Schools staff member who has impacted your child or family positively? Nominate them for the annual "Bluejacket Way" Above & Beyond Award! 

C-I Schools' five character traits are ingrained in everything we do, but we know there are staff members that deserve to be acknowledged for going above and beyond to model our character traits: compassion, respect, responsibility, self-discipline, and honesty. Nominate as many exemplary C-I Schools staff members as you'd like through our online form: https://forms.gle/wHhYh5wYcdCiHhkQ8. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, April 21.

Did You Know?

• While there were occasional COVID-19 interruptions our students have been able to participate and compete in all co-curricular and athletic activities through much of the fall and all of the winter seasons. We know that these opportunities are important for student socialization, mental health, and physical health factors. 
• Our food service department was required to completely re-tool operations due to the pandemic to be able to prepare and serve (and sometimes deliver) meals for students. In doing so, we served 150,000+ meals for students since June through our Grab-and-Go services. During the pandemic meal costs are reimbursable for school districts and we are so happy to be able to continue to serve students and families. 
  

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