Becky DeWilde, Farmington School Board

  If you read the article in SunThisWeek 5/12/23, you were led to believe that ISD 192 approved the Achievement and Integration (A&I) Plan ; we didn’t. The plan was merely presented.   I’ve heard repeatedly from multiple sources on both sides of the continuum that it’s essentially free money. Sure perhaps, but I want to be sure that we are steering funds to our learners and direct instructional time , not to increase bureaucracy, racism and pay consultants that don't align with our strategic framework.  ISD 192 qualified for additional Achievement and Integration revenue based on being designated as a racially isolated district. 171 school districts  (of a total of 331) in Minnesota have A&I plans. Based on school year 2022-23 fall enrollment data, Farmington is considered a racially isolated district under Minnesota’s School Desegregation/Integration rules. A racially isolated school district is one in which district-wide enrollment of protected studen...

Monday Night’s Meeting of the Farmington Area School Board public comment is scheduled for 5:20pm with the business meeting slated for a 5:30pm start at Farmington City Hall. There will be a closed session immediately following the regular meeting to discuss employee negotiations. We will hear a report from administration on the Achievement and Integration (A&I) Plan. What is an A&I ? Recently, ISD 192 qualified for additional Achievement and Integration revenue based on being designated as a racially isolated district. Based on school year 2022-23 fall enrollment data, Farmington is considered a racially isolated district under Minnesota’s School Desegregation/Integration rules. A racially isolated school district is one in which district-wide enrollment of protected students is more than 20 percentage points higher than enrollment in any one of its adjoining school districts. (I think we meet this comparatively with Hastings.) For the purposes of the Achievement and Integrat...

As our state legislature wraps up this session, I've advocated for local control. Here's what I've sent to my local representatives and the Education Conference Committee members. Subject: Please support local school boards! Thank you for your willingness to serve in our state legislature. As a fellow public servant, I do not take your efforts for granted. I humbly ask for your consideration on two specific items on the Education Bills at hand: strike unemployment for school hourly workers and do NOT include class size, staffing ratios, student to personnel ratios or student testing in Terms and Conditions   First, please eliminate the unemployment for school hourly workers . Somehow UI was wrapped into  both  the House and Senate Omnibus Education bills  WITHOUT   funding. There continues to be this myth that school districts have “enough” funding to absorb these additional mandates. ISD 192 Farmington Area School District was one of many school districts...