Charles City school enrollment increases by more than nine students

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

After a day of crunching numbers, Charles City School District Superintendent Mike Fisher breathed a sigh of relief.

“We’re going to be in a much stronger financial position this year,” Fisher told the Charles City Community School District Board of Education at its regular meeting on Monday. “My stress is way lower now.”

For the second consecutive year, enrollment numbers in the Charles City School District have increased, after four previous years of substantial drops.

Certified enrollment for the 2019-2020 school year is 1549.88, an increase of 9.26 from last year’s 1540.62. The “C-Count,” or number of students the district is serving, went up by 11 students, from 1504 to 1515.

Last year, the certified enrollment numbers increased by nearly 40 students, after the drops of 11 students in 2017-18, 18 students in 2016-17, 11 students in 2015-16 and 47 students in 2014-15.

“It’s two years of increasing enrollment despite having a major employer in town close,” Fisher said, referring to the Simply Essentials plant closing in August. “Our team did a fabulous job.”

“We lost an employer with 500 jobs,” Fisher said. “Typically that’s disastrous for school enrollment, and that put a big cloud over all the work we were doing.”

The increased enrollment numbers are positive for Fisher and the district because they directly impact the amount of money the district receives from the state government.

Iowa schools are funded on a per-pupil basis, and the enrollment totals submitted will determine the general fund and sales tax funding the district will receive. The more students in a district, the more money a district gets. The district also gets supplemental weighting for some of the courses that are taught, which is why there are fractions of students among the certified totals.

Certified enrollment is an annual report of enrolled resident students used for the Iowa School Finance Formula calculation.

School districts across the state are required to tabulate their respective enrollment numbers as of Oct. 1 and certify these totals with the Iowa Department of Education prior to Oct. 15. Fisher said the numbers he presented to the board Monday are preliminary until all student information is verified and weightings calculated.

Fisher credited the district’s chief enrollment officer, Justin DeVore, and members of his team for all the work they did with enrollment.

“We’ve improved our branding, our narrative and our digital footprint,” Fisher said. “People get interested, and then they take a tour. When you take a tour, we have you hooked.”

Fisher said 42 students are open-enrolling into the district while 32 students living in the district are enrolling outside the district.

“We think it’s a really great narrative, that more families are choosing Charles City than are not,” Fisher said.

In other business, three work item changes regarding the new athletic complex were approved by the board Monday. The items will come with an increase of $20,390 in cost, paid to Woodruff Construction.

The work item changes included press box foundation work, pavement removal for gas hookup and addition of a silt fence.

Fisher reminded the board that the press box and dugouts are being done independently of the actual project, because the district though it would be cheaper to use available volunteer labor.

Unfortunately, the normal concrete contractor is unable to do the concrete footings for the press box at this time, and they need to be finished by the end of the month, he said. To keep the project going, Woodruff Construction submitted a pricing proposal to do the foundation-related work for both press boxes as part of its contract.

Other change orders include additional silt fencing, needed with all the recent rain, and possible work needed to cut out a small section of the parking lot to access a gas valve. Fisher said that item might not be necessary, but the district wanted to get board approval in case it would be.

A special meeting was called last week to approve a proposal from Veenstra Construction out of Oskaloosa, in the amount of $30,000, to do the work necessary to set the bases for light poles and fixtures at the complex.

Also in action regarding the athletic complex on Monday, the board approved an “Orange Monster” agreement with First Security Bank, for a $50,000 cash contribution to the project, to place advertising on the left field double wall at the baseball field. The agreement lasts until March 31, 2035.

The board also heard a student leadership presentation from middle school Principal Joe Taylor and Associate Principal Tom Harskamp and the student leadership team on Monday. The group provided a progress report on their team, and students told the board about leadership successes, leadership functions they had attended and projects they are working on.

“We’re talking about creating multiple tiers of leadership,” said Taylor. “We want to create a system that is going to be purposeful, leading and change our rhetoric around what it means to be a leader. We want to be leaders of leaders.”

Students who addressed the board regarding leadership were eighth-graders Kalia Richard, Whitnee Wahl, Tuezdae Collins, Amelia Martin, Erik Gavitt and Brayden Ellis; as well as ninth-grader Kaylie Banks.

Also on Monday, in honor of National Principals Month, the board recognized Washington Elementary Principal Kara Shannon, Lincoln Elementary Principal Marcia DeVore, middle school principals Taylor and Harskamp and high school principals Bryan Jurrens and Larry Wolfe.

In other business on Monday, the board:
— Approved the resignation of Elizabeth Platte, seventh-grade volleyball coach, effective Oct. 14.
— Approved the appointment of Tyler Mitchell, middle school wrestling coach, at a salary of $2667, starting Nov. 1.
— Approved the appointment of Gary Finger and Jacqueline Walsh, route drivers, at wages of $16.77 per hour, starting Oct. 14.
— Approved the North Iowa Community Action Organization Head Start agreement, through July 31, 2020.
— Approved contract modifications for 13 teachers, due to additional graduate course work. Teachers (and amount of salary increase) were Marie Conklin ($1809), Tyler Downing ($1810), Alexis Finder ($3620), Phillip Frenchick ($4705), Caley Johnson ($3620), Chealsey Moen ($3798.29), Jenae Noonan ($1809), Robert Pittman ($2896), Amy Spieker ($1809), Laura Stallsmith ($1809), Lindsey Staudt ($3619) and Jesse White ($1809).
— Heard a presentation from student board member Cael Ruzicka, who presented an overview of Homecoming 2019.
— Accepted and approved the annual and the Sept. 2019 financial reports for the district. Director of Finance Terri O’Brien compiled the reports for the district. The district’s annual report will be available on the district’s web page on Friday.