President's Newsletter, September 12th

MLEA Members,

I hope you've all had a great start to the school year!

Enrollment Update: It's been shared with some buildings that our enrollment has again come in below projections. We planned for 1,900 students for the district; we're running about 1,870. Last year there was a spike in Running Start students that was a large part of the issue; this year, there isn't really a pattern to the enrollment drop.

What this means is an instant $150,000 hole in the budget. Further, our enrollment tends to be at it's high point in September and October; as families move away and struggling students drop out, the enrollment tends to trend down during the year.

It's something I know the administrators keep a close eye on; the impact will be felt most directly in April and May, when we start setting the budget for the 2011-2012 school year. If you have any questions, please let me know.

The WEA Children's Fund: You may have received an email two weeks back from WEA Vice President Mike Ragan about the WEA Children's Fund. It's a great charity that we've had cause to access in the past to support families in crisis. If you have a child who could use their help the application process is easy; if you have the ability to make a donation to support their work, it would be very much appreciated. You can also make the Children's Fund your United Way designated charity; I'll offer more information about that process in the next newsletter.

Another great group to support is the Medical Lake Dollars for Scholars. Brenda Vasquez at Hallett and Michael Anderson is a board member for them, and the work they do every year getting scholarships to deserving Medical Lake grads is to be commended. You might also get a request from Citizens for Medical Lake Schools; you can donate to them through payroll deduction. It's a great way to support our levy elections on a consistent basis.

Class Size: We've been made aware of some class size problems in different buildings. The 4th grades at Michael Anderson were running at 30+ kids each until last week; they've since added a class that is being staffed with a long-term sub. We're now hearing about general ed classes at the High School with 40+ kids; that should get settled this week.

We have some of the best class size language in the area, but that's only doable as long as you speak up and let it be known how important class size is. If you're currently faced with an overload please talk with me or your building rep so that we can go over what options and relief you can have.

Negotiations: This is the last year of our three-year contract with the school district, meaning we'll be entering into negotiations soon. We'll be running a survey to gather your ideas on what the process should look like, so please be thinking about the areas where the contract has mattered for you and how you think that process could be improved. Look for the survey soon!

I hope you've all had a great start to the school year, and Go Cardinals!

--Ryan--