A joint “brainstorming” meeting was held September 18 involving the Mabel-Canton School Board and representatives of the cities of Mabel and Canton. Mark Wiedemann, Jason Marquardt, Traci Livingood, Chris Miller, Principal Michelle Weidemann, Superintendent Gary Kuphal, and Diane Wilder were in attendance, so the school board had a quorum. Only two representatives each were on hand from the cities of Mabel (City Clerk Karen Larson and Adam Wilder) and Canton (Brock Bergey and Cindy Shanks), so it was not an official meeting of either city council.
Kuphal informally led the meeting as it began, and started a discussion of “What brings us here?” He told of last year’s joint meeting between these same three entities, and what was discussed at that time regarding commonalities and differences, as well as efforts at sharing information about what’s happening at each entity, and upcoming projects.
Bergey asked if there is a system by which the school administration becomes aware of families that move into the district but are not attending Mabel-Canton for whatever reason (homeschooling, online curriculum, or open enrolling to another district). He suggested that if there were a standard way for school administration to be aware of such families, the school could then follow-up with those families to inform them about Mabel-Canton, so families could make an informed choice.
Kuphal replied that connecting with such families is a challenge, asking, “If they don’t reach out to us, how do we do that?” He commented, “Everybody that is homeschooling is supposed to register that they’re homeschooling, but there’s no policing of that.” He said one idea would be for the school and the cities to create a “packet of information” that could then be given to new families in the area. It could include a variety of community resource information, and could be distributed by the school, city offices, and realtors, for example. Kuphal said even if a full “packet of information” isn’t created, a simple tri-fold brochure could at least give families a starting point.
Council members asked how much impact open enrollment has on the Mabel-Canton district. Kuphal stated that currently, 64 students within the district are open enrolling “out” to another district, while 14 students from outside the district are open enrolling “in,” for a net loss of 50. He said there are a number of reasons why some students/families choose to do this. One of the major factors, he added, is the North Winn/Decorah agreement that Mabel-Canton has had for a number of years, which allows families to essentially “open enroll” even across state lines in this specific way.
Discussion centered on two main topics. The first is whether there is significant value in using some type of survey to find out what citizens in the school district want the school and/or the two cities to do. There was general consensus that a survey could yield useful information, but there were questions about the best method of conducting such a survey, such as letters, phone, social media, website, etc. Each method has its own costs, benefits and disadvantages.
Another main topic was branding. Bergey explained what branding could help the communities, school and businesses to become better known. He mentioned seeing signs recently for “Rushford Peterson Valley,” and said that’s a good example of branding that benefits communities and the school district. Bergey asked, “Is there a way we can brand Mabel and Canton? Is there a catchy phrase that we can get?” The group agreed this is something worth pursuing.
Kuphal offered to show a brief Powerpoint presentation that the school district has developed, entitled “The Making of Mabel-Canton School District #238.” The presentation summarized the history of Mabel and Canton schools, and the merger in 1966, as well as current demographic data. There was a consensus that the group should meet again, but that a smaller group may be more efficient. It was decided to have two representatives from each entity. As needed, these individuals will bring back ideas and proposals to their larger group for further action.