Thief River Falls students help out amidst budget cuts
Students are sending out tumblers and a thank you to all who give.
THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn. (Valley News Live) - A local school district is in trouble and is asking for the community’s help.
Thief River Falls is seeing budget cuts at the elementary, middle and high school. Now, students are stepping up to make a difference.
“So many kids in one class,” Challenger Elementary Fifth Grader Payton Saelend says. “I feel bad for those teachers.”
Even fifth graders like Saelend understand the importance of education and those who make it possible. Two failed referendums have led to financial trouble for the Thief River Falls School District.
“I’ve lived here my entire life. Our property taxes have gotten quite high here. People are stressed as far as that stuff goes,” Technology Teacher Courtney Skjerven says. “I don’t want to say, ‘Well, you have to vote yes.’ It is important. We’re one of the few schools in the state of Minnesota now that doesn’t have a property tax levy that helps support our day to day operations in our schools. We’re relying a lot on state funding right now and it’s showing.”
Courtney Skjerven is the technology teacher at Challenger Elementary. He says the budget cuts are starting to hit hard. They’re losing four classrooms, and teachers this year, along with a reading specialist.
The cuts are happening at the middle and high school, too. It’s putting more than 30 kids in a lot of classrooms.
“It’s less personal attention, less supervision, less one-on-one time as far as learning goes,” he says. “You want to have a decent amount of kids in the class. However, when you’re pushing 25-30, especially in our lower grades, that gets to be a lot.”
Now the entire school is getting involved to do something about it. Skjerven’s classroom looks more like a warehouse these days. Students are keeping the books, running laser engravers, filling and packing orders.
They’re sending a tumbler and a thank you to all who give.
“The kids are excited to do this. It’s led to some conversations, too, about some of the difficulties that we’re having as a school district,” Skjerven says. “You never want to stand up in front of a bunch of kids and complain and tell them how bad things are. This gives us an angle to talk about some of our issues because we’re doing something about it. We’re putting a positive spin on it. Kids love to help, they want to take control.”
“It’s important for all the kids to get everything they need,” Fifth Grader Ashyln Leetch says. “If they don’t get everything they need next year, and years to come, you never know how far behind or how far ahead they are.”
They’ve raised more than $20,000 so far. The district has a goal of $70,000 and they’ll keep at it until the budget cuts end.
The district has also set up a GoFundMe page for those who would like to donate.
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