Schools may share principal

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

May 29, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

Two more Bemidji elementary schools -- Lincoln and Central -- will be sharing a principal next year, should the Bemidji School Board accept at its June meeting a new staffing proposal by Superintendent Rollie Morud.

The proposal would fill the vacancy left by Northern School Principal Jim Lahti's retirement and several other vacancies created by employees resigning, retiring or requesting leaves, according to Morud -- all changes that would not compromise budget reductions made earlier this spring.

The proposal to share current Lincoln Principal Nancy Allen with Central Elementary School and to move Central Principal Bruce Anderson to Northern School would even save the district a significant amount of money, Morud said Wednesday.

"We've got a chance here to save a nice chunk of money," Morud said of the principal switch. "And when you have financial challenges you can't overlook the opportunity."

Morud said staffs at the affected schools know about the staffing change, and although the staffs were not excited about it, they know they have to work with the change.

"The staffs would prefer to have their own principal," he said. "And I don't expect everybody to accept (the proposal) with open arms."

This will not be the first time the two schools have shared a principal, according to Anderson, and, in fact, the district has a history of sharing principals.

Deer Lake and Solway Elementary schools have shared a principal for several year. And three years ago, Lincoln and Central shared Principal Ron Bouchie. But the decision to share Bouchie at both schools was not popular with affected residents, so the district hired Allen as a principal at Lincoln.

Morud said, however, the district isn't in the position this year to fill Lahti's vacancy.

Sharing a principal "was tried a few years ago, and it didn't work out. But (the district at the time) didn't have the financial challenges we have," he said. "Tough financial times don't allow you to do things the way you want to do them. They make you do them the way you have to do them. We had to gain some dollars there."

Morud hopes reduced enrollments at Lincoln and Central and added staff working in specialty areas will make the job easier for Allen than when Bouchie was in the same situation.

As for Allen and Anderson, the two principals affected by the change, they say they will take their new positions in stride and make them work to the best of their abilities.

"I have concerns -- not from the standpoint that I can't do it -- but from the standpoint that I know it's going to be a big job," Allen said. "But I hope we'll be proactive and head off some of the problems before they happen. You can always get bogged down in the negative, but there's so much to do; I want to remain positive about it."

Allen said she has not worked out details as to when she would work at either school, should the proposal pass.

"I'm going to sit down with the staffs who shared a principal before, and we'll work out what we can this spring. The rest will have to wait until next year," she said. "I think it's going to be a challenge, but the bottom line is that I'll have to rethink some of the roles I play."

The switch would put Allen in command of more than 20 sections consisting of about 550 students -- the largest number of sections or students of any elementary principal in the district.

Anderson, who served as Central's principal for three years and was principal at J.W. Smith for 12 years, said he doesn't mind the switch, either.

"I don't mind moving. You always like staying where you are familiar with the staff, but I know a lot of the people who work at Northern," Anderson said. "Ultimately, in this case, it's an opportunity to make an awfully substantial budget reduction, and I think the board has to take it."

Morud's proposal would also rehire several faculty who were cut from the budget earlier in the year, and refill some positions that were cut.