By Dr. Bob Stepaniak
Superintendent

There seems to be some confusion about some recent school board decisions to collect information. Some think you can get accurate information about our community by paying attention as you sit on the porch. However, the school district is close to 190 square miles in two counties. We have almost 20,000 residents and our demographic characteristics change, sometimes dramatically, in a very short time. For leaders of government and school districts, accurate information is very important ñ it directly impacts not only our staffing, but also our funding.

One example of how things can change is the surprise drop in student enrollments this year. After about 20 years of increasing enrollments, we went down by 40 students this fall. Will that decrease continue next year? I donít know and neither do you. There are simply too many variables for us to be able to predict for sure.

One way to understand what trends may be developing in North Branch and the surrounding area is to pay a professional demographer to look at our district. These folks are trained to look at information such as birth rates, housing starts, and business growth and apply them to our local situation. Since our last study was done five years ago, enough has changed to warrant another study. It would be penny wise and pound foolish to try and guess these trends by ourselves. We risk wasting time, money and resources. The responsible thing to do is pay someone who specializes in demography.

Others have confused this demographic study with a post-referendum phone survey we are also in the process of administering. The post-referendum survey, which is a free service as part of our membership in Intermediate School District 916, helps the school board and administration better understand the opinions of our voters on a number of issues. With cuts looming in the near future, we felt that this information would help with these decisions. This survey is not related to the demographic study, they are two different data gathering methods.

The demographic study and post-referendum survey are both important research efforts. The information gathered will be shared with our city and county leaders when they are completed. We have worked closely with these leaders over the past few years on a variety of issues that affect us all. They keep us informed of new developments in the city and we expect to continue our close relationship.

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