As part of a Mainstreet Radio series on rural education, Rachel Reabe reports that with declining enrollment at the high school in Motley, a plan has been set to incorporate the Motley students into the nearby Staples high school.
This is part two of three-part series "The Rural School Challenge"
Click links below for other parts of series:
part 1: https://archive.mpr.org/stories/1988/04/25/the-rural-school-challenge-school-mergers-part-1
part 3: https://archive.mpr.org/stories/1988/04/27/the-rural-school-challenge-school-pairing-in-norman-county-part-3
Awarded:
1988 Northwest Broadcast News Association Award, first place in Mini-Documentary Series category
Transcripts
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SPEAKER 1: Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!
[BAND MUSIC PLAYING]
(SINGING) Motley High School has got the beat.
SPEAKER 2: It's a number that doesn't need much rehearsal. Motley High School bands led by Motley High School cheerleaders have been playing and singing the school fight song for as long as anyone can remember around here. But this spring, Motley High School will graduate its last senior class.
SPEAKER 1 (CHANTING): M-O-T-L-E-Y! Motley!
SPEAKER 2: Faced with declining enrollments and increased state curriculum requirements, the school board has decided to pair its secondary program with Staples, its neighbor seven miles to the west. Under the plan, the high school students in both districts will attend classes at Staples High School. The former Motley High School will be made into a middle school for sixth, seventh, and eighth graders from both communities. Elementary students will stay where they are.
[? SHERRI MOREY: ?] At first, I thought, man, why do we have to be the first class to graduate? But somebody's got to do it. And we're going to be the biggest class, too.
SPEAKER 2: [? Sherri ?] [? Morey ?] is going to break a longtime family tradition when she graduates from the new Staples-Motley High School next year. Her grandparents, her father, and brother all graduated from Motley High School. Instead of being from a senior class of 30 students, [? Sherri ?] will receive her diploma in the company of 180 students.
[? SHERRI MOREY: ?] It's still Motley, and it's just Staples-Motley.
SPEAKER 2: It's easy to find the band room in the one-story sprawling Motley school building. The windows are wide open on this spring day, and the music can be heard almost over to Main Street. Jeannie Rohr has directed the band here for 14 years.
JEANNIE ROHR: I just look at the education of the kids first. And my band has shrunk down in numbers the last few years. I've lost-- I'm 20 students smaller in four years. And I have a very small band this year, and it's been a little harder this year. And maybe there's been other signs too that maybe it's just a little harder to keep our school going as it's been. And so maybe it is time to pair.
SPEAKER 2: In the last 10 years, the Motley School District has lost about 100 students. They currently have 469 in their kindergarten through 12th grade program. A year ago, they turned to the Staples District, three times their size, to explore a pairing arrangement. In the 10 years since the Minnesota legislature passed a provision for school district pairings, some 15% of the state's 435 districts have signed up. Bob Buresh of the State Education Department said more pairing agreements, including the one between Staples and Motley, are set to begin next year.
BOB BURESH: It's not mandated. It's voluntary. It still preserves local control. It's not a permanent agreement. It's reversible. You still have your school board. You still have more direct local input into school district affairs. Communities like that. They still like the feeling of local control or more local control.
SPEAKER 2: Local control is a subject that infuriates Motley feed store owner Irvin Bjerga these days. Although the Motley school board voted unanimously in favor of the pairing, Bjerga says 60% to 70% of Motley residents are opposed to moving their high school students out of town. Those statistics were compiled by a citizens committee opposed to the pairing.
IRVIN BJERGA: Consolidation requires a referendum of the people. So why shouldn't pairing involve a referendum of the people? We don't elect our school board members to take our children and move them to another town.
SPEAKER 2: A hand-lettered billboard just down the street from Bjerga's feed store reads, "help us save Motley High School." Bjerga admits that he got involved in the fight because of fears that Motley's business district would be destroyed if the high school moved out of town. But he says now he's more concerned about Motley losing their quality education.
IRVIN BJERGA: Certainly, we know that there is going to be a few classes that our children cannot take here. But from the standpoint of preparing our kids to go out into the world, to be successful, I think the small schools and the small classes have it over on the larger schools and the larger classes.
SPEAKER 2: Bjerga and another anti-pairing candidate are running in next month's school board election. They hope a big victory will persuade the remaining school board members to reconsider the plan to pair with Staples. Meanwhile, orientation sessions are underway in Motley. Next year's middle school students from Staples are getting a look at their new school.
SPEAKER 3: And over here, you guys, we have the football field, baseball field, and whatever. This is where the buses park.
BOB COLE: Just like we thought originally, the students are adapting much faster than us old timers. They just get along and mix so easily, and they're really excited.
SPEAKER 2: Motley principal, Bob Cole-- in Motley, I'm Rachel Reavey.
SPEAKER 4: OK, now we're going to show you the high school gym.
SPEAKER 5: We are?
SPEAKER 4: Yes, we are.
SPEAKER 6: Is this the high school gym?