Gaylord Community Schools reports steady enrollment, CTE millage on Nov. 4 ballot; schools add technology and expand preschool

District administrators told the Gaylord Community Schools Board that early enrollment sits at 2,716 students, the same figure the district reported at this point last year.

Central office staff said 20 students were pending enrollment; district staff noted pending enrollments could increase the total but did not specify a final projected number. The central office presentation also announced a CTE (career and technical education) millage that will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot; the district described the proposal as a floating millage capped at 1 mill tied to a formula based on CTE program counts.

Superintendent-level staff said the ISD-wide millage will be promoted starting Sept. 12. District staff said the ISD currently lists six approved CTE program slots and that four are active in the district: auto shop, health occupations, culinary arts and business and applied technology. The district presented survey results from April showing roughly 1,200 respondents ISD-wide, with about 70% of respondents indicating support for a millage, but staff noted that survey respondents are a subset of the full electorate.

Building-level updates detailed technology and operational changes. South Maple and North Ohio teachers received interactive BenQ whiteboards for third-grade classrooms, district staff said; teachers are introducing the touch-screen boards and exploring classroom uses. South Maple and North Ohio staff also reported a summer collaboration that began as a "report card committee" and grew into aligned report-card language, progress reports and shared rubrics so that grade-level reporting formats are consistent across schools.

At GIS, staff said they changed lunch routines to let multiple grades eat together based on student preferences, and that assemblies and recognition programs will highlight positive behavior. Middle school staff reported an active extracurricular picture: more than half of students are estimated to participate in sports or activities, a new robotics program attracted approximately 20 interested students, and athletics began competition this week.

At Gaylord High School, administrators said new commons-area televisions are in place and that a paperless system for schedule-change requests reduced processing time; staff reported processing more than 680 online schedule-change requests in two days and completing roughly half of them where the master schedule allowed. The high school also reported facility improvements (new carpet, media center options under consideration) and continued emphasis on schoolwide expectations called the "Blue Devils grama".

The preschool program received a facelift and added a classroom. District staff said preschool is full and a waiting list has started; if enough additional students enroll the district may open a sixth preschool classroom.

District presenters encouraged the public to watch ISD communications about the CTE millage and to contact district staff with questions. No public commenters spoke during the meeting’s public-input period.