Principals and community clash with board over funding for Renaissance leadership travel
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Summary
Principals from the two district high schools asked the board to allow student travel to a Jostens Renaissance leadership conference; some board members questioned the cost amid a reported budget shortfall and lawmakers' executive-order debate. A Jostens representative pledged $9,600 in sponsorship.
Principals at both L'Anse Creuse High School and L'Anse Creuse North asked the board to approve student travel for Renaissance leadership and culture work, but the request prompted heated debate over cost and priorities during the April 28 board meeting.
A written statement from L'Anse Creuse High School principal Alicia Samborski and L'Anse Creuse North principal Meredith Beard, read into the record, said both leadership teams had earned state and national conference opportunities and that the Renaissance program had produced improvements in attendance, behavior and school climate. The principals said they had secured a $9,600 sponsorship from Jostens to cover student expenses.
“Following the pandemic, it was very clear to all educators that mental health and climate and culture in schools needed to be a focus to reunite school communities,” the principals wrote in the message read during the meeting. The principals asked the board to allow previously approved travel “as it has already been approved by the board of education and our ZBB process.”
Several board members criticized the cost of leadership travel while the district faces a multi-million-dollar shortfall. Missus Ross questioned whether the district’s budget had explicitly funded the trip and cited a prior trip cost of $33,474.02. Missus Herndon and other board members pressed for documentation from the district’s zero-based budgeting (ZBB) process and said they wanted assurances about equity across the district’s 19 schools.
Board members also noted that Jostens sponsorship reduced the district share. Board vice president and others pointed to the sponsorship and asked staff to provide travel-budget detail from the ZBB records. The consent agenda that included the travel requests passed on a roll-call vote of 5–1.
Ending: The board voted to approve the consent agenda that included the student travel; staff were asked to provide a detailed budget reconciliation and to explain how the travel aligns with district priorities and previously approved ZBB allocations.
