At tonight’s EMID board meeting Kevin Donovan (651-407-8983, mksbdonovan@comcast.net) shared the news that the Mahtomedi School Board is setting up a group to consider their integration investments, including the pros and cons of continued participation in EMID. This was just a brief announcement during the Board Forum section of them meeting, so it did not appear on the agenda. After the meeting Kevin told me that the Mahtomedi board expects the group to conclude its work and issue a report by January 2009. Note that the next deadline for pulling out of the EMID collaborative is during February 2009. Kevin stressed that Mahtomedi hopes to get parents involved in the group and told me the best way to indicate interest in taking part would be to contact the Superintendent, Mark Wolak (651-407-2001, mwolak@mahtomedi.k12.mn.us).

The EMID Joint Powers Board meets on Wednesday 5/21 in the Harambee Multicultural Learning Center. The agenda is available. Though it does not include anything directly relating to our “hot” areas of interest, it would still be great if someone can get to the meeting and provide notes to EMID Families.

The EMID board determined at its work session that it was not going to follow up on the suggestion of a digital video camera for the schools to record the board meetings. It sounds like the board calculated at the work session that getting professional-quality recordings of the board meetings would cost $8,000-12,000 per year, dwarfing the cost of equipment. This means that those families who had pledged to support the purchase of the camera are now officially off the hook.