The Albert Lea School Board met with community leaders and school supporters in a workshop on Thursday as they continued to mull the possibility of another excess levy referendum.

According to Ken Petersen, Albert Lea School Board chairman, the goals were to find out what sort of attitudes toward the school district are in the community. In a recent Greater Jobs workshop, quality schools were at the top of the list of reasons why people would want to live here, Petersen said. But school district officials wanted to know how widespread those opinions were.

&uot;What do we have to do to maintain the high quality of education in the district?&uot; asked Petersen.

To discuss that question, and others like them, they invited a number of individuals and groups to meet with the board at a workshop session, the kind of meeting where board members can gather information without the pressure of having to make a decision immediately.

&uot;We were trying to get a mix of community people that would help us get a reading on the community, what things might be important to them,&uot; said Tom Eaton, school board member.

Members of TEAM, a new school booster group, were present, along with representatives of county government, the district’s Curriculum Committee, and Destination: Albert Lea, as well as individuals.

&uot;We were looking for a cross-section of the community,&uot; echoed David Prescott, district superintendent.

&uot;Obviously it was also a group that was very pro-school and very pro-local funding for schools,&uot; Prescott added. But those present were still representative of the community at large, he said.

One thing school board members were trying to find out was what people in the community think about another levy, and according to some who were present, they are seeing support at all levels.

&uot;It looks like there’s a grassroots community effort behind this idea,&uot; Eaton said. &uot;I think we have a better idea of what direction we need to go with this.&uot;

Seeing widespread community support is very important to school board members, who want to avoid both the mistakes that they made and the negative consequences of the failed referendum from last year. They know they have a lot of work ahead of them.

&uot;It [the meeting] probably raised more questions than it answered, which is probably good at this point,&uot; said Prescott.

&uot;If there’s going to be another referendum, it needs to come from the community,&uot; Petersen said.