COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. — South Washington County Schools are out for summer but administrators are at work, trying to figure out how to accommodate the district's rapid enrollment growth.
After a workshop on June 1, the district is now recommending the school board advance a new long-range facility plan.
If the school board approves it Thursday, voters would see these two questions on their ballots this November:
Question 1: Addressing secure entrances at schools that need them; along with middle and high school additions and renovations
Question 2: Construction of elementary school additions at schools projected to exceed capacity and renovations for bathrooms at five elementary schools built in the 1960s.
As assistant superintendent Kristine Schaefer explains, this comes after voters in August rejected a $462 million bond for school expansions over the next 10 years.
"We had lots of community sessions after about that to get feedback and it was really around the economic conditions right now and it's a hard time for a lot of our community members right now and we heard that so we went back to the drawing table and we created a new plan," Schaefer said.
The new plan would scale down projects to occur over five years instead of ten and the cost would reduce to $200 million.
"Question one would address secured entryways at just a few of our schools that don't have those right now," Schaefer said.
In addition to security upgrades, the $160 million option would allow additions to be built at the highest enrolled high school and middle school, East Ridge High School and Oltman Middle School respectively. Other schools would get some other renovations.
The second, $40 million option focuses on elementary schools.
"Additions [would be built] at four of our elementary schools that are currently overcrowded," Schaefer said.
The plan also involves adding bathrooms to elementary schools that currently have only one set.
South Washington County Schools said if voters approve both ballot questions, taxpayers would see an increase of about $8 per month based on medium area income.
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