by Rachel Minske
Contributing Writer
The Elk River Area School District is no stranger to change.
Over the years, the four small-town communities that comprise the district have become increasingly suburban and, according to district officials, as the populations continue to grow, local schools are likely to feel the impact.
Anticipation of larger populations is why members of the Elk River Area School Board approved the formation of a 35-member facilities usage committee earlier this year. Between August and November, the committee has worked to determine how the district can prepare for its expanding student population.
According to city documents, Twin Lakes Elementary School is at 104 percent capacity – there are 807 students in a building that can only house 775. The soon-to-be E-8 school in Otsego will relieve overcapacity in southern area schools, but an attendance boundary is still needed, said Cory Franson, director of Community Engagement and Community Education for the district.
District officials have found that the highest volume of population growth is found in the southern part of the district — an area experiencing an influx of new home construction, said Franson. There’s also ongoing zoning in preparation for new construction in the Twin Lakes area, he said.
The School Board will make the final decision on which of the committee’s proposed strategies to pursue.
About the process
In the spring, the School Board selected Minnesota-based consulting group TeamWorks International to guide the district through the process of making the necessary changes. The district requested applications from the community to serve on the Facilities Usage Committee in June. The 82 applicants for the committee were whittled down to 35, and most of the selected members are parents to students in the district, Franson said.
Superintendent Bruce Watkins at one of a series of public meetings to go over the work of the Elk River Area School District’s Facilities Use Committee. The group has made recommendations after months of long meetings and robust dialogue.
The School Board met with district administrators and TeamWorks International throughout the summer to set the foundation for the committee’s work. Over the last few months, committee members have gathered to discuss data, concepts and resolutions (together, meetings totaled about 36 hours) and pored over hundreds of pages in documentation.
In an interview with Star News, Franson said he was proud of the committee’s efforts and dedication to the cause.
Three times throughout this process, the committee compiled its ideas and sent them out to the community. Community members then completed surveys and gave feedback on the work, said Franson.
“We were really pleased with the response,” he said of community feedback, adding the surveys were often long and required some deal of research to complete them.
During the first round of surveys, 894 responses were received. In the second round, 1,148 responses were received, and 572 responses were received in the third round.
Public meetings were also held in October and November, although participation was much lower; the Oct. 17 meeting at Otsego Elementary School saw the highest participation with 28 attendees.
Recommendations to the board
In its work, the committee studied enrollment and capacity at various district schools, learned about instructional programming, economic data and spaces like fields, courts, auditoriums and activities.
Committee members stressed to the board Nov. 28 that they are passionate about the resolutions they’ve created. Some members questioned how the board would be able to make conclusions in a single work session, scheduled for Dec. 5. A vote on the issue is scheduled for Dec. 12, during a regular-scheduled board meeting.
School Board Director Sue Farber expressed gratitude toward the committee for its time and effort and said board members are up to date on the process.
“We have been getting information all along and we have been doing our due diligence all along,” she said. “We’ve been reading it, we’re going to continue reading it.”
However, there were still questions remaining following the committee’s presentation to the board, led by Franson. For example, Director Gregg Peppin asked about the larger financial ramifications of the proposals.
District staff promised to have answers to all questions readily available before the Dec. 5 work session.
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