by Dennis Dalman
editorl@thenewsleaders.com
A groundbreaking for the new Sartell High School took place May 8 at the site near Oak Ridge Elementary School along Pinecone Road N.
The event was attended by teachers, architects, builders, students and Sartell-St. Stephen School District Superintendent Dr. Jeff Schwiebert.
Chosen guests took the gold-colored shovels and dug into a patch of dirt to do the ritual groundbreaking.
Officials from Cuningham Architecture, Winkelman Construction, Design Tree and iiW Architecture joined in at the groundbreaking. A series of artists’ conceptions for the new school were on display for all to admire.
Voters in the school district approved the $105.8-million bond referendum May 24, 2016. The vote was 2,281 to 2,034.
The new high school, expected to open for school year 2019, will cost about $90 million. The rest of the bonded money will be used to alter and improve the other existing schools.
An enormous amount of research, brainstorming, needs assessments and architectural options were involved in the planning for the high school and for upgrades at the other schools in Sartell.
Periodic updates to the architectural designs were presented to the school board by architects David Leapaldt, Scott Krenner and Judy Hoskens.
Workshops, committees and programming sub-groups scrutinized every aspect of the needs and the planning process to ensure the finished facility will be exactly what is required for education well into this century.
Dr. Jeff Schwiebert (left), teachers, students, architects and builders listen to some speeches before breaking ground for Sartell High School May 8. The school is expected to open in 2019.
