by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Voters in the Sartell-St. Stephen School District will decide Tuesday, May 24 whether to spend $105.8 million on a new high school, along with many refurbishments and space rearrangements at the district’s three other schools and what would be the former high school.
The school board voted unanimously to set the bond amount and the voting date at its Jan. 25 regular board meeting. The board also approved a tentative agreement to purchase 20 acres of land from a developer next to Oak Ridge Elementary School in north Sartell, where the high school would be built. That 20 acres, part of what is known as Eagle Ridge Estates, is owned by Wollak Construction whose owner, Ernie Wollak, has agreed in principal to sell for about $500,000. That land would be in addition to the 80 acres of land the school district already owns at that site. The school, its grounds, parking and athletic fields and facilities would be built on a total of nearly 100 acres to the east and south of Oak Ridge Elementary, bordered on the east by Pinecone Road N. and on the south by 27th Street N., which is the road from Pinecone that leads now to Oak Ridge.
The $105.8-million bond would be repaid over a 25-year period. The Minnesota Department of Education must approve the bond proposal before it’s placed on the ballot, although approval is expected.
If voters approve, the new high school could be ready for students starting in the 2019-20 school year.
In addition to the new high school, the bond money would also allow for reconfigurations at other schools.
The current high school would be repurposed to accommodate grades 6-8.
The middle school would house grades 3-5, and each of the two elementary schools (Oak Ridge and Pine Meadow) would be for pre-K (4 years old) through grade 2.
The school board’s bonding decision is the result of a recommendation made by the Community Schools Planning Committee, which was presented to the board recently after many months of study of enrollment trends and the space needs of the school system.
More about the bond issue, including its tax impact on residents, will be published in upcoming issues of the Sartell Newsleader.
