School board mulls over school-traffic patterns

by Dave DeMars

news@thenewsleaders.com

Construction of the new high school – especially traffic concerns – and updates from the school project’s architect (IIW-Minnesota) were discussed at the Jan. 23 meeting of the Sartell-St. Stephen School Board, and board members chose their favorite traffic-safety option.

A majority of time was spent considering the traffic patterns in and around the new high school. In a past meeting, the board met with members of the Sartell City Council to consider the traffic problems on public streets that might result from the building of the new high school. But the traffic flow in and around the new school can result in safety and congestion issues for students trying to enter and leave the parking area or parents dropping off and picking up students on school property.

With the current student population of 1,100 and projected increases in the future, traffic patterns in and around the school are a major concern. At its latest meeting, the board was shown four different traffic-pattern scenarios and asked to choose a favorite and an alternate parking plan so a cost plan could be put together by Feb. 8.

All of the entry points to the school off of Pinecone Road were two-lane ones with one lane for entry from and one lane for exit onto Pinecone Road. The roadway would lead to the large parking lot, and a long looped area between the parking lot and the school that would be used for drop-offs.

At issue was how to get a large entering and exiting population to do so relatively congestion-free. It’s expected another exit and entrance would be off 35th Street and that would relieve some pressure. But the main entrance is expected to be off Pinecone Road between 35th and 27th streets.

“And I believe kids (who) are in the middle lot will look and say, ‘Hmmmh, which way looks to be flowing better?’ because it’s not a lot different,” said School District Superintendent Jeff Schwiebert. His point was students would choose an alternative route to exit rather than the Pinecone Road exit.

The favored traffic-flow option on school grounds was the number-two option that incorporated a “school-sized” roundabout in an attempt to accomplish three things. The first concern is to get entering vehicles to safely move into the parking area. The second concern is to allow those vehicles whose drivers want to drop off and pick up passengers to get to the long looped drop-off and pick-up areas. The third and final concern is to create a way for vehicles to exit the long loop drop-off area without impeding incoming traffic.

“Our parking lot situation is such that it’s normally all (going) in or all going out” Schwiebert said. “It’s rarely that we have heavy flow in at the same time we have heavy flow out.”

It was estimated there are only about 50 people who drop off and pick up on a given day, so the congestion factor should be somewhat minimized. It was also estimated the long pick-up/drop-off loop would hold about 25 cars at any given point, so traffic would normally move smoothly along that area.

The difficulty encountered with the favored traffic-flow pattern using the roundabout is it might be difficult to move through the roundabout with a big sanding truck without getting stuck on the circle. But Schwiebert assured board members from information he had gathered, the circle would be large enough to handle the sanding truck or a bus if need be. Buses, however, would not normally use the pick-up and drop-off lane near the student parking lot and would instead have a separate loading and unloading area.

With the discussion winding down, the board expressed its opinion that option two, which incorporated the use of the roundabout on school property, was the better choice, with option one, which would use a cross-over that would interrupt traffic flow, a distant second choice. The direction was given to find the cost of the two plans and bring back the figures to the board for consideration at its Thursday, Feb. 9 scheduled work session.

With that, the board moved on to hearing information about interior and exterior design of the building itself. The board was shown sketches of what the outside landscape might look like in 10 to 15 years. The board was told in exploring building materials, it was decided to go with a dark-gray brick that would be contrasted with a very durable engineered wood material. Use of the brick was expected to save $500,000 in costs.

The board also saw sketches and gathered ideas as to what the interior might look like. There was some discussion of wood materials, insulating and sound-absorbent ceiling materials, and floor and wall coverings.

Superintendent’s report

In his superintendent’s report to the board, Schwiebert mentioned good news about bus safety.

He happily reported a recent annual bus inspection yielded no negative points. It was the first time in his 15 years as superintendent the inspection yielded a perfect equipment safety score.

“I’ve had times where there were six buses that were set aside because they can’t be run until you fix them,” Schwiebert said. “We did not have a single item.”

Schwiebert announced a Drug Free Coalition meeting was held recently and there are plans to have Stearns County District Attorney Janelle Kendall come and speak to the group in the future.

Schwiebert also brought up the Leadership Council sponsored by the Sartell Chamber of Commerce. Schwiebert said it would be a good thing if there were some way leadership could be developed among the teaching staff similar to the way in which leadership development is  given to city residents. Schwiebert said he would like to find more ways to nurture leadership among the staff, especially the young staff.

“The private world cultivates leaders and we, in the school sector, for the most part, let our leaders just kind of self-create,” Schwiebert said. “In fact, we sometimes put obstacles in front of them.”

Schwiebert also announced the Sartell Expo is to be held in the middle school sometime during the month of February. No specific date was given.

Board action

The board took the following actions:

• Approved a personnel omnibus resolution that approved various positions for hire at various compensation levels.

• Approved the revision of four policies with minor changes, revision and correction. Policy 506 deals with Student Discipline; 704 with Development and Maintenance of an Inventory of Fixed Assets and a Fixed Asset Accounting System; 701 with Fund Balances; and 807 with Health and Safety Policy.

• In a 5-1 vote approved the 2017–18 School District Calendar.

• Approved a revised contract with US Solar to use solar energy per a sustainable energy policy. The district will monitor closely its electrical and heating costs to sustainability.

• Approved course changes at the high school. The district will add four new classes – three in music and one in special education. Several courses were revised as to when they will be offered in order to better facilitate integration of subject matter between courses. American Literature and American History serve as examples.

• Authorized an addendum to an agreement with the state to facilitate additional provision to clinical-experience programs necessary for clinical-nursing students.