by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Details about a school-building bond referendum will likely emerge during the Sartell-St. Stephen School Board meeting, starting at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25 at the District Office Building.
The public is welcome to attend.
In an interview with the Sartell-St. Stephen Newsleader Jan. 19, Sartell-St. Stephen School District Superintendent Dr. Jeff Schwiebert said the amount of the bond issue has been estimated at between $100 million and $105 million.
At its Monday meeting, the school board is expected to set the bond amount, as well as a date for a referendum election – either Tuesday, May 24 or possibly Tuesday, May 31, Schwiebert said.
After months of study with the Community Schools Planning Committee, the recommendation to the board is to build a new high school and make space improvements in the other schools, with different grade configurations. The current high school would become a middle school with grades 6-8; the current Sartell Middle School would house grades 3-5, and the two elementary schools would accommodate children 4 years old through second-graders.
The goal, Schwiebert said, is to ensure “21st Century learning” can be achieved in all the buildings, a kind of learning that requires extremely flexible spaces for innovative learning methods, such as teamwork and hands-on projects.
In the post-World War II period, American public education focused mainly on preparing young people for the workplace, Schwiebert noted, but in the past few decades, with such sweeping changes in technology and world economies, the emphasis now must be on student collaboration, the ability to think on one’s feet and creativity inspired by innovative teaching-learning methods, he noted. That kind of teaching-learning, he noted, is virtually impossible to accomplish with 28-30 students in a classroom of 900 square feet, as in the current situation.
“We have a great teaching staff so let’s give them (teachers, students) every tool they can use,” he said.
Another reason for the need for building and new uses of space is a dramatic increase in student enrollments as Sartell became one of the fastest-growing cities in Minnesota. Currently, student enrollment is verging on 4,000. In just one year, enrollment in just fifth grade increased from 299 to 350. Overall, the enrollment increased by 75 students in the entire district from last year to this, but the increase in fifth-graders was remarkable, Schwiebert noted.
The school board is also expected to select a site for a new high school. Schwiebert said the school district owns 80 acres of property just to the north of Oak Ridge Elementary School. Another possible site is an area near Pinecone Road and Heritage Drive.
With the building and athletic fields, the site should ideally be about 100 acres in size, Schwiebert said.
