by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Plans for the new Sartell-St. Stephen High School are well on the way, along with other district improvements, and district officials want to share the latest developments with the public.
A public information meeting, along with a question-answer session, is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7, at Sartell High School. The first information meeting was also held at the high school on Nov. 30. For information from those meetings, see the Dec. 16 Sartell Newsleader.
Presiding over the Dec. 7 meeting will be Sartell-St. Stephen School District Superintendent Jeff Schwiebert and several other school administrators. They will present details about the District Facilities Plan, as well as background about how it was developed, details about the construction plans and a first look – via artist’s conception – of what the new high school will look like.
Sartell voters approved a school-bond referendum May 24 in the amount of $105.8 million by a close vote of 2,281 to 2,034 in spite of the bond issue failing by a 2-to-1 margin in St. Stephen and the townships of Brockway and St. Wendel.
The bond’s approval made possible a new high school to be built near the Oak Ridge Elementary School north of Sartell. That school will cost about $90 million.
In addition, the bond money allows for existing schools to be improved and altered for different grade configurations, with the current high school becoming a middle school, grades 5-8. The existing middle school will house grades 3-5. The two current elementary schools will accommodate pre-K through grade 2.
The $105.8 million school bond will be paid back over a 25-year period.
The new high school is expected to be ready for students starting in 2019.
Another necessary step is to prepare an operating levy for the schools, expected to bring in up to $100,000 per year.
