by Logan Gruber
operations@thenewsleaders.com
St. Cloud School District Superintendent Willie Jett, along with several board members, administration members, a teacher from St. Cloud Tech High School and the student-council president from Tech served as the panel during a discussion surrounding the proposed bond referendum on Oct. 12 at St. Cloud City Hall. An audience of about 90 people gathered to ask questions and hear answers.
Panelists, besides Jett, included the following: Marsha Baisch, assistant superintendent; Dennis Whipple, school-board chair; Bruce Hentges and Debbie Erickson, both school-board members ; Kevin Januszewski, executive director of business services; Bryan Brown, supervisor of building and grounds; Charlie Eisenreich, Technical High School principal; Adam Holm, Apollo High School principal; Kaydee Miller, Technical High School student-council president; and David Leapaldt, IIW-Minnesota Architect. The discussion was facilitated by Marty Moran, a volunteer and member of the committee working on the new Technical High School design. Also in the audience were school-board members Les Green and Bruce Mohs.
The question
The referendum will pose one question to voters on Nov. 3. If the vote is approved, the referendum would fund:
- Acquisition of land and construction of a new Tech High School on 33rd Street S. in St. Cloud, totaling $113.8 million.
- Renovation of Apollo High School and site upgrades, totaling $46.5 million.
- Upgrades for safe entrances and enhanced security at all schools in the district, totaling $2.5 million.
- Upgrades to technology infrastructure and devices for anytime/anywhere access to learning, totaling $4.2 million.
The proposed referendum would total $167 million.
Agenda
After introductions, a video was shown in favor of the referendum, followed by a presentation by Whipple and a question-and-answer session facilitated by Moran.
Moran reminded people it’s OK to be passionate and disagree with one another, but he requested no personal attacks.
Presentation
Whipple started his presentation by noting four task forces had been organized during the past 10 years to find an answer to the facilities issue. This solution, to propose a referendum which would fund the building of a new school as well as renovations at Apollo and upgrades to security and technology district-wide, was created in a task force and is supported by the school board.
“In 20 to 40 years, when education changes, these buildings will be able to change with it,” Whipple said of the proposed new Tech and renovated Apollo high schools.
Whipple noted the new designs would have collaborative learning areas, outdoor learning areas and be technology friendly.
He said the cost to bring the current Technical High School up to code, not to upgrade anything, would be $140 million, which could be spread over 10 years, while the $167 million for the proposed referendum would be spread over 20 years. It was also mentioned that, while the $140 million over 10 years would cost $14 million per year, the $167 million over 20 years would cost $11.5 million per year with interest, which would bring the total cost to $230 million.
Tech is currently 98 years old, while Apollo is 45 years old. The average building age in the district is 40.
Whipple also had a comparison of the referendum’s effect on tax rates and the polling place issue, which will both be mentioned further on in this article.
Questions, which were sent in over social media as well as on note cards from the audience, and their answers, will be summarized here.
Infrastructure
It was asked whether the $167 million included money to extend roadways and utilities out to the new Tech building. Januszewski said the total did include $2.5 million for water, sewer and road extensions into the property from two sides.
Future referendums
A resident wanted to know if any future referendums are planned if this one passes. Januszewski said none are planned for now, and he wouldn’t anticipate any if the referendum passes.
Administration complex
Several people were interested to know more about the new administration complex. Superintendent Jett said the new administration complex will also include Community Education, Adult Basic Education and Early Childhood Family Education and will cost about $25 million.
Brown said the money will be coming from the following sources: about $6 million from fire insurance from Roosevelt Elementary; about $2.3 million from the sale of Colts Academy to the City of St. Joseph; about $600,000 from the sale of Wilson Elementary; about $100,000 per year from ECFE fees, up from $50,000 per year now; additional money from the sale of the media services building, next to old Tech. He said the rest of the money will be made up in some way but did specify it would not be from a tax.
Tech’s current value
Januszewski said Tech is currently valued at around $5-$10 million. It was asked whether that money could be used to help lower taxes from the referendum, and he said yes, they could, but the district can’t sell the building until at least 2018 as the students will still need to use it until then.
The City of St. Cloud has agreed to help sell Tech if needed.
Campaign costs
Some wondered who paid for the “Vote Yes” campaign. Whipple said the campaign was made up of a volunteer group, and they raised money through individual donations. There were about 150 donors who supplied money to the “Vote Yes” campaign.
One school option
Jett said they wrestled for a long time with the idea of choosing to create one mega school instead of two high schools. He said the task force eventually settled on two schools as it provides more opportunities for students. For examples, there can be two sets of homecoming royalty, two student council presidents, two leads in the school play and more.
Budget
Leapaldt said they are very confident in the budget they have set, and there is a contingency within the budget.
Tech maintenance
A resident was interested to know how much it would cost to maintain old Tech if it isn’t able to sell but the referendum passes. The panel wasn’t able to provide an answer, but Moran said he would keep note of questions which weren’t answered and would try to provide answers on the district website.
Due to space constraints, this article will continue in next week’s St. Joseph Newsleader. Watch for Part 2 on Oct. 23.
This would be the layout of the new Technical High School on 33rd Street South in St. Cloud.
This would be the layout of the renovated Apollo High School. Note the classrooms in blue, science rooms in green, staff rooms in yellow, athletics in orange and arts and industrial rooms in purple.
This is Technical High School as it stands currently.
