|
 |
Triton
School Board
Approves First Step in
Closing
West
Concord
Building
By Terry Campbell
In a special meeting last Tuesday evening the Triton School
board approved by a six to one vote to approve the phase one
of the building project and submission of the review and
comment to the Minnesota Department of Education. There were
twenty-three visitors at the 5pm meeting.
The plan calls for an addition on the west end of the High
School with ten classrooms, a science lab and a computer
room along with the administrative offices, hallways,
restrooms and maintenance rooms. The 19,710 square foot
single story addition is estimated to cost $4.148 million
and would be financed with a 5.4% interest loan amortized
over twenty years. The payments would be $350,000 annually
and will come in part from the capitol savings from closing
the West Concord building
and part from a tax levy. The state allows the district to
levy a tax, which could generate up to $180,000 yearly
without a vote. There is no plan at this time of what will
be done with the West Concord building.
School board member Dave Andrews addressed the rest of the
board with his concerns about the project. His main
contention was that the issue had been brought forward in
the last couple weeks and the board was making a decision in
haste without time to look it over or time for public input.
“The speed with which this is proposed is alarming, it is a
major decision that affects a long term situation, and is
made in a short amount of time,” Andrews stated.
Andrews also asked if many in the district were aware of
what was being discussed. As of the meeting on September 2nd,
there had been no coverage of the issue or the upcoming vote
in the Dodge Center Star Record, a newspaper, which is the
official newspaper of Triton Schools.
He went on to say that in his fifteen years on the
board never had a decision been proposed in this way. He
felt that the plan should stand on it’s own merit if it was
a good plan, and the community should be aware of it.
Duane Bartell responded, “We are not trying to do anything
sneaky or unethical.” Bartell commented on the fact that the
Dodge Center Star Record had not printed anything on the
issue saying, “ the school doesn’t tell the newspaper what
to write.” There were some who believed that the school
board needed to hold a public hearing before deciding to
close a building, but since this vote was to submit a review
and comment to the state, a public hearing would be held at
a later date.
Andrews pointed out that the closing of the Middle School
building in West Concord will overcrowd the sixth, seventh
and eighth graders by moving them from a building with
60,000 square feet to a unit with less than 20,000 square
feet while eliminating their gym, media center and
cafeteria. “Do you plan a building around the educational
needs of the students,” he asked, “or do we build a building
and try to fit the kids needs into it?” Bartel responded by
saying, “We don’t teach kids in the gym.” Furthermore Bartel
said, “I went to school in West Concord
and I have talked to people over there and I don’t find the
opposition to this.”
The board plans to address the space issue by
proposing a new bond as early as next year to add the extra
space. Board member Dan Welsh said he wished the district
had the money to complete phase 2 right now, but they didn’t
and it may be two or as long as ten years before the public
would pass a bond referendum to authorize the expenditure.
Andrews stated that the kids would suffer from being crowded
into a smaller space and that the staff had not had enough
time to address the change. The response from the principals
was, “We can make it work,” and that did not give him
confidence that it was the right thing to do. Until the
district can pass a building referendum there could be a lot
of pain with the one site. Andrews asked if the All
Day/Every Day Kindergarten would be eliminated if the space
became too crowded.
Superintendent Kelly explained that the middle school would
be run the same as before but that the lunch schedule would
be extended an extra 15 minutes each day. Some of the
classrooms were empty when those teachers were commuting to
the West Concord site so classrooms would be utilized more
efficiently. The 1995 building bond would be retired in 2016
and that would allow for funds for more building. There are
sixty-six acres in the Dodge
Center
school property and that allows for a capacity of about
fifteen hundred students.
The board voted at 6:45pm to approve the plan and send it to
the state for review and comment. Only board member Andrews
voted against the proposal. A public hearing will be
scheduled in December after the state approves the plan.
|
Welcome to News-Enterprise on the Web!
For questions or comments
 |
