Value Added--District Education Facility
by Barry Venable and Pat Salstrand
On April 7 voters in the ROCORI School District will be asked to approve a 25 year bond proposal of no more than $29,990,000 to build a new ROCORI Middle School and make needed enhancements to other district facilities. The proposal is district-wide in scope and the outcome of the referendum will affect every child in the district. This is the seventh in a series of articles designed to help voters as they study the issues in support of making an informed decision.
Most of the focus of the referendum is on the consolidated middle school/high school campus the proposal will develop. Just as exciting, however, is what the proposal will do for the current middle school facility.
In a nutshell, the proposal will enable the demolition of the oldest areas—the 1926 and 1946 sections-- of the current middle school and retain the most modern and useful spaces. The preservation of part of the site provides a facility for district-wide education programs and continuing community usage. It also provides the district with a set of options for future uses of the site and facility.
The sections to be retained include the “granite wing,” the Commons, and the gym.
After renovation, the primary occupants of the building will be the ROCORI Community Education Department, which currently uses a small amount of space in the building, and the District Office, which is currently housed in temporary quarters behind the high school.
There will be several other options explored for the site, but the proposal retains the site with the idea of providing adequate, useable space primarily supporting the district’s educational mission, with the added benefit of increasing opportunities for direct community usage of the facility.
So, what are those community education programs and why are they important?
Currently, the ROCORI Community Education Department is comprised of ten different program areas. These programs are the icing on the educational cake, benefitting the larger community outside of traditional school-age education efforts. These programs allow the school district to open district facilities and expertise to the larger community, directly returning the investment of district taxpayers. They include activities and programs for the young and the old alike, such as Early Childhood Family Education, Adult Basic Education, Youth and Adult Enrichment and Education, School Age Child Care (ROCORI Kids), the Senior Center, and District Volunteer programs.
As the accompanying chart illustrates, almost 8,000 individuals within our communities benefit from Community Education programs. Currently, these activities only take place in the evening or weekends at the middle school when school is not in session. Converting the middle school to a district education center would allow for the expansion of current Community Education offerings and addition of new ones during day hours.
As a result of the renovation, the community education spaces, currently limited to two rooms and the Senior Center, would be expanded to include an early child classroom and resource center, an art classroom for Community Education classes, a general purpose classroom, and Adult Basic Education classroom with 4-6 computers, resource library and internet café, general storage areas for several district and Community Education programs, a small office area for AARP taxes and other uses, and facilities for Before and After School Age Child Care including ROCORI Kids and the St. Boniface users.
The excellent gym at the current middle school would be retained for use by district sports programs and community usage. It is currently one of the most requested spaces by groups outside of the district, including requests for noon hour basketball, cardio aerobic dance, yoga, tai chi, adult volleyball, open gym, and senior walking. The stage at the gym is often in use for dance classes, karate, exercise and exercise classes. It is envisioned that more of these usage requests could be accommodated in the future if the referendum passes.
Redeveloping the middle school as a District Education Facility will enable more community usage. The possible uses of the space are numerous and while no definitive plans have been made, the opportunity created by the referendum is significant. Some possible expanded uses of the space by community groups might include community band practices, Library, Maennerchor practice, Historical Society Research Center and Display area, job training seminars and job fairs, volleyball and basketball tournaments, professional office space rentals, craft sales, and garage sales. Additionally, the commons area can be utilized for larger community meetings, seminars and speaking events. If you have a group and no place to gather then a solution is at hand.
As part of the larger, well thought-out, practical and efficient referendum proposal, the redevelopment of the middle school provides real value to the district’s taxpayers. The demolition and renovation at the middle school facility will cost $2 million. If built separately, such a facility would cost around $9 million. The district gets to retain the best of the current facility at a value price, is enabled with opportunities to return more dividends directly to the taxpayer in the form of increased community usage, and pockets flexibility for future uses of the site. It makes good sense.
The writers are concerned parents of school-age children and co-chairs of the Build a New Middle School Referendum Committee.
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