Under-utilized schools, stagnant enrollment create opportunity to meet needs of students with special needs
by Jim Boyle
Editor
The Elk River Area School Board learned on March 25 that of the four elementary schools in Elk River, Meadowvale or Parker elementary schools would make the most sense to repurpose to serve specialized groups of students.
The types of programs the school district is considering for a repurposed facility include federal setting Level IV Behavior Programs like Journey, Focus and others for students with communicative disorders. They also are considering transition programs like the Compass program at the District 728 offices.
The Ivan Sand Community High School, the school district’s alternative learning center, is also being looked at as a component as well as alternatives to suspension programming.
Board members also heard more about the proposal to shift fifth graders to middle school in the center of the district. By repurposing an elementary school and creating 5-8 middle schools in Elk River, the school district can make good on its goal of improving building utilization and better service its growing population of special education students.
Not only does the school district know building utilization can increase significantly, there’s no signs that the public would be coming back in five years clamoring for a new grade school in Elk River. The elementary population in Elk River is expected to remain stagnant.
Superintendent Dan Bittman reported elementary school usage could go from 90% to 95%, and middle school usage could increase dramatically from 65% to 85%.
“That’s a nice way of saying that both Salk and VandenBerge will continue to decline in enrollment,” Bittman said. “You’ve heard this for seven years that those buildings are not occupied like they should be.”
The District 728 Board tasked the administration at its Oct. 23, 2023, work session to explore what repurposing an Elk River elementary school and moving the fifth grade population to the middle schools in the center of the district would look like. The direction came on the heels of guidance from the latest in a series of community and facilities task forces. To see the Star News report that followed the Oct. 23 meeting, visit: https://shorturl.at/jkpwz
District 728 administrators have been poring over topics like the age of their elementary buildings in Elk River, recent upgrades, building sizes, location to future enrollment growth, cost to repurpose and available funding sources to weigh the pros and cons of each option.
“After looking at all of those criteria, there are really only two schools that could be used or considered,” Bittman said.
Meadowvale, which was built in 1992, has between $4 million and $6 million in architectural and mechanical updates that will need to be completed and funded regardless of a repurposing decision, and it also provides the most space and options for different types of student programming. The district could use long term facility maintenance dollars to pay for the work without having to raise taxes due to an increasing tax base, Bittman said.
In terms of Parker, it’s the smallest school and would maintain the most capacity for future enrollment growth. Parker would also require the least amount of work to renovate, and would impact the fewest families. The district, however, would have limited access to long term facilities maintenance dollars because it was remodeled in recent years.
The district plans to send out information this week and solicit feedback through a survey to students, staff and families.
“Because it is spring break this week, we have extended the timeline for the survey (to April 15) so our staff can catch their breath,” Bittman said, noting a reminder of the survey will be sent upon their return to school.
The school district is also soliciting input at: ISD728.org/Facilities2024 by scrolling to the bottom of the page and clicking Let’s Chat.
If the board is interested in moving forward, the school district would hold a public hearing on July 17, which is required by law, and the board would be asked to make a final decision in August.
“If the School Board decided they want to move forward, nothing would happen the next school year,” Bittman said. “There would be an entire year of just planning and communicating, etc. The following year is when renovations would begin at whatever site was chosen. And students would be displaced from that site moving forward.”
The majority of students, if not all, students attending the new repurposed site would likely start in September of 2026.
The superintendent, however, noted the only way he recommend moving forward is if the School Board got fully behind it. He noted the board has been divisive in the past year.
“If this is something the board is not fully supportive of, I would say don’t do it,” he said. “What happens in districts that don’t have unified boards over big things like this, it creates further divide.
“This is not something for the faint of heart. This is something the board would have to decide. You can expect it to be difficult.”
March 25 presentation on repurposing, re-configuration at a glance
Findings over time
Facility Review and Planning Committees in 2015, 2019, 2022 have found:
•Continued growth in the south that would, eventually, outpace the new building and spaces created by the 2019 Bond.
•Stagnant growth in the center of the District, particularly Elk River.
•Additional needs for equitable resources, including but not limited to classroom space, activity areas and both required and needed classroom support for certain populations of students.
•The ever-growing and increasing needs of students requiring special education services.
Facilities Committee recommendations; Elk River Area School Board direction
Facility Review and Planning Committee Recommendations — May 22, 2023 ISD 728 School Board Meeting.
•The District should ensure all 728 schools have equitable facilities and appropriate grounds for the learners at each building.
•The District should evaluate and address all learning spaces to ensure equity, access and appropriateness for all learners.
•The District should continue to explore creative solutions for building utilization and for access to programming and facilities.
•The District should investigate the District alignment of a 5-8 change in the center of the district and the benefits that would bring to programming and for students.
Following the Sept. 25, and Oct. 23 work sessions in 2023, the Elk River Area School Board asked District 728 Administration to develop a proposal for the June 10, 2024 school board meeting, one to be discussed at the March 25, 2024 meeting.
To see Star News report that followed the Oct. 23 meeting, visit: https://shorturl.at/jkpwz
Key points considered while drafting proposal
•Student enrollment in the center of the District (Elk River schools) has been declining for many years and it is expensive and it is inefficient to operate buildings significantly under capacity.
•Currently, Salk and VandenBerge Middle Schools are significantly below their building capacity. Increasing the student attendance at those schools would increase efficiency.
•Even after an elementary school in the center of the District would be repurposed, the District would still be able to accommodate future student enrollment growth.
•Certain populations of students within ISD 728 need, deserve, and are required by law to have more specific and better programming, which require different spaces than what is currently available.
•Currently, students with special needs are being served throughout the District at many different sites, which makes it difficult to fund, staff, and provide adequate support for students.
•Residents, community members, families and the School Board have asked the District to maximize current facilities and to do everything possible and within its control before having to go back to the taxpayers and ask for additional funds. Building another or a different facility would create additional expense and place more of a burden on the taxpayer.
•Allows for K-8 District-wide magnet programming.
Repurposing one of four elementary schools in Elk River would be:
•The most cost effective option.
•consistent with what other school districts have done successfully.
•an effective way to provide more direct and better support for students who need it most.
•the most efficient way to utilize building spaces and provide better and more access to facilities and programming.
•done without negatively impacting taxpayers or having to ask
•voters to increase taxes.
•an opportunity to better address high class sizes that often occur
•with and in schools with low enrollment.
•consistent with what voters have asked the District to do.
5th grade transition to middle school like what was previously done in Rogers and Otsego
•Maximize space at Salk and VandenBerge Middle schools which have been under capacity.
•Transitioning 5th grade students in Elk River would then put our elementary schools under capacity.
•Consolidating elementary schools and better utilizing our middle schools is a more efficient use of our spaces.
•Repurposing an elementary school building would provide the appropriate facility resources to our special student populations using the most fiscally responsible options available.
•Middle and high school boundaries would be maintained for the foreseeable future.
Potential populations served by repurposed elementary school building
•Federal Setting IV Behavior Program (like the current Journey & Focus programs)
•Federal Setting IV Communicative Disorders Program
•Transition Programs (like the current COMPASS / ERHS programs)
•Alternative to Suspension
•Alternative Learning Center (Ivan Sand Community High School)
Tentative timeline
•March/Early April: Information and feedback survey sent to ISD 728 families
•June 10: Superintendent presents recommendation to the School Board
•July 17: Public hearing
•Aug. 12: School Board makes decision on recommendation
•November/December: Parent/staff Committee to discuss fifth grade programming and transition possibilities
•May/June 2025: Renovation begins
•Elk River students who would be in fifth grade in the fall of 2025 would begin their time at Salk or VandenBerge Middle in September of 2025.
•Repurposed site students would attend their new school beginning in September 2025.
•Renovations at the repurposed building would take
place during the 2025-2026 school year.
•The majority, if not all, students attending the new
repurposed site would likely start in September of
2026.
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