BOARD WORK SESSION - July 19, 2012
A board work session of the School Board of Independent School District No. 518, Worthington, Minnesota, was held at the District Administration Building, 1117 Marine Avenue, Worthington, Minnesota on July 19, 2012, at 7:00 a.m.
The following were present: BOARD MEMBERS - Lori Dudley, Stephen Schnieder, Joel Lorenz, Linden Olson, Brad Shaffer, Mark Shepherd, Scott Rosenberg
ADMINISTRATORS - John Landgaard, Superintendent, Absent- Dave Skog, Director of Management Services
The focus of the work session was to review and discuss additional information concerning the need to address future building space needs due to increasing enrollment.
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The Board reviewed the Worthington School's facility options evaluation. Listed areas to address and extracurricular will be looked at by the city, school and college with a meeting to come. Mr. Landgaard covered the timelines considerations for planning, referendum and construction and the outcomes of referendum scenarios.
Mr. Landgaard addressed responses to board questions such as Operating costs for a new facility, adding a floor level at the High School, and a new auditorium for 1,000 seats.
Potential staffing costs for a new High School was estimated at $613,000 plus building operations costs.
The board reviewed other options to address the enrollment numbers such as year round school option, block schedule/zero hour and eliminate Middle School philosophy, the expectation as of goals and needs i.e. specialty areas, transportation, projected community growth, etc. and goals based on need and long-term vision for the school district/community.
Mr. Landgaard presented the enrollment projections which are showing a significant increase.
The board discussed where we go from here and the idea of hiring an independent consultant to do a comprehensive review so the board can get an outside view of options available. The board talked about the issues the school District is facing on space with the Special Education aspect, ELL, and the technology used. Discussed limiting class offerings to save space.
The board agreed to educate the public slowly as to why there is a need for more building space. Discussed the idea of what motivates the public and how to educate the public about all options before going for a building referendum. The District also needs to make the public aware of what's going to happen if a new building isn't addressed.
It was decided the board would send Mr. Landgaard their ideas on what they want the consultants to address in their presentations to the board and the Operations committee will whittle them down to about 3 consultants for the board members to consider.
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A request was made for the board and administration to talk with the staff about the current status of the District and what is currently going on to address these issues.
Work session adjourned at 8:21 a.m.
Lori Dudley, Clerk
Lisa Ahrenstorff, Deputy Clerk
