School Board explains the need

To understand the process of creating a bond, board chairman Mr. Mark Sebring shared his knowledgable views on the bond. Sebring said, “The task force worked on it [referendum] for about four months, until the latter part of April. We had to have certain steps in place to present it to the state of Minnesota and the Department of Education, in order for it to be a viable referendum item on the ballot this fall.” For those curious as to what will happen if this referendum does not pass, Sebring said, “We will probably have to go back to the drawing board and figure out an approach relative to what do we do next.”

There are three very specific needs for the bond. School district superintendent Mr. Peter Grant said, “The bond referendum is made up of three main components. One is deferred maintenance, which is to address infrastructures of our school’s heating, ventilating, lighting and plumbing. The second part is our school’s safety and security. Specifically, our elementaries are our most vulnerable sites right now. The third part is overcrowding, which is going to address grades K-8, to try to create more space, balance population amongst the elementaries, which are at a low of about four hundred and fifty to a high of six hundred.” These improvements would work on replacing the outdated utilities in hopes of developing the growing schools.

Grant explained how this is in the best interest of the wellbeing of our educational facilities. Grant said, “The deferred maintenance is to bring all of our buildings, K-8, up to code or improve the mechanical systems, so that they can last another thirty- five years. There is no question about the security of our schools, which is really critical. It’s unfortunate that we have to spend a lot of money on that, but that’s the way society is.”