NB won't rush school opening

By Barbara Brown
After lengthy discussion, the North Branch School Board decided to stay with its original target date to open the new elementary school, funded by a referendum that passed in November.
The board had asked its engineering and architecture consultants to work out two timelines it could consider for the construction process.
One timeline would adhere to the original Sept. 2005 opening date and the second would explore the option of opening the school in Sept. 2004.
After a lot of discussion, the board decided that the safety, quality and thoroughness with which the new school would be built outweighs savings that would be incurred if the school opened early.
One of the major sticking points during the discussion was a new building code that requires testing and approval of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems before an occupancy permit would be issued.
In the 2004 opening timeline, that testing most probably would not be completed before the new school year, forcing the students who would attend that school to start very late in the year.
The 2004 opening timeline also cut the time for different steps in the process, sometimes down to just weeks in the case of bidding the job, thereby reducing the amount of time the district would have for any incidents that might come up along the way.
Board member Donna Setter said she could understand parents wanting to save about $400,000 in rental charges the district is paying for additional space until the new building opens, but she could not justify a very late start to school or possibly short-changing students, staff and future residents if shortening the process resulted in additional problems.
ìIt doesnít make sense to me to build a brand new, state-of-the-art elementary school and cheat the move-in process.î
The new building is planned to be about 135,000 square feet.
The next step is for the board planning committee to agree on design needs and finalize plans.
The board agreed to the 2005 opening timeline, which puts the start of construction in September and completion in June 2005. The new school is scheduled to open Sept. 5, 2005.
Also at the meeting, the board appointed Mary Jo Ahlgren as chairman since former chairman Rick Olseen was elected county commissioner. Kim Salo will remain vice chairman and Setter will remain treasurer. Kirby Ekstrom will be the boardís clerk.
The board retained its pay at $30 per meeting and $100 per all-day meeting. The chairman receives $300 and the clerk and treasurer receive $100.
The board also agreed that the second Thursday of the month would be the regular meeting and the fourth Thursday would be a work session, if needed.
The four people who applied for the vacant post on the board, Donna Hubbard, Rebecca Post, Dan C. Johnson and Roger Keller, will be interviewed starting at 7 p.m Jan. 14 at the Main Street School. The interviews are open to the public.

Top of Page

©ECM Post Review

6448 Main Street
North Branch, MN 55056
Telephone: 651-674-7025
Fax: 651-674-7026
E-mail: editor.postreview@ecm-inc.com