Community input gathered for future facility needs

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The New York Mills School Board received a glimpse at an expansive long-term facilities maintenance that could help to guide the school district and identify future needs of the building.

During its regularly scheduled meeting last week, the NY Mills School Board received the results from a number of internal/staff and community listening sessions that have been held since May.

As part of an expansive listening sessions with community organizations, community members, school staff, students and administration, ICS uncovered a number of common themes about the positives of the NY Mills School District, as well as the challenges .

“You will see where there are some alignments in both the internal and external,” said Glenn Chiodo of ICS. “That really is what becomes the meaningful part of the listening sessions.”

In terms of the positive things for the school district, staff members highlighted good staff, student and learning environment; as well as great community that supports the school. The external common themes were quite similar in that staff support and engagement was the top response, while connections with the community and support of school activities were also noted on a number of responses. 

The challenges facing the school district were also quite similar with an overwhelming challenge identified by internal respondents was a lack of space and need to update the facilities. Meanwhile, the external answers highlighted a lack of space and specialized/diverse course offerings.

“We emphasized the word needs. This isn’t a wish list it is these are the things you think need to get repaired, replaced, updated,” said Lynn Dyer of ICS. “Have some kind of attention drawn to make it better for your students in the district, the staff that work here and the community as a whole.”

The top overall facility issues identified from the internal listening sessions was a lack of storage space for equipment and supplies; a SPED/EBD wing; more modern CTE, STEM and science spaces; elementary parent pick-up and parking; and the need for an improved sound system for the auditorium and sports center. All of the items received at least 30 responses from internal representatives. 

External concerns included an update to the sound system in the sports center and auditorium; small group breakout/collaboration space for students; modernized and additional space for career and technical, science and STEM; additional classroom space for the elementary and high school; more space for special education and more handicap parking spots that are closer to the entrances. All of these issues received at least 40 responses.

Between the two groups, the sound system in the sports center/auditorium was identified as the biggest issue facing NY Mills School with 99 total responses; while the need for SPED/EBD wing received 90 total responses; more CTE, STEM and science spaces also received 90 responses; more classroom space in the high school and elementary received 72 responses; and issues with pick-up, parking and handicap spots received 71 combined responses. 

The listening sessions also highlighted things like asking individuals what the school mission statement means to them, what do you want NY Mills School to be known for, advice for the decision makers through the planning process and the best way to communicate with individuals. The best way identified to communicate with people was email, while the Eagle newsletter and newspaper was tied for second. The school website and word of mouth were fourth and fifth. 

In addition to the listening sessions, ICE consultants walked through the school district and compared the current spaces in the school building with MDE guidelines. The guidelines found a number of the classrooms and spaces at the school only partially met MDE guidelines due to smaller spaces and storage needs, while the physical education/athletics/locker rooms, main office, art classrooms, staff lounge, library and auditorium/performing arts spaces were deemed as adequate. 

Christensen said representatives from ICS will present the findings with the various listening groups in the near future and will continue to seek input from the public as it puts together a strategic plan for the school district. 

In other news

• Acknowledged the following donations: $5,000 from Lakeview Trust Estate Law PLLC for the football scoreboard, $5,000 from Brunswick for Lego League, $600 from the New York Mills Lions Club to the Booster Club, $300 from Brunswick to the Booster Club and $828 from the NY Mills Lions Club to the bowling team. 

• Approved setting the preliminary tax levy at the maximum, which could decrease the total levy by 4.95 percent. The general fund could decrease by 4.86 percent, community service will increase by 3.41 percent and the debt service will decrease by 5.32 percent. The levy will be finalized as part of its December meeting. The Truth in Taxation Hearing will be held on December 15 at 6:01 p.m.

• Approved the hiring of a new head girls wrestling coach at NY Mills School based on participation numbers, which currently would warrant the hiring of a new coach at this time. 

• Approved the following appointments: Ron Zimmerman as kitchen, Angela Foley as part-time paraprofessional, Bridget Weller as parent educator for NY Mills ECFE, Virginia Olson as ECFE teaching position, Keagan Holtti as van driver, Angela Wright as fall play director and Dinee Dykhoff as long-term substitute. 

• Accepted the resignation of Rachel Lausten as paraprofessional. 

• Received the enrollment report, which showed the enrollment on the opening day of school was 836 students in prek-12th grade, which is down 35 students from last year. There are currently 47 students in kindergarten, 380 students in grades 1-6 and 359 students in grades 7-12. There are also 50 students in the preschool programs at NY Mills School. While enrollment is down a bit from last year, enrollment is still significantly higher than in 2015 when there were 767 students in prek-12.