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School seeks honorary name BRAINERD SCHOOL BOARD Staff Writer The Forestview Middle School School Forest (try saying that three times out loud) has an identity crisis, if not a repetitious official name.
So the school forest committee is considering renaming the school forest in honor of someone, much like Don Adamson Field at Brainerd High School.
Board member Kent Montgomery brought up the issue at Wednesday's school board building committee meeting. He asked the committee to recommend that the school board give the school forest committee the authority to rename the school forest. The committee made that recommendation.
The committee did not discuss which person the school forest committee is considering naming the school forest after. Brainerd Superintendent Jerry Walseth said it will be up to the school forest committee to make that announcement.
In other committee action, the committee recommended that the school board authorize school administration to work with the city of Brainerd to explore changing the road in front of Riverside Elementary School into a one-way street. Earl Wolleat, director of buildings and grounds, said the roadway is unsafe for students in the mornings because parents are dropping students off and many are walking between the school buses and other cars to go into the school. Afternoons aren't as much of a problem because Riverside staff members escort students to their parents' vehicles after school, he said.
The committee discussed petitioning the city to close a portion or all of Third Street NW so the district could create its own controlled access in front of the school. The committee asked school staffers to discuss the issue with the two neighboring businesses that would be affected.
Wolleat provided the committee with an update on the Wind Energy Project. Fourteen school districts, including Brainerd, are working with Johnson Controls, an international energy service company, to build 14 wind turbines in southwestern Minnesota and sell the energy generated each year to local utilities. The school districts are hoping to take advantage of low-interest Clean Renewable Energy Bonds to pay for the entire project, estimated to cost about $3 million per district.
Wolleat said a steering committee has been formed and the committee is in the process of creating a joint powers agreement. He said the 14 districts will purchase property in the Buffalo Ridge area to build the 14 windmills, providing 28 megawatts of power, or 2 megawatts per district, that will be sold to a power distributor. The district should earn at least $25,000 a year for the length of the bond, which will be no longer than 16 years, and then once the bond is paid off the district stands to earn about $275,000 to $325,000 per year, said Wolleat.
The board discussed its facility use policy at Forestview. Brainerd Community Education Director Todd Lyscio asked the committee members for direction on whether the district would allow a sportsmen's show to rent the Forestview gymnasium. The district has a zero tolerance policy toward weapons on school property but Lyscio asked committee members whether a sportsmen's show would be an acceptable use, particularly if there were guns or other weapons there. Lyscio said he would be uncomfortable to enter into such a rental contract without having a discussion about the issue at the school board level.
Montgomery noted that firearms safety training and archery courses are conducted at Forestview so there are some similar uses that exist at the school.
Walseth said there are two issues at hand, what kind of message would the district be sending out to the community if it were to allow weapons at the school building but then the other issue is that the school is located in a community that supports hunting.
"It would definitely send the wrong message to the community if we hosted this in our facility," said board member Bob Nystrom.
"My gut instinct says no, as much as I support sportsmen," added board member Ruth Gmeinder. "We have a zero tolerance policy here."
Gmeinder said her opinion might be different if there weren't facilities in the community that could host sportsmen's shows, like the Brainerd Area Civic Center and Brainerd Armory.
The school district finance committee will meet at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. Agenda items include the current year budget revision, a fund-raising update from Todd Selk, Northern Pines contracts and a joint power agreement with the city of Baxter.
JODIE TWEED can be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.
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