A reluctance to make a snap move put a possible school upgrade on hold, at least temporarily.
The reluctance surrounds the idea of upgrading Riverside Elementary's front office space and entryway to add more private instructional space.
It's part of a larger effort to address the district's dwindling space. As enrollment is projected to increase, and nearly every school is at space capacity, district leaders are brainstorming what to do.
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Most vital are Riverside and Lowell Elementary, where closets are being used as instructional space.
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Most vital are Riverside and Lowell Elementary, where closets are being used as instructional space and storage or meeting room is non-existent.
At a Brainerd School Board meeting Monday, half of the group said they thought the administration's recommendation to move forward with upgrading Riverside without first looking deeper at Lowell, could be premature.
"I don't think (upgrading Riverside) would be criticized as a bad decision. I'm just uneasy if it's the best decision," said School Board member Chris Robinson. "It feels like we've been making 'not bad' decisions for a long time. Just not always the 'best' decision."
The district's Facilities Committee recently recommended the $220,000 upgrade to Riverside. It included a 1,400-square-foot addition to the front of the current office. It also creates space to allow for individual instructional areas. There would also be a safe and secure entry point.
Following a meeting between several district principals Monday and the superintendent, the administrative group agreed the board should also add four permanent modular units for four additional classrooms at Riverside, which would cost an additional $910,000.
School Board Chair Sue Kern said she was in favor of the recommendation in order to avoid the potential for class sizes getting larger.
School Board member Ruth Nelson agreed, noting she's heard how cramped the elementary schools are.
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"We won't solve all of our problems (with the addition), but it will give us some time," she said. "I don't want to lose prospective students because they hear of cramped conditions here."
School Board member Tom Haglin said the board is only addressing part of the issue with the recommendation.
"It adds capacity, but I'm not hearing anything about what it's doing for Lowell," he said.
Haglin said the district needs to look deeper into the possibilities of additions, implications and needs at both schools before making any decisions.
"It's not complete in my mind," he said of the plan.
Nelson said some of the stress at Lowell can be alleviated with the Riverside addition, whether it be through moving the AGATE program there or not. The AGATE Academy serves grades 1-4 with a compacted, differentiated curriculum with learning at a faster pace.
A motion at the board meeting to approve both adding four classrooms at Riverside and upgrading the school's front office space and entryway, which was the administration's recommendation, failed in a 3-3 vote.
Voting against the motion where Robinson, Haglin and Reed Campbell.
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Superintendent Klint Willert will lead a more comprehensive examination of Lowell and the potential implication with parking and other impacts in a possible addition.
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Instead, Superintendent Klint Willert will lead a more comprehensive examination of Lowell and the potential implication with parking and other impacts in a possible addition.
Willert will bring the information back to the board at a future school board meeting for consideration.
The district is currently pursuing an in-depth study on all of its facilities, which would list priorities in regard to fixing issues. That is still in the works.
In other school board news:
Approved a policy revision that will allow EpiPens, used in emergency treatment of allergic reactions, to be on-hand in schools for emergency situations. Currently, students who have allergies can keep EpiPens in the nurse's office.
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School nurses reported two emergency situations this year where they would have used EpiPens for students who didn't have them, said Cori Reynolds, Community Education director. Instead, they had to use EpiPens from other student supplies and replace them later.
Two people spoke in favor of this move during community forum.
The EpiPens will be on the shelves as soon as possible, Willert said. The district is looking into sources now for the medication, including through donations.
Approved revisions to the school calendar for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 school years.
The biggest alteration in the 2015-16 school calendar is in regard to an eight-hour float day teachers use for furthering education. Instead of the current policy, which usually sends teachers off-site to gain education all eight hours at a time, the new policy would allow the hours to be split in half and used for similar groups to focus on curriculum work together.
In the 2016-17 school calendar, the alterations would give students a day off on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and also names another snow day.
Haglin said he was concerned giving students the day off on Martin Luther King Jr. Day would in return "loose the importance and significance" to some students who might then view it as "just another day off."
Timothy Murtha, director of Teaching and Learning for the district, said the day is the only federal holiday that asks people to "think about what we have learned. It challenges us to think about where we haven't fully lived up to the promise of the Constitution."
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Murtha said giving the day off will promote teachers to talk about the issues on more than just one day of the year.
Approved the second reading of several policies, including policy implementation, administrator code of ethics, mandated reporting, and the superintendent contract, duties and evaluation procedure.
Approved the first reading of several tweaks to policies, including topics like student fundraising, curriculum development and testing accommodations and modifications.
Approved retiring a few old board policies that have been replaced or are no longer relevant. The old policies have already been replaced with newer ones.
Accepted the following retirements: Paula Barrer, special education, BHS; Joanne Comstock, first grade, Harrison; Wendy DeGeest, ECSE Birth-3, WESB; Cathy Dens, PT, Co-op; Beverlee Dunphy, kindergarten, Baxter; Sherry Frisk, second grade, Garfield; Kathy Ogden, autism consultant, co-op; Keith Olson, OT, Co-op; Diane Swanson, kindergarten, Riverside; Theresa Thomas, kindergarten, Riverside; Julie Tetreault, Title 1, Harrison; Sue Thurlow, media specialist, BHS; Karen Vogt, sixth grade, Forestview; Joanne Vukelich, EC Central Intake, Co-op; Lois Zauhar, sixth grade, Forestview; Sue Ziegler, Lit collaborative and interventions, Baxter; Sharon Siekas, secretary, district office; Jerrald Shogren, custodian, Riverside.
Accepted the following resignations: Elizabeth Wright, speech language pathologist, co-op; Trisha Peterson, EA.
Accepted the following new employees: Darwyn Beach, custodian, Lincoln/WESB, transfer replacement; Lindsay Lakin, EA, WESB, transfer replacement; Kelli McConville, EA, Riverside, resignation replacement; Stacy O'Connell, EA, Lowell, resignation replacement; Denise Sweet, EA, Forestview, resignation replacement.
Accepted about $4,422 in gifts and grants to the district.
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Went into closed session for labor group contract negotiations strategy discussion.
JESSIE PERRINE may be reached at jessie.perrine@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5859. Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/brainerdnews .
