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Outdoor Facilities Task Force working toward best solution [UPDATED]
Published 9:39am Friday, February 17, 2012 Updated 11:40am Friday, February 17, 2012The Task Force continued to work diligently this past week on options for our grounds. There are two key factors to the plan that I will discuss in this column — the project budget and payment for the project.
The project budget
RA Morton construction managers provided the committee with a spreadsheet that worked through the project on a site-by-site basis. The main goal will be to get quality facilities for a reasonable price to present to the community for approval.
The Task Force used the model of good, better, best for each item. The total for the “good” category for Cleveland, Roosevelt and Kennedy came in at $5.1 million – all the way up to $9.2 million for the “best” option. Clearly, the Task Force and School Board will be looking much closer at the “good” option rather than the “best”. The committee’s homework assignment was to come to this week’s meeting with a reasonable proposal for their specific area.
How would this
project be paid for?
Currently, the bonds for the Roosevelt science wing addition – that was built in 1994 – will expire in 2014. Each year, taxpayers are taxed for the payment of these bonds. The payment is $500,000 per year for 20 years and is equal to about $30 per year on a $100,000 home. If an outdoor facility proposal were approved by the School Board, it would cost about $24 per year on a $100,000 home. A new bond would, more than likely, cost less money per year for fewer years than the existing (soon-to-expire) 1994 bond. In essence, taxes would go down $6 per year on a $100,000 home from what is currently being paid if a new bond referendum replaced the expired one.
Congratulations to
math contest contestant
CLC Math Contest Congratulations to Allen Nelson for earning third place and All-Conference honors in the recent math contest and to Keianna Vogel for receiving an Honorable Mention All-Conference honor.
AAA
Congratulations to Mariah Monke and Dominic Jones for being selected as the 2011-12 Triple A winners for Fergus Falls High School. Academics, Arts and Athletics are the three areas of focus. These students competed against seniors in all 16, Section 8AA schools – with Jones finishing second and Monke third.
Dominic Jones is a three-sport athlete for the Otters. He participates in soccer, swimming and track and field. In the Fine Arts area, he is active in choir, orchestra, and band. Dominic hopes to attend North Dakota State University and major in Mechanical Engineering.
Mariah Monke is a three-sport athlete for the Otters. She participates in volleyball, basketball, and softball and is a choir member. She will attend the University of Wisconsin Green Bay on a scholarship to play Division 1 basketball. Mariah will major in education and mathematics.
Spelling Bee
Thirty-eight top spellers in grades 6-8, based on a written test, competed in the annual District 544 Spelling Bee contest on Jan. 31. Congratulations to Jenn Kaminski-Horak, who took to honors, after 12 rounds and spelling “laconic” correctly. Alice Schindler placed second with Gabe Enderle and Kara Anderson finishing in a tie for 3rd place.
Jenn and Alice will go on to compete at the Region IV Spelling Bee contest on Tuesday, Feb. 21 at the Bigwood Convention Center. The top five spellers from Region IV will advance to the Multi-Region State Spelling Bee at the Bigwood on Thursday, March 1. The winner of that Bee will participate in the National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC later this year.
Thank you to Jen Thielke, Middle School Academics Challenge coordinator, for organizing the event and to the following workers: Jon Harris, head judge; Roy Anderson, reader; Collette Cox, word judge and tape recorder; and Becky Kantrud, position and records judge.
