NEWPORT COUNCIL LENDS PARENTS SUPPORT WITH MARCH 17 RESOLUTION OPPOSING CLOSURE

They came together, drove on over, and stayed to speak. Appearing March 24 at the South Washington County School Board meeting in the District Service Center, parents who showed up to speak against the Newport Elementary closure filled the board meeting room on East Point Douglas Road. The week before, Newport’s City Council had lent its support to those against closure with an official resolution at the March 17 regular Council meeting, contained in the City Administrator’s Report.

“Resolution No. 2022-14 – Opposing the Closure of Newport Elementary School,” statement began, then shifting into formal protest: “WHEREAS, South Washington County School District # 833 has recently released a 10-year facility plan to address community growth and student needs, and “WHEREAS, the City of Newport is undergoing its most significant growth in decades, with 203 single- family and townhome construction starts within the past 4 years, and “WHEREAS, Newport Elementary, as a Title I school, has excelled at meeting the unique needs of Newport’s students being recognized as a “Beat the Odds” school by the Star Tribune in 2020, 2019, and 2018 for high academic performance in reading and math…NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Newport City Council opposes the closing and repurposing of Newport Elementary, and FURTHERMORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Newport City Council, on behalf of the citizens of Newport, strongly urges the School Board to commit to the long-term success of Newport Elementary.” With a full statement of the resolution elsewhere in this issue of the Journal and the Council on board as opposed to the action, it was into the March 24 School Board meeting.

“A few housekeeping things,” board chair Sharon Van Leer announced as things got underway at 7 p.m. “Everyone must have a seat. There is no standing. All children must be in a seat…also we have a capacity of 140 people, so therefore we will be monitoring the audience.” Instructing those present that signs had to be kept down to maintain the visual for those watching from home and acknowledging the land they were gathered on was that of the Mdewankanton Dakota (the latter action a regular board practice), it was into roll call and board business board business. Before long the long-range facilities plan that includes the proposed closure of Newport Elementary to become an early learning center, came up.

“So again, we will look at our 10-year plan, this is a 10-year plan, and it is one entire package,” ISD 833 assistant district superintendent Kristine Schaefer said as she presented on the plan as proposed. With 2025 the earliest that any proposed changes would take place, the summary blueprint, was as follows:

• Efficient use of current buidlings

• Closure of an elementary building for transformation into an early learning site

• Building of a centrally located elementary school

• Accommodation of early learning, special education, and community education programming

• Minimal changes to attendance boundaries

• least amount of disruption to families

• Adherence to a 10-year facility plan

• acknowledging the tax impact on property owners

• lay the ground work for future growth beyond 10 years, and

• A current projected cost for the above of $462 million, to be financed via a bond referendum.

Included in the plan details as well is the construction of a new Crestview Elementary School with 1,000 seats in a central location, all the students being kept together and the attendance boundary line moving with plans. Schaefer then introduced assistant facilities director Dan Hines, who talked about the challenges the district faced and how it proposed to go about solving them.

“So as we know looking out projection wise, we have several schools that are projected to be significantly overcapacity, but we also have several schools that are projected to stay significantly under capacity,” Hines said, calling this phenomenon “a double sided problem that we have to solve.”

To do so, Hines shared that the plan as proposed had been based on board-approved goals including a modernization of classroom space, making needed renovations, creation of learning spaces that supported college and career ready students, special education and early learning programs, and an alternative high school learning space, the last which would be addressed by plans to renovate the existing Crestview buidling. But there was more.

“So as of September 2021 through communication with the City of Newport we were aware of Bailey Meadows, which is part of our projections,” Hines said in response to a question on development from Katie Schwartz. “It was omitted from the development tour map in the fall simply because it was nearly built out. We did that with several developments in Woodbury and Cottage Grove as well.” Bailey Meadows was a 189-home development near the southwest corner of Woodbury, but had only brought six students into the Newport Elementary School, Hines said. While additional developments were talked about, there didn’t seem to be any official ones that the City of Newport had notified the district of, while some didn’t align with the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. “What we typically do with any city in our district is we will receive notification of their intent to have a development,” he said. “Generally this is when they’re already starting to talk contract with the developer. But we also use the 2040 Plan. With a demographer working in the district as of 2018, ISD 833 had worked with cities in the district to do a demographic report, called the Davis demographic report.

“What that report told us is resident students,” Hines said. “Those are students that live in a particular geographical area. They may go to our schools, and they may not.” The Davis demographic report, Hines said, also hadn’t accounted for student movement within the district, as from Liberty Ridge to Nuevas Fronteras Spanish Immersion School in St. Paul Park, as one example. Nuevas Fronteras had no attendance boundary, while other schools like Valley Crossing were artificially low, with an official 300 that was actually 600. With 80 students in the Newport boundary that didn’t attend Newport Elementary, meanwhile, the numbers projections at Newport had been inflated, Hines said.

“I don’t think any of that information is being used maliciously,” he said. “It’s just that if you didn’t have the context of mobility, you could never know that.” With Newport Elementary said to be in decline enrollment wise, the district was looking to cause the least disruption. One possibility, not official, was moving the Newport students en masse to Cottage Grove Elementary.

“And then as far as them moving them all together, can we move them all to Cottage Grove Elementary, so all the students could stay together, as opposed to splitting them up between three schools?” Katie Schwartz asked of attendance boundaries. The long-range facilities plan as stated calls for Newport Elementary students to be divided between Cottage Grove, Bailey, and Woodbury Elementary schools.

“Yes,” Hines said in response to Schwartz’ question. “Particularly with the students that are proposed to go to Woodbury Elementary. That’s a heck of a bus ride. It’s a heck of a bus ride now.” But while technically possible, there was also efficiency to consider, as the district was trying to show that it was as efficient as possible with taxpayer funds following approval of the operating levy.

“And so again, it’s only six students that are proposed to go to Bailey,” he said. “We can handle six students.” With another 30 proposed to go to Woodbury, official plans are still out, Schaefer and Hines to return April 21 seeking approval of the plan. In the meantime, there were $36,180,000 in bonds to consider to fund facility maintenance, with bond issue terms dependent in part on bond rating showing ability to repay.

With a motion by Katie Schwartz seconded by Simi Patnaik to approve a resolution of intent to issue bonds, the board voted unanimously to approve.

“Can you pay these off early?” Eric Tessmer asked of the bond issue prior to board voting.

“You can at the call date,” Ehlers representative Jodi Zesbaugh said of the opportunity eightyears distant as of the March meeting.

The next public school board meeting is April 21, 2022, starting at 6:30 p.m.

Facing closure to become an early learning center, Newport Elementary was the subject of much discussion at the March 24 School Board meeting for ISD 833. Photo by Joseph Back.

Gathering together before the meeting, the board and audience members joined in the Pledge of Allegiance. From left for the board were Louise Hinz, Eric Tessmer, Pat Driscoll, Simi Patnaik, Melinda Dols, Katie Schwartz, and Sharon Van Leer, with superintendent Julie Nielsen present as well.Image via SoWashCo Schools YouTube Channel.