Minot—Kicking off the new year, the School Board for Minot Public Schools (MPS) discussed plans for the Realignment Project on Thursday, Jan. 6, with hopes to complete schematics within 10 days and to have a name for the new high school by April 1. [Mtg Agenda]
“The bond issue was an incredible amount of work. Now our real work begins with designing, building, getting network done,” said MPS Superintendent Mark Vollmer.
“The bond issue was an incredible amount of work. Now our real work begins with designing, building, getting network done.”
Mark Vollmer, MPS Superintendent
RSP & Associates based in Kansas will perform an Attendance Area Evaluation to help establish new district attendance lines for the students.
By August of 2024, Vollmer said he plans to see the realignment project completed, gaining one new high school, and repurposing the Central Campus building to be a middle school. The result will allow Minot to have two comprehensive high schools and three middle schools in total.
“It is an aggressive timeline, but it is an important timeline for a multitude of reasons,” explained Vollmer. Once schematics are finished within 10 days, design, development, reconfiguration, construction drawings, and eventually the building process will follow.
“I would hope by April 1 we can provide a name for the new high school, and then by May 1 things like... school colors, and the mascot can be chosen.” Vollmer
As the process above unfolds, Vollmer stated, “I would hope by April 1 we can provide a name for the new high school, and then by May 1 things like... school colors, and the mascot can be chosen.”
Vollmer continued to share his hopes for establishing freshmen athletics teams by next year, “so that students can begin to identify with the high school they will be attending.”
During the 2023-2024 school year, the fate of Central Campus will be decided (including name, which high school students will attend afterwards, and so forth), followed by teacher assignments at all schools during that Spring.
Mike Gessner of the board asked about the costs to run the new facilities, which Vollmer responded, “So, those efficiency discussions will be coming. I said they are going to be tough discussions in some ways, but they’re good discussions because they’re leading us into an environment where we will be no longer so terribly overcrowded in our schools, and we’ll be moving to a delivery system that’s really good for kids at the secondary level.”
President Jim Rostad promised that there will be, “many [board] retreats over the next couple of years,” that is, opportunities for the public to discuss issues and make recommendations, which will then be brought back to the board for final decisions.
The next board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 3, at 4:00 p.m. in the MPS administrative building on the East side of Central Campus.
