|
Our invocation was offered by Wally C. Our guests included Assistant District Governor Blake Crosby, Past District Governor Keith Brokke and his wife Lynne, and two student guests from the college, Owen Fisher and Ben Monson. Both are sophomores and play baseball, with Owen from Vancouver, Canada and Ben from Duluth. They are planning to attend the University of Wisconsin, River Falls, next year to play baseball, Owen as a catcher and Ben in the outfield. Club members were given the opportunity to sell Lucky Duck Derby tickets early; if you want tickets to sell or flyers to put up, see Ken H. Blake Crosby told us about an opportunity to sell barbecue ribs as a fundraiser and, with Keith Brokke, also talked about the upcoming District Conference at the Fargo Ramada on April 11-13. The theme is "Healthy Minds, Healthy Environment," with a lot of great speakers scheduled and plenty of time for good fellowship with Rotarians throughout the District. There will be a report from Mike McGovern, who currently serves as chair of Rotary International's worldwide PolioPlus Committee and is from Maine. We were told that we have now gone 22 weeks without a wild-polio case being reported, needing three years under our belt before the world is certified polio free. On the environmental side, Blake shared an interesting fact, specifically that there are 35 billion plastic bottles disposed of every year in the U.S. and only 12% of them are recycled. The Recital for a Cause being held on the evening of the 11th, will feature young performers from our region entertaining us with their talents and is free to all conference registrants. If you are thinking of registering, do so before the end of today, as the registration cost will increase after today. While the prior week was long on brags and fines, not so much on the 20th. Mary P. talked about attending her grandson's baptism and a granddaughter turning two, while Blake thanked us for our warm welcome. Dean Monke then introduced Superintendent of Schools Jeff Drake, who talked to us about the bond referendum being held on May 14, 2024, to build a new school for those in third through fifth grades. The District has acquired 29 acres next to Hilltop Chruch and across from the Prairie Wetlands and, if the referendum passes, will locate a 102,000 square foot facility on the site and also middle school soccer and baseball fields. (As a comparison, Lincoln School, or the old Target, contains 89,000 square feet.) The cost of the project is $54,820 million, and the bond proposed would be paid off over 22 years at an estimated interest rate of 5%. The site is within the city limits and can be connected to city utilities. One of the benefits of the location is its proximity to the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center, with U.S. Fish and Wildlife just having announced it will be filling 1½ staffing positions for it, and four very passionate fourth and fifth grade teachers wanting to continue holding outdoor learning classes at the site. There probably won't be a left hand turn off of 210 to the school as that would add a one-million-dollar cost to the project. Before arriving at the conclusion that a new school was needed, the School District first went through a strategic planning process, placing facility needs after all other considerations. A facilities committee of 20 individuals then went to work and the resulting recommendation for the school has been reviewed and approved by the Minnesota Department of Education. The students and community will benefit in many ways, including state-of-the-art safety measures, areas designated for environmental science, enhancing the partnership with U.S. Fish and Wildlife, eliminating the need to have music students travel for lessons, promoting STEM learning, providing additional green spaces, allowing for both a dedicated gym and student common area, better parking, etc. We were told that if the referendum passes, it will take about three years from passage to have the school and grounds ready for use. The last brand-new school in Fergus Falls was bult in 1968 and right now the average age per square foot of building space being used in the District is 45 years. Statewide, we rank 464 out of 508 in state funding per student and 359 out of 508 in capital expenditures. If voters approve the referendum, kindergarten students would attend Lincoln School once the new school is built. McKinley and Adams, built in the late 1930's, would be repurposed and sold, possibly to be used for childcare, housing or assisted living, as a youth center and/or a family resource center. Jeff acknowledged the labor shortage projected for Fergus Falls over the next 10 years and that enrollment is projected to decrease slightly but said that to attract people to our community we need good schools, and this proposal is intended to address that. He showed us how workforce needs have changed since 1938, when the top three ranked needs were farmers, farm workers, and clerical, with teachers ranked sixth, while now the top needs are almost all in analytical fields -- artificial intelligence, data scientists and analysts, healthcare professionals, cybersecurity experts, software developers, renewable energy technicians and environmental scientists. The financial impact of the referendum for a person owing a $250,000 home would be about $100 a year or a little over $8 a month or 27 cents a day; for a business in property worth $500,000, it would be $454 a year; and for a $500,000 seasonal dwelling it would work out to about $20 per month. The formula for ag land is a bit complicated because there is a state subsidy (at 70%) involved; we were told if the farnland had a value of $5,000 per acre, the annual tax would be about 44 cents per acre times the number of acres owned. The cost of making necessary improvements to existing buildings if the referendum is not passed, without making them 21st century learning facilities, was estimated at $15 to $17 million in 2021. We were also told that next year McKinley and Adams will only have first through third grade classrooms. |
.png)
