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October 28, 1999
Planning task force progresson agenda of Dist. 88 BoardBy ERIC SERRANO Journal Staff Writer NEW ULM -- The status of District 88's fledgling Long-range Planning Task Force will be a topic of discussion when the school board meets tonight. The 36-member task force, created by the board to examine district program and facilities needs into the next decade, has met twice. In the task force's Oct. 18 session, consultants from the Minneapolis firm Smiley, Glotter, Nyberg (SGN) presented their findings after a four-day visit. The visit included tours of each of the district's four school buildings and face-to-face meetings with nearly all teaching and administrative staff. Board Chair Mark Wiger will present a report on those findings tonight. While SGN officials looked at each of the district's facilities, they spent the most time at the middle school, questioning staff about what sorts of program and facility issues might best facilitate the transition from a junior high method of education delivery to a middle school approach, Superintendent Harold Remme said Middle School Principal Steven Weber said the extra time at his school makes sense in light of the facility's age. It was initially constructed in 1915, with additions and modifications in 1938 and 1955. "When the middle school building was build in 1915 the primary function of schools was to teach reading, writing, arithmetic and history," Weber said. In nearly every one of the succeeding decades since then, he said, schools have been tasked with more and more responsibilities -- particularly at the middle school level, ages 10-14. "This structure was built in 1915 addressing the issues of education then. This building was not designed with the middle school concept in mind nor the needs of this generation of student. We need to continue to ask the members of this community to look at a structure designed for early to mid-20th century educational needs and not the needs of the 21st century," Weber said. Remme said that while he concurs with Weber's assessment of the difficulty of merging the middle school philosophy with the current state of the middle school facility, he cautions others not to expect the district to focus solely on building a new school. "There are some who feel (the task force) may be looking to have a new school built," Remme said. "But SGN has been asked to provide us with two plans for the district's future needs in both programs and facilities. One of those will likely look at remodeling what we have at the middle school now. Or, we can look at a middle school in a new facility in either the present location or some other site. "It's important to keep an open mind (about the district's options)," Remme said. "Even though it seems like we're talking facilities first, people need to understand that we have to look at programs before we can look at facilities. We have to know what the program is going to look like first, and then look at what facility needs will best accomplish our program goals."
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