2003 August Newsletter - Laserfiche WebLink

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Homework Being Done to Prepare For a New Hugo Elementary School In the upcoming November 4,2003 general elec- dance boundaries a number of times to move kids tion,residents of the White Bear Lake Area out of the Hugo attendance area to other schools School District#624 will likely be voting on the in the district." Despite these moves,the current y issuance of bonds to build a new elementary school will be beyond capacity next year. Hugo school in Hugo. The school board has been mon- City Council Member Chuck Haas,who has been itoring and studying this issue for quite some involved in the cooperative effort working on the time, and Superintendent Ted Blaesing expects ischool plan,adds, "What we have now is finan- that at their September meeting they will pass a cially inefficient and does not build community." formal resolution to place this question before the voters. If approved,the new school would open Haas points out that three key factors make the in the fall of 2006. proposed new school a cost-efficient opportunity. The first is the donation from the City of Hugo to A concept plan for the proposed new elementary the school district of the land for the school. school,prepared at the request of local developers "The City negotiated this land as part of the Len Pratt and Jim Peterson,was endorsed by the development process and is now offering the Hugo City Council in January 2002. Since then, school district a parcel worth$2.1 million," notes there has been a cooperative effort between the Haas. The second key factor is that appropriate City,the school district,the developers,and other transportation corridors already exist because interested residents and groups to work out the E long-term planning in Hugo has recognized this A series of public details and eventually bring the issue to the vot- as a school site. Finally,the roads and infrastruc- ers. Current plans call for a K-5 elementary ture surrounding the site will be paid for by the meetings will be school with a capacity of 750 students,as well as developers,offering a significant cost savings for a gymnasium,playground,and ball fields. The the school district. held by the White site is 30 acres located at the juncture of the new Waters Edge North development(Pulte Homes) Hugo Mayor Fran Miron notes that the land is not Bear lake Area and the Len Pratt development property in the only appropriate for an ordinary elementary Everton Avenue neighborhood,north of Wagner school,but for a"lifetime of learning center," a School District#624 Greenhouses. ( term coined by developer Len Pratt for the expanded nature of the facility. Miron states, "We to help residents "Our first priority is to meet the educational needs are working with Washington County on the pos- of the kids who are going to be coming to us,pri- sibility of having a library as part of this facility." learn more about marily at the elementary age in the northern part Haas anticipates that the facility could be used by of the school district," states Blaesing. all members of the community in the evenings, the proposed Demographic studies have shown that there will weekends,and during the summer. be 700 elementary school age children by the year elementary school 2006. Blaesing adds, "We also anticipate that if a A series of public meetings will be held new school is built and the current by the White Bear Lake Area plan. Hugo elementary school is reno- School District#624 to help resi- vated,both schools will be filled dents learn more about the pro- September 15, 6:30 p.m. at by the year 2011." posed elementary school plan. the Hugo Elementary School School district officials will be resent to answer questions and pSeptember 25, 6:30 m. aft Blaesing explains that the hear public comments. the o Ci Hall p school district has done g Meetings m the Hugo e teto everything it possibly can area are currently to accommodate increas- scheduled for: ing enrollments. "We've added six modular September 15,6:30 p.m. classrooms to the at the Hugo Elementary existing building," " School he states. "We've also shifted atten- September 25,6:30 p.m. at the Hugo City Hall