By Melanie Stegner

news@pctribune.com

The Minnewaska Area School (MAS) Board held a work session last week with the Glacial Hills Elementary school board as guests. The discussion involved the future of education in Pope County and the future of Kingdom Kids Childcare Center. 

Minnewaska schools recently received the reports from Ehlers Financial Advisors and SiteLogiq regarding the financial audit and the audit of the campuses and properties. Currently, the Starbuck campus houses W.I.N. Academy, the preschool program and some short-term use spaces for various activities. W.I.N. houses 43 students, 10 percent of which are Pope County residents. These students use the main floor through the day. The preschool students use a portion of the basement.

The childcare needs of the county and the desire for all-day preschool that can serve the entire county quickly became the focus of the meeting. 

The SiteLogiq survey disclosed over $41 million of updates and repairs to get the MAS campuses in order. The audit included around $500,000 in updates to the basement of W.I.N. Academy to make space for preschool classes to have all-day programs. 

“We want to look ahead for space needs and work together to create a community program by offering a birth through sixth grade facility,” explained MAS Superintendent Chip Rankin. “We’ve invited Glacial Hills Elementary here to discuss the future of Pope County’s kids.”

The discussion began with the subject of the tech levy and bonding. Renewing the bond would allot the school $15 million, a far cry from the $41 million needed according to the SiteLogiq report. To get the Starbuck campus up to par alone is estimated to cost $14.8 million. 

“The Starbuck campus worked perfect for creating the W.I.N. environment,” said Rankin. “However, we have too much space there that we aren’t using or that can be better utilized.” 

The proposal that was brought forth during the meeting was to use the Starbuck campus to house Glacial Hills Elementary as well as the preschool and a childcare center, making it a birth through sixth grade campus. Glacial Hills Elementary would operate under the umbrella of MAS but would have autonomy to continue within their current curriculum. 

The Glenwood campus would receive a newer facility on an adjacent property that would house the childcare center with the opportunity for the school to lease the upper level of the building.

“With the number of children in the county looking for preschool, once we open up the enrollment, we estimate it will fill within 30 hours,” Rankin iterated. 

“Our main concern is with trust,” stated Jodee Lund, Director of Glacial Hills Elementary. “There have been issues about several things in the past. We don’t want that happening and need to have some sort of trust that our program isn’t going to suffer. What happens if the referendum doesn’t pass at all? How would we approach that? What state is the Starbuck building in? There are a lot of questions we would need to answer before we can consider any of this.”

One member of the public made a statement about this discussion being only about money. “No one is talking about what’s best for the kids,” he stated.

“It takes money to have nice facilities for our kids to learn in and offer them a quality education. What we are doing here is trying to find the most efficient way for all of our kids to benefit, including those not in school yet,” stated MAS School Board member Chad Barsness. “We should tour both buildings in the next week so we can determine what is going to work best for everyone.”

“Right now, we’re just having a conversation, nothing is being set in stone. We’re researching what could work for both of us. If we decide to move forward, we should set a goal for a tentative decision by spring break,” stated Rankin. 

The second work session of the evening included some community and county officials as well as Ehlers Financial Advisors to attend. Following a presentation regarding audit results, discussion again turned to the childcare situation in the county. 

“We want to keep kids from Pope County going to school in Pope County. We don’t want them going to Benson or Morris because there are more spaces for them there. We need to keep them here and if we can offer a birth through sixth grade facility, they’ll stay even longer,” stated Rankin.

“From a business perspective, if we have more childcare openings, we would be able to increase our workforce population as people would be more likely to move here knowing their kids have safe spaces to go,” stated Trina Starker, Glenwood Area Chamber of Commerce Director.

A survey of preschool parents done by the school showed that many of them want to have a program in Starbuck and are favorable to an all-day-every-day format. That is what the schools are hoping to work toward, it was stated. 

As things progress toward a decision, more information will be available in the Pope County Tribune & Starbuck Times.