Construction to begin in June on Medina school addition
Apr. 6—MEDINA, N.D. — Construction on a $2.9 million addition at Medina Public School District is expected to begin in June, according to Superintendent Damon Bosche.
The 5,300-square-foot addition will include four high school classrooms and two breakout spaces for small-group activities. Two high school classrooms will also be renovated.
The addition will be added to the southwest part of the existing school building.
The Medina Public School District has one building for grades prekindergarten-12.
Voters in the Medina Public School District approved the $2.9 million referendum in December with 109 "yes" votes, or 77%, to 33 "no" votes, or 23%.
"To get a 77% approval rating is a pretty high rating," Bosche said. "That's saying that our voters and our patrons see the value in adding on to our school and the importance of educating our students and making sure that our school buildings are viable for years to come."
With voter approval, the Medina Public School District receives over $2.9 million through bonds for the addition.
The estimated annual amount of the increase in taxes is $100.89 for a house with a true and full value of $100,000 and $112.10 for commercial or agricultural land with a true and full value of $100,000.
The addition is expected to be complete by fall 2025.
"I'm hoping that we can get in there at the start of the school year but not exactly sure on that," Bosche said.
He said architects and the school district's construction management company completed a facility assessment of the entire building. He said a plan was put together that outlined how much it would cost to bring the school to meet current building codes and educational standards.
Bosche said a committee consisting of community members and school district leaders was formed to help come up with ideas of the school district's needs.
"After that, we did a survey to our district patrons with several different options," he said. "Our lowest option, I believe, was like $6.3 million for a bond referendum that included some capital maintenance in classrooms, updates to our entry."
He said the survey results showed the $6.3 million bond referendum was too costly.
"Our board decided to essentially cut the cost of the project in half, and just stick with adding on classroom space because that's the reason we started this discussion to begin with," he said.
Bosche said the elementary and high school portions of the building were built in 1955 and 1966, respectively. When those were built, the school district did not have preschool or kindergarten classes.
He also said space is needed for special education.
"Special education has changed in major ways since our building was constructed in 1955 and 1966," he said. "We just need more space to educate those students as well as needing more space for small group work."
He said students need space to study for online classes through the North Dakota Center for Distance Education and for interactive television classes.
"We're using essentially every nook and cranny of the school right now," he said. " ... Essentially, we just need some more classroom space to make education better for our students."
Bosche said students from other school districts also attend classes at the Medina school.
"That definitely does play a factor in the amount of space that we need," he said. "It's a push for us wanting to do this and making sure that we have adequate space for students."
Bosche said about 40% of the student population is from outside the school district. He said students attend Medina from the school districts of Jamestown, Carrington, Kidder County and Gackle-Streeter. He noted that students from the Carrington Public School District live in the Woodworth area, which is only 18 miles from Medina.
"We're pretty centrally located between all those communities," he said.
