Katherine Johnson Education Center renovation will create permanent home for InStep program

Sarah Kocher, St. Cloud Times
·2 min read

ST. CLOUD — Starting next school year, the Katherine Johnson Education Center will be a multi-use facility that brings together similar programs currently housed in disparate places.

St. Cloud Area School District 742 Executive Director of Operations Gary Ganje said the building will be home to the the InStep program and Level IV programming for the district, as well as a number of specialty staff.

"This gives us an opportunity where we can bring those folks together in some of the offices that those buildings have," Ganje said.

InStep is a transition program for 18- to 21-year-old students with moderate to severe disabilities to continue their education, particularly focused on independent living and job training.

A Level IV facility is focused on educating students who spend most of their day outside the regular classroom. Students are referred to the Level IV program by an individual education plan team.

Brenda Blackmore, director of care and treatment for St. Cloud Area Schools 742, describes future plans for the Katherine Johnson Education Center Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022, in St. Cloud.
Brenda Blackmore, director of care and treatment for St. Cloud Area Schools 742, describes future plans for the Katherine Johnson Education Center Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022, in St. Cloud.

More: St. Cloud State University announces The Minnesota Institute of Technology initiative. What is it?

The move also frees up some instructional space at the schools.

"It's a win-win," he said.

A big perk of the renovation is the ability to create instructional space that caters specifically to the programs going into it, Ganje said. It's also a place for the InStep program to settle in.

"In the past, that program has moved around a lot," Ganje said. "We're excited to have a permanent home for them where we can build it for that program."

The 60,000-square-foot building will provide lots of opportunities for the district's programming, he said.

Signs for a construction zone sit outside the doors to current construction on the Katherine Johnson Education Center Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022, in St. Cloud.
Signs for a construction zone sit outside the doors to current construction on the Katherine Johnson Education Center Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022, in St. Cloud.

The Riverwoods Level IV program, which serves middle school students, is in one section of the building (referred to as the A building) while another section (the B building) is under renovation, Ganje said. Around the middle or end of March, the renovation and programming will flip-flop sections so work can continue on the building.

"There is some work, preliminary work being done on the A building, but we're really cautious that work not interfere with instruction," Ganje said.

Some of the work includes bringing the building up to code for educational purposes.

"We're moving into a building that wasn't an educational use, and so we have to bring all of the facilities up to that education code," Ganje said.

When workers do that, they can also make some structural changes and take into consideration the long-term facility maintenance plan.

Work on the building, formerly the CentraCare Recovery Plus building, started in fall 2021. The current construction timeline has the whole building ready for occupancy before the 2022 school year.

Sarah Kocher is the business reporter for the St. Cloud Times. Reach her at 320-255-8799 or skocher@stcloudtimes.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahAKocher.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to sctimes.com today.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: St. Cloud's Katherine Johnson Education Center under construction