Minster schools is ready to talk space

MINSTER - Minster Local Schools Board of Education members buttoned up their long-awaited land swap with the village this week, setting the stage for possible district expansion in the future.

Minster school board members at Monday's regular meeting approved an exchange agreement between the Village of Minster and board of education for the transfer of 7.3 acres of village property to Minster Local Schools, and 11.446 acres of school-owned land adjacent to Four Seasons Park to the village.

Village councilors approved a resolution approving the exchange on its third reading at their regular meeting on Sept. 15.

The property the school district receives in the transfer includes a tennis court, shelter house and parking lot. The swimming pool and its parking lot will remain village property.

School officials previously stated the additional land is needed to meet possible future building needs arising from growing enrollment. The village will receive 11.446 acres of farmland from the Edward J. Dirksen revocable trust purchased by the school district at a cost of $572,369 or $50,006 per acre.

Minster Local Schools' enrollment has increased by about 60-70 students over the last four to five years, which at the district amounts to the addition of an entire grade level, superintendent Josh Meyer told The Daily Standard.

As well, he said, the district has faced an increased need for space to house services like speech pathology and counseling.

"What maybe most people may not think about or may not be aware of is the need for spaces that aren't your traditional classrooms. We're talking things like counselors, speech and language pathologists, occupational physical therapists, services like that where they're currently either in a shared space or they're in a closet or a storage room somewhere," he said. "It's not ideal - some of the spaces those people are working out of to provide services for our students."

Meyer said all that's left to do to complete the swap is to close with the village, which he estimated would take place over the next couple of weeks.

In conjunction with the land transfer's final approval, Minster Local Schools entered into a facility planning agreement with Minster-based design firm Garmann Miller in August.

Garmann Miller's $25,000 facility evaluation will focus on what additions or changes are needed to account for a lack of space due to growing enrollment and changes to specialized education.

School board members are also set to hold a community forum board work session at 6 p.m. today in the high school gym in order to provide an update on the land exchange with the village, as well as to gather input from community members on a possible building expansion project to benefit both the district's academic and athletic programs.

"All (expansion) options are on the table. We have no decisions made yet, so that's basically the first community meeting (tonight) to see if, along with academic space, does our community have an opinion on athletic space needs? If so, again, what form would that take? Just looking at all of our facilities and seeing if it's time for an expansion - academics, athletics - what our community prioritizes and what they believe is important and what would benefit us," Meyer said.

He noted that Wednesday's forum will be the first of several.

"It is absolutely a collaboration between the community, the task force, the board, and then, back again," he said. "Information and input and opinions will flow both ways from community to task force to board and then back again. It's definitely a first step (tonight) and it's definitely a huge collaboration between school and community."

The school board's next regular meeting is set for 7 p.m. Oct. 26 in the elementary school's large group meeting room.