Discussion heats up concerning new office structure after district awarded $500,000 in safety grant money
By Per Peterson
Members of the District No. 2904 School Board on Tuesday were given the opportunity to channel their inner architect in relation to future changes the school will be making to improve safety.
This is a result of the news that the district was one of 90 in Minnesota to receive a Minnesota Department of Education grant to make safety upgrades. The money — $500,000 — can be used in a variety of ways, and Supt. Chad Anderson shared his vision of what could potentially be done.
“For this grant, I put in for the predesign, construction and redesign of our facilities to move our offices at the forefront (of the school) so we can have people see people coming in and out of the school,” Anderson said. “We’ll keep the door buzz-in system, it just might be used a little differently.”
Anderson said although everyone feels the school is safe and secure today, the conversation about improving safety structurally has been ongoing for about 10 years. He said moving the offices can be the “next step in making us that much more secure and safe.”
About 1,200 schools applied for the grant, Anderson said, and there was $25 million available. There was more than $255 million requested. Locally, school districts in Marshall and Dawson-Boyd also received grant money to improve safety.
Anderson presented three different options for the new addition, which would be in the school’s courtyard, meaning the main trophy case that greets people coming into the school in the north entrance would have to be moved.
For more on this article, see this week’s Headlight-Herald.