Laying the groundwork
Rib Lake board eyes plans to connect middle and high school buildings
With the goal of potentially going to the voters next spring, Rib Lake school board members are doing their homework about the needs and possible solutions to address building needs districtwide.
April’s school board meeting held April 13, hosted Baird Director of Public Finance Kevin Mullen, Excel Engineering Education Market Manager Tricia Muellenbach, and Excel Engineering Architect David Vanden Avond. All were there to advise the board on potential upcoming decisions on major projects, and to start laying the groundwork for major infrastructure improvements to all three buildings in the district.
Board members gathered an hour earlier than usual to go on a facilities walkthrough with their visitors from Excel Engineering. The group walked through Rib Lake High School, Rib Lake Middle School, and Rib Lake Elementary School. At this point, both Muellenbach and Vanden Avond know all three of the schools as if they went there themselves. Since September of last year, the Board has been busy conducting a facilities audit of the Rib Lake School District, hiring Excel Engineering in December. Many employees of Excel, including architects and engineers, have been in and out of the Rib Lake schools, even going as far as to take 360 degree photos to create a virtual walkthrough of the buildings. The team from Excel opened every door, looked in every nook, took data about classroom usage, and interviewed staff, board mem- See RIB LAKE on page 10 bers, and community members about the schools and how they would like to see them in the future of Rib Lake.
All of this culminated on April 13 when Muellenbach and Vanden Avond presented potential options for major restructure and renovations to the board, alongside with Mullen from Baird presenting on potential financing options for these projects. This meeting is the first of many discussing the inevitable: a referendum.
At the March Board of Education meeting, an “Existing Conditions Assessment” was presented to the Board. This had the Elementary School rated in “fair condition,” and the Middle and High Schools rated in “poor condition.”
Going off of those rankings, as well as the data they had put together over the past three months, Excel Engineering went to the drawing board, where they drew up several options for restructuring and renovating the Rib Lake School District buildings. They presented some first drafts at the meeting.
Some of the major issues and additions the Excel team heard from their interviews were the addition of a daycare, secure entrances to the buildings, connecting the high school and the middle school, improving the fitness center space, improving the kitchens, and creating a better space for the music program that the Rib Lake community is so proud of and known for.
As time goes on, Excel will present more of these plans to the Board, each one narrowing closer to an ideal that fits the community and the budget.
Excel presented two potential plans for the elementary school. Few major renovations are required in either. Both plans include the removal of the district office from the school, a plan that Board members were on board with. In both plans, the current district office space would become an area for fifth graders, including two classrooms, a flex space, and a dedicated green room for their popular “Channel Five News.”
The plans also both move around where classrooms currently are and making a space for the new 4K classroom that is needed this fall. In the more extreme of the two plans, the IMC, or library, is also renovated to give extra space to a Title classroom and an occupational therapy/physical therapy space. This plan also renovates a space to make a sensory room.
The total estimated cost for the plan that renovates less at the elementary school would be around $2,287,203. The more involved one is $2,983,420. These costs include maintenance items and general updates to the buildings. Said Muellenbach, “Moving fifth grade does not cost 2.2 million dollars.”
Excel presented six potential options for the middle and high school to the Board. All of the plans require moving classes to different rooms to better utilize the space that Rib Lake has, as well as adding a bus drop off and visitor parking area on the South side of the building. All cost estimates include general maintenance items and updates or repairs to the buildings.
Option A added a connection hallway between the middle and high schools, and put the District office on the South edge of the middle school, with the fitness center right next to it. Attached to the connection hallway would be the school’s secure entrance with the administration office right next to it. This plan also adds a bus drop off space and visitor parking area on the south side of the building. It expands the kitchen, and makes a new, improved space for band. Option A costs less than most of the others, but also offers the least in the way of improvements the community has said they want. The estimated total cost for this is around $16,255,547.
Option B also has the connection hallway between the two buildings, but adds more in the middle between them. In the middle, toward the South is still the secure administration entrance from Option A. This option, though, puts the district office on the North side of the building, on the edge closest to Kennedy St. This option adds a large cafeteria space, as well as moves the kitchen to that middle space between the two buildings. Also in this area is the new band room, complete with a storage space and practice room. This option requires more new building than option A, and would cost roughly $18,308,301.
Option C requires a lot of new building, as well as major renovation. This plan adds a daycare in the Northwest corner of the middle school. This also does major renovations to the middle school gym, and moves the high school gym completely to be right next to it, where current parking is. Moving the gym and completely rebuilding it adds the capability to have better seating options and storage spaces. The stage, however, would stay put, because this opens up the old gym space for a new cafeteria area and performing arts center that would potentially be able to seat 350 people. Attached to this area would be a new band room with a practice or storage room. This option also adds parking on the North side of the building, pushing the football field further North, and allowing for rebuilding of it. Option C also combines the high school and middle school administrative offices with the district office on the South side of the building. Option C gives renovations to the current kitchen, as well as creates several bathroom areas. This option is around $24,737,639, and includes the cost of the football field and track renovations.
The most expensive option that was presented was Option D. Building off of Option C, the district office, middle school, and high school offices are all combined and are on the South edge of the connected buildings. Directly North of that would be the hallway leading into a similar cafeteria as in option B. This area, though, would double as a performing arts center. This option moves the kitchen to the North edge of the new middle section, and puts a new band area between the kitchen and the admin offices. This option also has a daycare included. It renovates the fitness center, and moves the high school gym slightly south. It adds several bathrooms. This option has the extra parking that pushes the football field, and so this option also includes the cost of complete football field and track renovations. The cost for this option is around $26,036,044.
Option E goes back to basics slightly. There aren’t any renovations to the gyms, and they go back to the long hallway between buildings, with the middle empty. Excel suggested the space could be a place for a future gym to be built if needed. This option has the admin for both buildings and the district office in one area on the South side of the building again, and moves the fitness center over to the Southwest edge of the middle school. This option still has a daycare included on the Northwest corner of the middle school, and this builds a new band area on the West side of the high school gym. This option costs $16,710,474.
Lastly, Option F has the least amount of building or renovations. This option only addresses the secure entrance, connecting the two buildings, and moving the district office. The district office would be in the Northwest corner of the middle school, with the admin offices being on that South middle edge between the buildings. This option only has the long hallway. This option does renovate the fitness center, renovates the kitchen, as well as moves and renovates a new band space. Excel marked the middle current parking area as a possible future expansion if the future so allows. This option costs $14,081,048.
Excel also calculated the cost of renovating the outdoor athletics areas. The cost of a new football and track stadium (including bleachers, a concession area, and more) would be around $3,339,600. This cost is built into Middle and High School options C and D. Updates to track and field event areas, such as shotput or discus, would cost around $52,000. Adding a south softball field would be around $65,000, with new lighting for the field being $292,400. A new baseball field would cost $65,000. Adding bathrooms would cost $97,500. Getting a new flagpole could be around $13,000. A new tennis/baseball court would cost $324,500. Finally, a new ice rink would cost $162,500.
Before this presentation, Kevin Mullen, self-described “math guy” from Baird explained school financing options to the Board, as well as mathematically showing how much money the Board would be allowed to borrow — the district’s credit limit, or borrowing authority. This number came in at around $31 million. Mullen showed how much it would cost to borrow between $5 and $30 million. He strongly advised against borrowing even close to the $30 million dollar mark.
The current tax rate for the Rib Lake School District is $6.73. This means that an owner of a $100,000 home would pay $673 in taxes toward the schools per year. The district current debt will retire in 2025. School districts receive additional state aid to help cover debt service payments.
No formal decisions were made at last week’s meeting, but both the Board and the Excel Engineering team left with a lot to think about.
The team from Excel Engineering will be hosting two community listening sessions to hear input on these options, as well as to continue to learn what the community wants the future of the Rib Lake School District to look like.
These will be on May 3 at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
