Sauk Rapids-Rice School District Schedules Five Public Meetings to Discuss Survey Results on Proposed Facilities Projects

(KNSI) — Five public meetings are now set to provide district residents with an overview of data from the community survey sent to every household in the Sauk Rapids-Rice School District earlier this summer.

Sauk Rapids-Rice Public Schools, in collaboration with the independent education research firm School Perceptions, distributed 11,164 surveys to gauge interest in two proposed facilities projects. Over 2,800 surveys were completed for a response rate of 25.7%. The survey results were presented to those in attendance at the Board meeting on Tuesday, August 20th.

At the five meetings, community members and district residents can get an overview of the survey data, learn more about the prospective projects, ask questions, and get clarification.

Tuesday, August 27, 2024, 6:00 p.m. at Sauk Rapids Government Center
Wednesday, September 4, 2024, 6:00 p.m. at Rice Elementary School
Thursday, September 5, 2024, 6:00 p.m. at Hillside Early Learning Center
Thursday, September 12, 2024, 6:00 p.m. at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School
Tuesday, September 17, 2024, 6:00 p.m. at Sauk Rapids-Rice Middle School

Each meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m. and will last approximately 90 minutes, depending on the number of questions.

In 2018, the school board did a series of 22 meetings around the district and gathered feedback on what the community thought about the needs for district buildings and facilities. Through that process, several items surfaced in terms of priorities, and many of them, including Pleasantview Elementary, Mississippi Heights, safe and secure entrances and exits, and bettering the pickup and drop off areas, have been completed. That was six years ago, so the board decided it was time to ask about priorities again, if they’re still the same, and where the community is at in terms of finishing off the list.

The survey was “not a referendum for ‘do the people want this or that’,” according to Superintendent Brad Bergstrom. It asks about the energy and desire in the community to look at two projects.

One of them is an early childhood center at Hillside Early Learning Center. The other is the outdoor activities project, which is the second phase of building the high school.

There is no deadline for when any changes would be implemented or projects started.

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