District 197 Proposes Combining Mendota Elementary and Friendly Hills Middle School

The students and faculty of would move in to a floor of the building under a concept described by Superintendent Jay Haugen at the school board’s meeting Tuesday night.

The idea is one of several that could address a by the district’s early education program, while bringing in additional lease revenue and lowering administrative costs—something other options can’t claim.

Haugen said the district will be collecting information and feedback on the concept in upcoming weeks, including how it would affect transportation, start times and extracurriculars.

Friendly Hills Middle School currently serves about 620 students in a building that architects say can theoretically max out at a capacity of 1,100, said Principal Joni Hagebock.

Haugen said the building would be “comfortably full” with a student population of 900. Mendota Elementary’s total population, about 360, could fit on one floor of the school, he said.

Hagebock said she thought the idea was “refreshing,” but said that it would need to be thoroughly discussed by both the district and parents. Mendota Elementary Principal, Steve Goldade, was not present at the meeting.

Garlough Elementary students would be directed entirely to Heritage Middle School, freeing up room at Friendly Hills, while Pilot Knob fifth-graders would stay at the elementary level through fifth grade. Early childhood education programming would still be provided at Pilot Knob and Moreland.

Achievement gap targeted

If the early education program is going to make an impact on the achievement gap and meet a state goal of ensuring that all students are school-ready when they enter kindergarten by 2020, the program needs to increase enrollment, said Marcy Doud, director of special programs. To make room, she said they would need an additional centralized space in addition to some satellite locations at the elementary schools.

The program currently resides in the extra classrooms throughout the district, a situation that can change from year to year.

“Early learning has never really found a home,” said Haugen.

Of the roughly 5,000 children age 0-5 in the district, only 535 of them are involved in early education programming, which includes early special education, said Doud. Meanwhile, to serve even that fraction of the population, the program expanded from 13 classrooms to 20 this year.

Doud presented information on two sites, Mendota Corporate Center and CentrePoint Park, which have leasable space that could fit the purpose of a central location. A lease would be partially funded through a district-wide lease levy, which would not require a referendum.

Under the leasing proposal, early childhood family education programming at Pilot Knob Elementary would remain, as would the preschool programs at Moreland and Mendota elementaries. All other programming, including testing, would move to the central office.

If the program were to move into the Mendota Elementary School building instead, the remainder of the space at Mendota Elementary could be leased out. Haugen said that District 917, which provides special education services in Dakota County, came to him about three weeks ago looking for just such a scenario.

The potential lease revenue, ranging anywhere from $50,000 to $120,000 a year, estimated Haugen, would collect on the bottom line with savings from streamlined administration and building operation costs.

If the district decides to proceed with the co-location, the transition could happen next year depending on the hurdles they face, said Haugen. In the first year, the two schools would operate separately in the same building. However, Haugen said over time the ultimate goal would be to transition to a K-8 building, similar to a private school setting.