Sartell School District Looking to the Future With Levy Approval

SARTELL -- With voters in the Sartell-St. Stephen school district approving an operating levy during last weeks elections, what does that mean for the district moving forward?

Voters approved 17.7 million over the next ten years to help get the district back on solid financial ground.

Superintendent Jeff Schwiebert says over the next few months the school board will begin prioritizing the needs of the district.

We're not going to look at changes in our open enrollment, class sizes will continue to remain in the forefront, and then we are going to talk about the other things like are we going to add more support here or different classes there.

Schwiebert says next fall is a big year for them as they will restructure the district. The former high school will become the middle school, the current middle school will become the Riverview Intermediate School, Pine Meadow Elementary will house the 1st and 2nd graders and Oak Ridge Elementary will become the districts Pre-k and Kindergarten school.

The building impacted the most by the reshuffling is the District Office which currently houses the Pre-K program. Schwiebert says there has been some interest in the space.

We've been approached by a couple of people privately. The board has expressed interest in getting something into this building, but they have not expressed interest in selling the building.

Schwiebert says if things hold true and enrollment continues to climb, they would rather keep the district office for future classroom space as opposed to building another new school.