District 742 to Plan for Future of Lake George Properties

ST. CLOUD -- District 742 is looking into the future of their Lake George Neighborhood properties, including Tech High School, Clark Field and the media services building.

District 742 Board Vice-Chair Jerry Von Korff says, they plan on working with the city closely.

"[We will be] Reaching out to the mayor, to get the mayor's input on this way of doing it because this envisions collaboration between the city and the district."

Von Korff says, the district knows that it's relatively large and historic downtown footprint is important to the community as a whole.

"[We own] Nine acres plus the media site plus Clark Field in that [Lake George/Core] area. And so what happens to those site is going to be important to the downtown, the University, to the entire city."

Superintendent Willie Jett will be presenting a more formal proposal at the August 9 school board workshop, which could include working with an urban planner, to try and preserve the historic sites the district owns in the "core" area of St. Cloud.

At their July 27 board meeting, the school board decided to go ahead with the purchase of the old Minnesota School of Business building. The vote was 5-2 in favor, in spite of a protest held outside city hall.

One of the largest factors in the District's decision to purchase the Minnesota School of Business location was cost, and inefficiency in using the old Technical High School site.

The August 9 workshop does allow for community input.