The Monday, October 17 Rushford-Peterson School Board meeting was held at the R-P Middle School in Peterson and encompassed just three new items of agenda business. The board also met in closed session to review pending litigation against the district.
In new business, the board approved the notice of general election for the November 8 school board election. Five candidates are vying for four seats; incumbents Valerie Howe, John Linder, and Julie Koop and challengers Curtis Fox and Bonnie Prinsen. A Meet the School Board Candidates Forum is slated for Monday, October 24, at 6:30 p.m., in the high school library. The public forum will give community members a chance to hear the candidates’ stance on issues and ask questions.
The majority of discussion for the meeting centered on a policy put forth related to naming rights for the new early childhood through grade 12 facility currently under construction and scheduled to open for the 2017-2018 school year. The Foundation for R-P Schools has discussed the matter at length and determined preliminary guidelines which were compiled into draft policy #875. The policy would cover the naming rights to any facility or room in the new school. The district’s attorney has approved the policy language.
The Foundation’s monetary guidelines included a minimum of $30,000 per specific square feet designation, for a thirty-year period, with moderate public visibility. The guidelines also stated an additional $1,000 per year could be paid for each year added to the time period for the same amount of square feet with moderate visibility. Highly visible spaces would be valued per square foot at three times the rates noted and the rate for additional years would be doubled to $2,000 per year.
Board Director Julie Koop questioned whether or not the district had considered levels of donation recognition (ie. gold, silver, bronze), as well as recognition to areas for those that have made personal contributions to the district that were not monetary. Director Dean Mierau agreed that some may not have the financial ability to make a donation, but could be recognized for another contribution.
Board Director Jon Pettit asked whether anyone had brought money or interest that caused the policy to be enacted. Superintendent Chuck Ehler noted a family had approached the district wanting to make a donation for naming rights, but that he would not bring information regarding the donor forward to the board until a policy was in place. Should a policy be approved, donors would submit an application for naming rights to the R-P Foundation and the Foundation would in turn bring the request to the board for formal approval.
Ehler noted examples of policies, including Rochester Lourdes, were used in formulating the R-P policy. “It’s for someone who wishes to leave a legacy and offer a large financial contribution.”
“A minimum of $30,000?” asked Pettit. “I consider that a pretty paltry donation to have your name on a piece of public property. At Lourdes, they probably built the gym.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” conceded Ehler.
Director Koop also questioned whether there need to be a clause that the donor live within the district or have/had children in the district. Ehler noted he was hesitant to include a clause of that nature. “I can’t imagine anyone wanting to come in for naming rights, but it’s a legitimate concern,” he said. The board approved the first reading of the policy. It will come before the board again for a second reading and then final approval.
With the new school also comes a desire by the district to be uniform in its branding. Options of new lettering, logo, mascot, and school colors were discussed by Activities Director Dan Bieberdorf and coaches last spring. Recently, a survey of four options was given to middle school and high school students, as well as all R-P coaches and school staff. From the 334 responses received, it was determined that option “A” for both lettering and logo was the most popular. It retains the green and gold coloring and the Trojan mascot.
The standardized lettering, logo, and mascot will be used exclusively from this point on. The district will not be purchasing new uniforms, but instead will use the branding moving forward with new purchases for the district and in all official district mailings.
The new school construction is continuing on target. “It’s clipping along as expected,” noted Tim Robertson of ICS Consulting. “There’s really nothing holding us back.”
The facility is now 75-80% under roof, which is allowing more progress on the interior work. Mechanical items are in and stud framing in sections A and B is nearing completion. Sheetrock is being delivered and will be installed, taped, and floated soon. The aluminum windows are nearly all in place except in areas where wood is temporarily blocking window openings to allow for the bringing in and taking out of materials. The stone veneer around the gym and exterior columns are also essentially complete. Decking on the underside of trusses is in place.
Within the month, contractors hope to complete all metal stud framing, back up wood blocking, begin sheetrock work, and continue work on windows and glazing. One large project has been the installation of the gas line, which will allow temporary heaters within the building as work progresses this fall and winter.
The next regularly scheduled board meeting is Monday, November 14, at 5:30 p.m., in the high school biology room. Please note it has been moved up one week from earlier scheduled to accommodate the canvassing of election results. The public is encouraged to attend.
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