McLeod West school bond vote defeated

I think that dogmom is correct that this issue has divided a great many people. Now it is time to put aside which side of the vote you were on and start to work together to solve the problem at hand. Everyone wants the best education for their children and now is the time to figure out what is the next step in ensuring that your children, grandchildren, or the neighborhood kids get the best education that they can. I would like to encourage everyone in these communities to set their differences aside and open their minds to every possibility. There are a lot of options out there to explore.

Okay, so I voted for the new school as my child is just starting out at Mcleod West. Not being from the area, I don't have any quipes between Browntown and Stewart people as some may who have grown up here. BUT, having said that, it's truly apparent to me that the members of the school board are NO LONGER acting in the best interest of my children and rather acting on their own mind-sets and biases. WHY on earth would you close the better of the two schools??? It now makes me rethink my yes votes for the new school because maybe the location was chosen with an alterior motive in mind. I am truly disgusted and disheartend in the members of the school board as it's obvious now whose best interest they were after all along. SHAME ON YOU. You have brought your own biases to the table and it's now affecting my child. You are not acting as representatives of anyone but yourselves. Apparently only one person on that school board has the sense to realize that sending the kids to the better of the two schools would make more sense AND be safer. EVERYONE knows which of the two buildings is better. How is it possibly rationalized that sending the kids to the school with as many problems as the Brownton campus has is going to be better??
It seems that doing that was a way of saying "see, now you don't have a school at all in Stewart" to the majority of people from Stewart who voted no. That's not right to do that. I want to know the rationalization. Maybe the school board members should now write a letter to the editor explaining themselves and we'll see if it makes any sense.
I will be looking into other schools for my child. I do not want him growing up a product of the fight between the two towns. Again, SHAME ON YOU.

MWmom I respect your opinion and I'm curious about your statement "Do they know that one of the 3rd grade classrooms usually does not get above 60 degrees? Have they been upstairs lately? The mold smell is there! Some days the mold smell is very bad. In fact, they try not to use one of the classrooms upstairs because the smell is so bad in there. That isn't good for someone with allergies or asthma." " The air quality is already bad, can you imagine if they would overfill it with students?" I have the air quality report from Nov of last year and for the two rooms upstairs tested in Stewart it shows some of the lowest levels of CO2 in the study (The DCFL likes to keep it under 1.000 ppm) room 303 had 604 ppm and room 308 had 624) 11 rooms were tested in Stewart in 2006 and only 6 at the high school campus. Five of them tested at the high school were over the 1000 ppm in co2. At the Stewart Campus of the 11 rooms tested only 3 were over the 1000 ppm.

For proof I've posted the original study here:

Brownton: http://x9e.xanga.com/e65d157710030100460665/w70757508.jpg

Stewart:
http://x67.xanga.com/6a4d017729430100460619/w70757476.jpg

There is a large area to the east (north of the football field) of the Stewart building that could be used for additions and off the southwest side as well. What about the Brownton Kitchen? It's in need of a major upgrade probably costing 200,000-300,000 dollars. Was that factored in? Where is that money going to come from?
Please...whoever buys the Stewart school.....do something good with it...like maybe a charter school or something! I can bet there would be students waiting to get in the doors.
All I want is the best for my children and I would hope, let me say that again, I WOULD HOPE that the 5 school members from Brownton are not trying to just save their town.
It's so funny how Brownton's school was SOOOOOO bad before the referendum but now it's pie compared to Stewart. Just makes me wonder if anyone has ever told the truth about this school thing.

Everyone needs to look at th BIG picture...the FACTS. I did not grow up in this area and to me it looks like it just comes down to rivalry between community members, NOT the school board! Look at the USEABLE square footage of each building, acreage to each site, possible expansion of each campus, class room size, ball fields, and where the student population/market is coming from. Neither building is "better" than the other as far as air quality, & health & safety issues. It only costs more to bring the high school building to code because IT IS A LARGER building. Putting that all aside, chosing the high school campus really is the lesser of the 2 evils, which isn't saying much. The board has to work with what there is, and no matter which site was chosen, it would make people upset.
The non-sense of this needs to stop. What are we teaching our kids?! Seems to me the kids aren't the ones who have issues with any of it. Most people aren't getting the factual information and are only listening to special interest groups. If there was so much interest in this issue than more people would show up to school board meetings to hear the information first hand.
(By the way, with Hutchinson already having a charter school, I feel that a charter school concept for the elementary campus,if it was to be sold,really wouldn't fly). This should be nothing about Brownton vs Stewart...it IS about the McLeod West school district! We are 2 communities who need to support this, not tear it apart like many are trying to do. Think of all the good that could be done if everyone just worked together instead of putting all the time and energy (and money) into ripping this further apart! Who benefits then?? As adults, we should be setting examples for students. Not to mention, MW has been great for my kids! They excel thanks to the teachers, and my kids also believe in challenging themselves. You get out of it what you put into it, and teachers can only do so much!

I think the bottom line is this....The STATE needs to put more money into rural schools. The news lately has on it that there is excess money and now they have to decide what to do with it....well, considering the the problems ALL area schools are having, why not start there? I would gladly do without a $100 refund check if it went directly to my child's school. Maybe all the rural school administrators should band together for a trip to the capitol and let them know that EVERY rural school needs HELP and needs it NOW. Look at what our school is going through. I realize that open enrollment is also hurting the school.
I agree with open minded in that "you get out of it what you put into it, teachers can only do so much" as far as education goes parents need to encourage their children to push themselves to realize their potential. Not settle for just the basics, but really strive to learn more.
Just being so worked up these last few days has really tired me out. I guess I'm over it. I can't stress over it anymore. I understand that the classrooms in Brownton are bigger. I understand that there is more room to grow there. I just WISH that it would have been kept up better so I don't have to worry about the safety of my child when they go there. I encourage people on both sides of the issue to talk to their school board members to get the full picture. You can still have your opinions-as I do, but at least you'll be informed on both sides. Maybe it will help you feel a little better about it too!
For the most part, the people getting so upset about this probably just want the best for their children....which is a good thing. At least we all know that we have some awesome parents around here that would do anything for their kids.
Hopefully this all will blow over and everything will be fine in the end. BUT, like I said before...look at what we are becoming without the proper funding from the state...that's where this needs to begin. Contact your representatives and let them know what is going on, obviously they have no idea.
P.S. Thank you to the school board members who called me back and explained their stance on the issue. I really appreciate that.

I've just returned from the Stewart Campus and the employees I talked to answered this to the points brought up in a earlier post: "Do they know that one of the 3rd grade classrooms usually does not get above 60 degrees?" The person actually laughed at this one. They reassured me they could get ANY room to 90 degrees if needed. "Have they been upstairs lately? The mold smell is there! Some days the mold smell is very bad. In fact, they try not to use one of the classrooms upstairs because the smell is so bad in there. That isn't good for someone with allergies or asthma." First off: I was upstairs today in fact. And was shown most of the upstairs class rooms. I noticed a faint odor in ONE room two employees stated there not a "mold problem" up there. Two people did point out that upstairs in the high school building in the former spanish room (I don't know if it still is) does have a mold problem and they have celling tiles falling down and plastic up there to catch the water and they have to use the windows to throw out all the water that leaks in. "The air quality is already bad, can you imagine if they would overfill it with students?" I already answered that one above.

Here are some pics

The worse damage I could find in the room in question upstairs in Stewart:
http://xc8.xanga.com/690806f010649100611246/w70871013.jpg

A pic from a brochure that Voices United for McLeod West Sent out last June Showing the water collecting system upstairs in the High School, Probably the Spanish Room:
http://xcd.xanga.com/6fcd1a3149430100612179/w70871636.jpg

*Update*

I've also added another picture from the brochure that Voices Unite For McLeod West sent last June regarding the Lunch Room at the High School:
http://x52.xanga.com/864d1101c8731100630764/w70884362.jpg

thanks tobybryan for your research! it reaffirms my plans for my youngest child. this school battle has been going on a long time already & i have a feeling its going to be going on long after my youngest graduates. i pray not.

Someone commented on the kitchen in the high school in the 2005 Deferred Maintenance Study Under the section "Life Safty Issues"(which lists items in priorities 1 to 3, 1 being the most urgent.) it does show that for the kitchen in the High School it states: "Some of the kitchen equipment does not meet health code requirements". Priority 1 cost to fix: $140,000

Here's a scan of the page:
http://x27.xanga.com/04ad3ae251632100739444/w70969679.jpg

And to be fair here's Stewart's section of the Life Safty Issues:
http://xe9.xanga.com/36cd02e3c0730100739402/w70969648.jpg

Each school has 8 pages and at the end the total cost is listed for Prority 1-3 and a estimated construction cost is added on.

Total Estimated Cost for the High School:
Priority 1: $4,853,750
Priority 2: $2,055,625
Priority 3: $104,375

Total: $7,013,750
Link to a pic of the page:
http://x54.xanga.com/db1d22ea64c32100739464/w70969695.jpg

Total Estimated Cost for the Elementary School:
Priority 1: $3,244,275
Priority 2: $1,583,750
Priority 3: $184,375

Total: $5,012,500
Link to a pic of the page:
http://x92.xanga.com/1bfd37e665033100739485/w70969710.jpg

Please note how total cost of everything at the Elementary School is only $158,750 more than the cost of just the Priority 1 items at the high school.

what makes me really sad about reading the article provided by tobybryan, is the fact that almost 10 years ago, we could have built a facility for 6-7 million versus the almost 17 million now! at that rate, in another 10 years we will be looking at 30+ million.
how long will this fight go on? i am completely stumped as to how brownton & stewart were ever able to reach a decision about joining together, considering their hatfield/mccoy like feuding. and why did they think to join forces? maybe we need to get back to that thought process, go back to square one. maybe than we can finally start moving foward again, cause this other stuff has gotta stop. it is irrelevant.

Tbone6551, the next time you feel like mudslinging and pointing fingers, perhaps you should do some fact checking. You stated: “By the way has anyone talked to Mr. Kuttner lately? Please ask him why the land that was talked about by the task force was never availible. ( This was some land south of the school by the 212 intersection behind the Sheehan gas tank )... So insted of being upset that the Stewart campus may have to be closed call Mr. Kuttner and ask him why he can't save the distric.” If you would have done your research, you would have known that Mr. Kuttner does not own the property in question. Maybe people should ask why you think that mudslinging and placing blame onto others is going to resolve this issue. By the way, who said “get this building issue to pass or else.”

actually tbone6551, i think in one of the earlier referendums, both towns voted it down. if i remember right, the bulletin had broken the results down by town & yes/no votes.
how can you say that this vote was knocked down by stewart? was it broken down by town? i know it would be possible, but was it done? just because there was a lot of negative comments in the paper coming from the west, how many different people did they come from? there are alot of us here who want to save the district, no matter where the building is.
i didnt think either building could be remodeled, because didnt one of the many fliers sent out say something to the effect of remodeling is out of the question because the cost was outside the formula provided by the state for remodel/building worth ratio?
also, just because the research tobybryan did is from years ago, doesnt change reality. they are still facts that are true. the brownton school DOES need to have the old portion ripped down. it does need updates in the kitchen. and didnt the boiler break down because one window was left open? if i leave a window open in my house, while my furnace wouldn't be happy, it would still be running the next day. just because the reports are old, does not change the fact that the roof leaks & water has to be diverted to the wall into buckets or whatever it drips into. mwmom worries about mold in stewart, how is water coming thru the roof, to the ceilings & down the walls sounding to you? smells like mold to me.
i also do not want to get into a war with words. i do want to see our district survive. but the only way to get it to survive is to look further outside. how about gibbon, fairfax, new auburn? just to name a few. how are their schools? are they looking to join? build between us all. spread the cost out more. maybe than it would pass. (i don't know what towns are together anymore, just gsl, blh, bold & mcw, so i dont know if thats even an option.) as it is, more & more families are sending their kids elsewhere. kinda makes me wonder that if we keep on ******ering like this, there wont be a school left to fight over. how sad is that?

tbone6551: The only reason I haven't posted the complete Facilities Studies for Deferred Maintenance is because it is a long report around 30 pages. Rest assured I WILL be posting the Whole report in the future. I KNOW the Elementary Campus isn't perfect. Nothing is perfect but I do feel it is the better of the two buildings. You want a more recent report about the school conditions here you go:
http://www.glencoenews.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=16314&SectionID=1...

Note how it says. "Ryberg said the district had one building (the high school in Brownton) "that is most likely 'life-cycled' out.""

I could just give that quote and no link and left it at that. But I believe in letting people read the whole article and make their own decisions. It doesn't give any Glowing reports about the Stewart Campus but It doesn't call it life cycled out either. This is a public message board and you are as welcome as I to post information on here and I hope you do.

Since Voting was brought up here are articles from the first three votes:

1999:
http://x53.xanga.com/bb0d127650d31101691310/w71688682.jpg

2001:
http://xfc.xanga.com/16ad317026133101691248/w71688632.jpg

2002:
http://x4d.xanga.com/80ed347729233101693197/w71690048.jpg

Here is the complete Voices Unite For McLeod West Brochure I referenced earlier. I know from memory that 6 of the pics are from the High School. Cafeteria pic, celling tile pic, plastic pic, printer pic, Teachers lounge pic, class room pic, I'm fairly sure the mold pic was taken at the high school. Some people have told me all of them were taken at the high school. Some people say that one pic was taken at the Elementary campus. That would leave the computer system pic I'm not sure were that was taken. Its hard to tell in the picture but it looks like there's a window in the background of the pic. There aren't any windows like that at the elementary campus.

Page 1:
http://x03.xanga.com/346d024128130101730385/w71719149.jpg

Page 2:
http://xd1.xanga.com/da28357a20d28101730542/w71719266.jpg

Page 3:
http://x4c.xanga.com/3e0d0453c1c30101730729/w71719390.jpg

Page 4:
http://x4e.xanga.com/a6d8347621d38101730921/w71719543.jpg

A quick comment on the article in todays paper: I would like to point out I had a school district employee with me at all times during the interview/tour/picture taking of the school.

Very true from now on I will make sure the administration knows I'm there and is ok with what I'm doing.

After reading all these comments, I am simply amazed by the behaviors & attitudes of residents in these communities. "Losing 100+ students from the west side of the district by fall"?! What would be the logical explanation? Kids wanting to leave...highly unlikely. Parents pulling them out for possible spite...definitely. I could understand if a child isn't doing well in school, but I would hope parents are talking to their kids about how they feel and what they really want. Who is to say the next district those kids get open-enrolled to won't have issues, if not the same as ours or even greater?! Besides, who is to say that what students end up leaving from the west side of the district won't be gained from open-enroll students from the east side? It's too bad that all the time & energy (& yes, even money) that has been spend to rip this district further apart couldn't have been put to use in a constructive way. Imagine all that could have been done with people working together instead of getting to this point. Maybe if the school could get 50 more students INTO the building there would be more justification to keep both campuses open. With all the hype this issue has created in the state of Minnesota, why would anyone in their right mind want to move into this district to raise a family? Sounds to me like the only thing the west side of the district wants is everything...the new k-12 school should have been there, and now the district should keep the Stewart campus open instead of the Brownton campus. Is anyone thinking of the 400+ students that enjoy being McLeod West and choose to attend school there?? They want to be McLeod West! Look at the make-up of the student body and where they are coming from. These students do not care where their friends live, they care that they are McLeod West. Also, I can't believe people really feel the school board is to blame for all of this. What about the taxpayers of the district? The lack of support has led to this situation. It is also sickening to hear that this was a 5-1 board vote (the lone being the board member from Stewart). All the individuals on the board are taxpayers, parents of students currently attending or recently graduated, and are strong supporters of the district (all but one). Only half of the board members have been "born & raised" here. Also, the significant decline in enrollment from this district has happened after failed bond referendums. It has shown students the lack of support the communities are giving to them and their education. There needs to be community support! It is a shame that this issue has only gotten worse over the years. All the districts around MW just want us to "fold" so we can be part of whatever future plans their districts have. That would save them from having to make difficult and painful decisions that the MW board has had to do. I agree, it appears that the Stewart campus looks better, but the facts are the Brownton campus has more total square footage, more total acreage, larger classrooms with more flexibility, more ballfields, a new science wing, and is where the student "market" is. Districts in the state have to close buildings quite often, so this is nothing new. Maybe everyone should take a lesson from the kids and just get along, for the future of not only the school district, but for the future of the communites as well.

The school board members were voted on by the people of the district as a whole for their positions, so they are not Brownton and Stewart school board members. We the voters of Brownton AND Stewart voted for the current members, with full knowledge of which town they resided in.

As school board members, they are suppose to be looking out for what is best for the district. I consider it a good thing that 5 of them want to see a future for McLeod West.

For being unpaid positions, I think they have proven how dedicated they are to our district. They have had hard decisions throughout this process and will continue to. I don't think I could be paid enough to be in their position, with all the ridacule they have faced.

This goes to show voting is very important... even if it is just for school board!

There has been much talk about how the Stewa