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Introduction
The consensus of the Board and Administration is to reduce both Northridge and Murphy Elementary Schools by about 200 students each by building a new elementary school. The new school would be built to accommodate about 500 students. Initially, the school would accommodate approximately 400 students.
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Northeast Site
A unanimous vote at the school board meeting Monday June 23rd, was for the Northeast location. This site is located one half mile east of the KOA Campground. This site is approximately 10 acres and adjacent to 5 acres of Park Board property.
At about $10 million to build, the school could be open as soon as 2010.
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Discussion
Using the School Planner GIS software, a number of scenarios to decide which site would be the most advantageous in terms of the following goals were reviewed: 1. Decrease the number of students at Northridge by at least 200 students. 2. Decrease the number of students at Murphy by about 200 students. 3. Create a school with opening day enrollment of about 400 students.
For the School Board meeting on Monday, June 23rd, two realistic scenarios, one for the northwest site and one for the northeast site were discussed.
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FAQ's About the New Elementary School
- Where is the new elementary school and how big will it be?
- The 10-acre property is east of the KOA campgrounds east of Centennial Road. It would be about the size of Solheim and hold 500 students. The park district also owns 5 acres adjacent to the NE school property.
- What about the traffic congestion on Centennial Road and Century Avenue during peak times of the day?
- A new school in that location will just add to that problem. The city and developer are working to improve the intersection of Centennial and Century Avenue. We have spoken to city officials, and Roosevelt Road should be paved and connected to 43rd Avenue by next summer (2009) as part of a developer's agreement. Construction of the school, which is east of the new road, will be completed by the fall of 2010, so it shouldn't be an issue.
- What are the exact boundaries for which children will attend the new school?
- To help the School Board make its decision, administrators ran computer scenarios using School Planner GIS software to see where we could get 400 students from various northern sections of the school district. No firm boundaries by street address have been set and won't be until closer to the time the school will open, due to the ever-changing housing market. You can see the general enrollment areas by going to www.bismarckschools.org under the Facilities and Transportation link in the left column.
- The Northridge students are pretty far away from the NE school. Will they be bussed?
- Yes, all "rural" students from the northern tier are bussed. The Northridge attendance boundary is adjacent to the Murphy boundary. In fact, Northridge students are closer to the NE school than are some Murphy students closer to Rita Murphy school.
- Which middle school and senior high will children who attend the new NE school go to?
- We haven't made a final decision on that. Right now, schools are assigned to a specific middle school, but we may allow the students who would have attended Northridge to go to Horizon, which is where they would have gone originally.
- Why didn't the School Board build a school at Lincoln?
- The Board needed to relieve crowding at Murphy and Northridge, so a north side school had to be built first. Those schools will each be reduced by about 200 students. A decision on whether or not to build at Lincoln or whether or not to remodel Myhre will be made at a later time, but hopefully in the next couple of years. The school district does own 10 acres of land in Lincoln.
- Is Lincoln part of the Bismarck Public School district?
- Yes, Lincoln pays Bismarck school taxes just like other residents.
- Why did the School Board close Richholt when we now need elementary space?
- Schools in the older, middle section of Bismarck were losing enrollment, while schools in the north, south and east were, and still are, gaining students. So, we decided to use Richholt as an early childhood center (BECEP) instead of building a new center, which was needed.
- When will the school district build a new middle school and senior high to accommodate all of the elementary students who are moving into the upper grades?
- There have been discussions of moving 6th graders out of the elementary schools and into the middle schools, then moving 9th graders into the senior highs. It is also a School Board goal to buy land for a new high school this year. Currently, students north of Divide go to Century and those south of Divide go to Bismarck High. There hasn't been talk of building a new middle school. Horizon currently has some available space.
- I didn't know much about the project. Was information given about it?
- Yes. The project is in our district master plan. During the school year, we ran articles in the school newsletters. In May, we ran an insert in the Bismarck Tribune and the news media has done several stories on this need for a new north side elementary school. Also, we advertised two school board meetings in June where the public could comment on both sites. Three people appeared before the board and about six sent emails. The meetings were aired live and replayed on Community Access TV, cable channel 12. In addition, there was information on the BPS web site at www.bismarckschools.org.
If you have a question that is not on this list, email renae_walker@bismarckschools.org or call (701) 323-4091.
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