The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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October 17, 2009

District setting new school’s boundaries

Rosa Parks Elementary to open in fall of 2010

By Tanner Kent

MANKATO — Less than a year away from its opening, the Mankato Area School Board is holding a public hearing on attendance boundaries for Rosa Parks Elementary.

The hearing will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday after the regularly scheduled board meeting in the Intergovernmental Center. Public comments will be accepted with the School Board taking final action on the boundaries in November.

Supt. Sheri Allen, who will give a short presentation on the proposed boundaries to open the hearing, said the new K-5 school will open in the fall of 2010 with a target of 325 to 350 students.

She added that little has changed since a June study session when the proposed boundary changes included (with affected schools in parentheses):

n For Rosa Parks: The boundary would be established south of Stadium Road and south of County Road 83 (currently the Washington Elementary attendance area);

n For Eagle Lake: Boundary is expanded to run north and south along County Road 186 (formerly Franklin Elementary attendance area);

n For Franklin: Boundary would be reduced by not including the areas north of Industrial Road and east of Highway 22 (Washington would assume the area);

n For Kennedy: Boundary would be reduced by not including the Highland Park area of the Minnesota State University campus and the area west of Monks Ave. (Washington would assume the area);

n For Washington: Boundary would be reduced for the new school, but slight adjustments will include some Franklin and Kennedy students.

With the changes, Washington is projected for an enrollment decrease of about 100 students in the 2010-11 school year. Having faced several years of over-capacity enrollments and severe space challenges, Principal Will Remmert has said repeatedly that the new school will bring much-needed relief.

But Allen said the district is still determining its direction on attendance exceptions. She said she anticipates some families will want to remain at their current schools until their students move to junior high; others, she said, are likely to request exceptions to attend the new school.

The district will consider all attendance exceptions in December and January.

“We still have some things to decide,” she said. “That’s why we want to get feedback now.”

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