December 2020

During the month of December progress has been moving forward on the New Middle School project. Major building blocks including footings and site utilities have now been added. Follow along with updates by watching live or reading In the Loop news.

September 2020

On Tuesday, September 15, the Rochester Public School Board received an update on the schematic design o of the new middle school. A replay of this meeting is available on Youtube.com/ISD535, and the presentation slides are available on BoardDocs.

On Monday, July 20, the Rochester City Council formally approved the annexation for a 40-acre parcel of land located off of 65^th Street NW into the City from Cascade Township. This land will serve as the location for the middle school. 

On Wednesday, July 22, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for the Substantial Land Alternation (SLA) on the middle school property. A CUP is necessary for an SLA for cuts and fills greater than 10 feet. 

On July 14^th, 2020 the school board received an update on the design development of our New Middle School. A replay of this meeting is available on Youtube.com/ISD535, and the slides for the presentation can be found below.

Presentation Slides

june 23, 2020

RPS hosted a virtual development information meeting (DIM) at 5:30 PM on June 23, to provide an overview of the proposed project due to the amount of earthwork on the property. This overview includes the site location, project overview, and project schedule. Watch the playback below:

june 4, 2020

RPS hosted a virtual community meeting at 6 PM on June 3 to share the proposed design of the new Middle School. Questions were answered during this session and the feedback received will be taken into consideration with the middle school design team. Watch the meeting playback below:

On May 27, Rochester Public Schools presented annexation plans of a 40-acre parcel into the City of Rochester at a public meeting to the Planning and Zoning Commission. This land is currently in Cascade Township and abuts the Rochester City limits along its south boundary. The District has been referring to this informally as the 65^th Street property during the discussions of a potential middle school location. After a review of the plans, the Commission unanimously voted to approve the annexation request. The City Council will be asked to formally approve the annexation on June 3. 

On April 28, the Rochester Public School Board approved the termination of the purchase agreement for the land to construct a middle school at Hart Farms in SW Rochester. The purchase agreement for this property was contingent on the District's referendum passing, which it did in November 2019, and on the annexation of the property by the Rochester City Council. The City Council denied the annexation of the property on April 20. The District did not lose any money, and the earnest money will be refunded now that the purchase agreement has been terminated. 

Additionally, on April 28, the School Board voted to approve the purchase of 40-acres of land on 65th Street NW, at the future intersection of 65th Street NW and 55th Avenue NW. This purchase agreement is contingent upon the annexation of the property into the City. The District is also continuing conversations with a land-owner, Mr. Kramer, at the future intersection of 50th Avenue NW and Badger Hills Drive NW. The property has been offered to the District at no charge. The School Board has taken no action on this property at this time.  

With this in mind, the School Board's decision to purchase the parcel of land north of 65th Street was due to several factors. 

• First, the Board considered the future of our community and District. Referencing the Kramer property, nearly 50% of the two-mile walk radius is in the Byron school district, which would likely fragment a neighborhood due to students and neighbors attending different schools and districts. The 65th Street property allows for walkability now and in the future. 
• City sewer connections 
• City road connections. In both cases, the District will be responsible for building a road from the school to the City connector.
• Turn lanes on 65th Street
• Wetland mitigation. The District's contractor has surveyed both properties, and an extensive amount of correction would need to occur at the Kramer property. 
• Purchase price. Even with the purchase price for the 65th Street land, there are an estimated $1 million cost savings due to the factors previously listed. 

Superintendent Michael Muñoz said, “It’s unfortunate that the SW land annexation was denied, but we are eager to continue working with the City on the NW land annexation. We feel confident that we will be able to navigate the process in order to break ground by October 2020.” The District has filed for the annexation of the NW 65th property today. By meeting the City's deadline today, the District anticipates an annexation hearing by mid-June. 

Construction will begin in October 2020 for the school to start serving students in grades 6 - 8 in September 2022. 

Over the past year, Rochester Public Schools (RPS) has been working with the city administration regarding the location of the new middle school, which was one of several projects that the RPS residents voted for on the November 5, 2019 bond referendum. The goals and criteria the District has utilized with site selection include addressing the current and future capacity, walkability, student demographics, topography, and the City's comprehensive plan, P2S. 

During this time, the District has been working through the predevelopment process with city administration, which includes planning and zoning and annexation of the Hart Farm property in SW Rochester. On Monday, April 20, the City Council voted 6-1 to deny the annexation request of the SW land.

While we are disappointed with this outcome and how it will impact the school district for years to come, the District was simultaneously searching for land in Northwest Rochester in the event that the city forced the District to build NW. It is incumbent upon us to continue all of the phases of construction in order to meet our goal of breaking ground in 2020, for a school opening in fall 2022. 

On Tuesday, April 28, the School Board will have a closed session to discuss property. The next steps on how the District is planning to move forward with the NW properties will be shared during a future school board meeting.

Over the past year, Rochester Public Schools (RPS) has been working with the city administration regarding the location of the new middle school, which was one of several projects that the RPS residents voted for on the November 5, 2019 bond referendum. The goals and criteria the District has utilized with site selection include addressing the current and future capacity, walkability, student demographics, topography, and the City's comprehensive plan, P2S. 

During this time, the District has been working through the predevelopment process with city administration, which includes planning and zoning and annexation of the Hart Farm property in SW Rochester. The District studied data extensively before determining a location in SW Rochester would be the ideal location for a new middle school, set to serve the community for the next 75+ years. Some of the information we used included housing data over the past ten years and the capacity of existing middle schools. Our selection in the Hart Farm site in SW Rochester met the District’s criteria for a school site and was the recommendation of the Facilities Task Force to the School Board. 

In December, the District submitted documentation for annexation. The City Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to review the annexation documentation at their March 11 meeting. Then, on April 6, the City Council will review the annexation request. 

The District is also exploring properties in the Northwest part of town per the request of the City administration. We are using the same criteria that we used in the selection of the SW property. The District is responsible for the impact of the middle school location to our students and families. Therefore, we must review factors such as our students’ ability to walk to the school, the amount of time spent riding a school bus, socio-economic status, and diversity of our student population. 

Because the District is studying two different geographical locations for a middle school, we have  preliminary drafts of our school district boundaries as a way to gauge the impacts of placing a middle school in the NW versus the SW. The proposed boundaries currently under consideration are working documents, which are still very much in draft form and far from final. I am sharing this background information with you in the interest of ensuring that conceptual information or preliminary draft documents are not misconstrued as something that is in the nature of a final option moving forward.

The District believes in transparency and communication with our families and community. Our families need to know that we will be working with our consultants on boundary options while considering the goals of our referendum, including walkability and equity. Additionally, we must work to balance our students' diversity, socio-economic status, and capacity across the District. 

Once the City approves a location of a middle school, the District will be able to continue more in-depth work on our elementary and middle school boundaries. We know boundary changes can be disruptive and are very personal to our families. We will continue to balance the District's responsibility to all students and our criteria mentioned above while providing minimum disruption to families. We plan to engage our families and seek their feedback after we have a more established draft of boundaries.

The District has a purchase agreement in place in SW Rochester near Hart Farms for the middle school property. This purchase agreement is contingent on the annexation of the property into the City, and costs associated with utilities (water/sewer) and infrastructure (streets/sidewalks). District and City staff continue to meet regularly. The District's goal is to seek approval on the SW property from the City Council in the near future.

The annexation meeting with the City of Rochester is scheduled to occur in April.