Support the Timberjay by making a donation.

Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Ely school district facility project coming together

New site plans show traffic flow, parking improvements

Keith Vandervort
Posted 10/30/20

ELY – Design plans for the ISD 696 facility expansion project continue to come together as bid documents and design plans come into focus.The district’s architect, Architectural Resources …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Ely school district facility project coming together

New site plans show traffic flow, parking improvements

Posted

ELY – Design plans for the ISD 696 facility expansion project continue to come together as bid documents and design plans come into focus.
The district’s architect, Architectural Resources Inc., returned this week to continue meeting with teachers, staff and administration to gather feedback and ideas, Superintendent Erik Erie told school board members Monday night, “They are concentrating on both the Memorial and Washington buildings and how we can repurpose some of those areas and what we will need there,” he said.
The district’s construction manager, Kraus Anderson, is planning a site visit next week to determine how the two buildings will be tied together.
“This is certainly a lot different than just constructing a new building,” he said. The Memorial and Washington buildings, along with part of the Industrial Arts building, will become one structure when the project is complete.
Erie presented a concept drawing Monday during the school board’s study session that shows a revised traffic and parking layout on the northeast portion of the campus.
“It is really important how we get people into our building,” Erie said. “We have the secure entrance but we are looking at how traffic and busing flows and how visitors get in and out.”
He described two traffic loops that enter and exit on Harvey Street.
One loop, near the former entrance to Washington school, will be used exclusively for school buses. Another traffic loop will facilitate parent drop off and pick-up and will include visitor parking near the new school building entrance. That loop is also connected to the students and employee parking areas on the east side of the campus. The traffic concept plan was set to be reviewed this week.
The recent snowfall and seemingly early arrival of winter may have delayed the Memorial building roof project.
“We were hoping to get that done this fall, but I believe the roofers will at least be here to button things up for the winter,” Erie said.
District Facilities Director Tim Leeson said a recent email from the roofer indicated that warmer temperatures predicted for this fall yet may allow roof replacement work to be done before winter really sets in.
Child care
Contingency plans were updated for child care procedures for critical care workers during hybrid and distance-learning. Under state executive orders, the school district is mandated to provide care for school-age children at no cost during the time those children are not receiving instruction in school during school hours.
Erie said child care during COVID-19 “creates some angst because it is another thing we have to prepare for.” Due to the hybrid learning model currently in place in the Memorial building, the district is providing child care for sixth-grade students (age 12 and under) on the days when they are in distance learning.
The Minnesota Department of Education requires child care be made available to parents/guardians identified as Tier 1 Critical Care Workers, including, healthcare and public health, law enforcement, public safety and first responders, food and agriculture, Judicial Branch, National Guard, educators and school staff, and child care providers. With only one parent/guardian serving as a Tier 1 worker, child care is not required.
“We really need to stick with this, because that is all the capacity that we have,” said K-5 Principal Anne Oelke. “It is kind of a tricky balance. We can’t do more than what is required as of now.”
Erie added, “We have to stick with that strict interpretation of the orders.” Due to space limitations on the school campus, he and the Community Education coordinator reached out to the Ely community for additional spaces.
“We had some meetings with Grace Lutheran Church and First Presbyterian Church, and they have agreed to be a (child care) site,” Erie said. “We have to make sure we can take care of those Tier 1 critical workers.”
One-to-one Initiative
Erie also updated the school board on the progress of the one-to-one initiative to supply distance-learning technology for all students in the district. ISD 696 was promised an end-of-September delivery date for about 540 Google Chromebook devices.
He said their vendor has more than 23,000 devices on backorder. “They are a hot commodity and it has been frustrating,” Erie said. “I’m told that (delays) are with both the vendors and the manufacturers.”
With the possibility of changes in the learning models because of increasing coronavirus cases, the district is taking stop-gap steps to provide other devices to as many as 15 teachers in the Memorial building.
“We are looking at purchasing Surface Pro (Microsoft-dedicated) devices at about $1,000 each,” Erie said. “That would at least give those teachers devices that have a camera and microphone to take home for teaching.”
He also indicated that Chromebook training for teachers and staff is still under development.
Oelke added, “The scary part of switching (learning) models is that we will not have enough devices to give to our students if we have to send them home.”