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LAKE LAWSUIT: Could be headed to high court PAGE 10A
District’s schools running out of space BY DEBRA NEUTKENS EDITOR
WHITE BEAR LAKE — A 90-person facilities planning committee that spent nearly 40 hours working to solve the district's growing enrollment pickle settled on options they feel are best for students and best for taxpayers. The fruit of their labors was presented to the school board at its April 22 workstudy meeting. This wasn't the first time members heard the committee's recommendations. A summary was reported earlier in an April 17 Press story, but more detail is being provided here from last week's public meeting. A copy of the committee report is also available online at the district's website: www.whitebear. k12.mn.us. At the end of the day, this is what the committee recommends: • Expand and remodel North Campus for one high school, grades 9-12, for 3,200 students. The site will be expanded and the bus facility next door will be relocated. • Turn South Campus into a middle school for 1,350 students. • Expand Central Middle School into space currently occupied by district offices, for 1,350 students. • Renovate Sunrise Park for the district office center, early childhood center, transitions education center and senior center. • Build a new elementary school for 720 students in the north part of the district. Land in Hugo has been acquired for this purpose. • Expand Oneka Elementary and Otter Lake Elementary to accommodate 720 students each. • Create a K-5 grade configuration across all elementary buildings. • Create two early childhood centers at Hugo Elementary and Sunrise Park. • Remodel media centers in all buildings. • Purchase new furniture for all classrooms districtwide. The total cost for the phase one project is estimated at $326 million.
Hometown Teacher of the Year makes kindergarteners feel at home BY SARA MARIE MOORE VADNAIS HEIGHTS EDITOR
Lincoln Elementary kindergarten teacher Abby Kath, a 2002 White Bear alumna, is the 2019 White Bear Lake Area Schools Teacher of the Year. “I am so blessed and so thankful and this is the most humbling opportunity,” said Kath on stage in the South Campus theater April 25 after she was announced as the White Bear Lake Teachers’ Association (WBLTA) Teacher of the Year from among seven finalists. Kath has been teaching elementa-
SEE TEACHER OF THE YEAR, PAGE 9A
PAUL DOLS | PRESS PUBLICATIONS
White Bear Lake Teacher of the Year Abby Kath is flanked by her Lincoln Elementary School co-workers Brooke Reeves and Traci Indlecoffer.
PAUL DOLS | PRESS PUBLICATIONS
Song requests for the piano man
Estimated cost breakdown of facilities The remodeled high school is estimated to cost $162 million. Another $12 million in renovations and $6 million for possible purchase of 21 homes would be
ry school in the district for 13 years. She started out her teaching career in the Mounds View and Stillwater districts. Growing up, she never thought she would teach in her hometown but is now glad she is. She attended Birch Lake Elementary School as a child. The pride in the community is something she enjoyed as a youth and makes her glad to be raising her children here. She will have a kindergartner at Hugo Elementary School next school year.
Joey Schulte and Ava DeCastillo sing along with pianist Steven Holtz during the opening reception for the 2019 High School Visual Arts Contest Thursday, April 25 in the Ford Family Gallery at the White Bear Center for the Arts. Holtz played songs that the students requested including “Piano Man,” “Linus and Lucy” and “Stairway to Heaven.” The juried exhibit, featuring the work of area students in grades 9-12, is on display through May 15.
SEE SCHOOLS, PAGE 9A
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