Below are answers to the most frequently asked questions about the Long Range Facilities Plan. If you do not see the answer to your question, visit our Ask a Question page to submit your own.
What is the status of the Plan B that has been proposed?
In August 2008, the Duluth School Board accepted a petition filed by the group Let Duluth Vote (LDV) requesting the development of an alternative to the Long Range Facilities Plan. As part of this petition, LDV included “Plan B,” one of three options they evaluated for an alternative facilities plan. By law, the School Board must submit a review and comment document to the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) in response to any valid petition requesting voter-approved bonding for an alternative plan.
The School Board has set aside $250,000 to cover expenses related to developing and analyzing Plan B, covering legal costs from a lawsuit filed in March by LDV requesting work on the Facilities Plan be halted, and any special elections that may need to be held on alternative plans.
Updates
February 2009 Update
April 2009 Update
June 2009 Update
August 2009 Update
October 2009 Update
January 2010 Update
Feburary 2009 Update
A February 24, 2009, letter from the school district to Brenda Anderson, one of LDV’s leaders, requested this assistance in developing Plan B. A March 10 deadline for LDV to submit information has passed, and the district is proceeding to prepare a review and comment document for the MDE while awaiting input from LDV.
Read the entire letter.
April 2009 Update
On April 28, the District retained the services of ATS&R to assist in the development of a Review and Comment document for Plan B. That evening, LDV presented an outline of their current plan to the School Board at a Committee of the Whole meeting. Since then, District staff, LDV leaders and ATS&R have been meeting to better understand the details of Plan B. The Review and Comment document is scheduled to be submitted to MDE after a School Board review at a public meeting later in June.
June 2009 Update
On June 23, LDV presented its Plan B at the School Board Committee of the Whole meeting. The plan has been forwarded to the Minnesota Department of Education for the review and comment process. The link below offers a side by side comparison of Plan B to the Long Range Facilities Plan, which is currently underway. This comparison will show you the many ways in which the Long Range Facilities Plan offers Duluth students the best school facilities and educational resources and taxpayers the most value today and well into the future.
View the differences in tax impact, operational savings, building efficiencies and other features of the Long Range Facilities Plan compared to the alternative Plan B.
August 2009 Update
On August 12, the Duluth Public Schools received a letter from MDE concerning the LDV Plan B Review and Comment document submitted in late June 2009.
According to the letter, the information contained in the current Plan B Review and Comment is incomplete and does not meet the requirements of state law. Specifically, MDE requests the following:
- Detailed information about Phase II of LDV’s project. MDE understands that Phase II is subject to successful passage of a bond referendum by local residents. However, the work LDV proposes for Phase II is still an integral and necessary part of the plan, and MDE is asking for a more comprehensive picture of what Phase II includes.
- Specific information about the proposed middle school on the Denfeld site. MDE wants to better understand how LDV intends to construct a second school on a relatively small site (roughly 14 acres), and if they intend to expand the site through land acquisition.
The District has asked to meet with the representatives from LDV who worked on the latest version of Plan B in order to develop responses to MDE’s requests.
October 2009 Update
On October 23, Duluth School District officials said that MDE has issued a positive Review & Comment statement regarding LDV’s Plan B. MDE’s action, which demonstrates that Plan B has met the criteria required by the State of Minnesota for a facilities construction project, opens the way for a non-binding bond referendum on Plan B in the near future.
“The district invested more than $70,000 in professional consultant services with Minneapolis-based ATS&R and hundreds of hours of staff time to ensure the School Board submitted a thorough plan to the Department of Education,” said Bill Hanson, Director of Business Services. “Because of the level of detail we included in the plan, we fully expected the Department would find its criteria met and would therefore issue a positive review and comment regarding Plan B.”
Hanson said the district will work further with LDV and MDE to identify how work that is underway on the current Long Range Facilities Project potentially impacts what was submitted in the Plan B Review and Comment document regarding buildings, financials and other aspects, and to determine if any amendments are needed to the document before it goes to a referendum.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Plan B Review & Comment
January 2010 Update
The District has completed all steps required prior to a non-binding referendum on Plan B, with the exception of identifying a funding source to finance approximately $90,000 in election expenses. At the November 2009 school board meeting, board members voted unanimously against using District operating funds to finance the referendum election.
This issue is on the agenda for consideration at the January school board meeting. When a funding source is identified, the District will move forward in selecting a date for the Plan B referendum.