Windom Area Schools would like to thank the Windom Community for participating in the survey to provide feedback on the Arts and Athletic Projects presented to enhance our facilities. The school board, administration, and the design team received the survey results, hosted in-depth discussions, and made adjustments to the plan based on the feedback. “The survey results were very helpful and provided the district with guidance when making decisions regarding this project. With 60% of parents and 37% of non-parents in favor of the entire project, we knew that we had good support, but adjustments needed to be made to bring the overall cost down,” said Jamie Frank, Superintendent.
Adjustments to the plan have been made to decrease the total referendum from $35M to $27.5, a 20% decrease.
The team leaned on the prioritization results from the community survey to guide the next steps. Varsity softball and baseball fields were the lowest priority for both the parent and non-parent groups and have been removed from the project. These teams will continue to play at Island Park and The Windom Recreation Center. In lieu of the varsity fields, two lower-level fields were added so that 7th, 8th, and B Squad can practice and play on campus. The committee also agreed that it was important to find an inexpensive backup plan should Island Park flood again. The adjusted plan includes a “bump out” on the multi-purpose field for this purpose and it will also be used for lower-level team practice and games.
In addition, there were budget adjustments made to the Fine Arts Center. The number of seats was not decreased, but some of the more costly finishings were taken out of the project as well as a slight reduction in square footage. It will still be a nice facility and meet our needs very well.
The school board took action on Thursday night to approve this plan and submit the Review and Comment to the MN Department of Education for approval.
