The Plan
What We’re Asking You to Consider
On Tuesday, November 3, you’ll see three questions on the ballot. The first focuses on addressing our most pressing educational, operations, safety, accessibility, and maintenance needs. The second focuses on remodeling our high school media center to support students and staff, and improvements to our auditorium and bus garage. And the third question focuses on creating safer, more functional outdoor athletic facilities.
Each question allows you to consider those investments separately. Details about each question can be found below.
“Our students and staff deserve learning and working environments that support them every day. As we looked at the needs across our schools, we focused on creating spaces that are safer, more functional, and better suited to how our students learn and our staff work today. The students of New York Mills are the absolute best, and we want their school environment to reflect the care, pride, and opportunities they deserve. Our goal is to make thoughtful investments that strengthen our schools and serve our students, staff, and community for years to come.”
Question 1 — Addressing Our Most Immediate Needs & Capital Projects Levy
Question 1 proposes a building bond referendum and capital projects levy that focuses on our most pressing educational and facility needs, including modernized Career and Technical Education (CTE) spaces, repurposed and improved educational spaces, a new band and choir space, enhanced safety and security, accessibility improvements, improved physical education, fitness, and wrestling spaces, and deferred maintenance improvements.
Here are additional details about Question 1.
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The plan would renovate and expand our current Career and Technical Education (CTE) spaces and provide adequate space to support our hands-on, career-ready programs, including small engines, metals, woods, robotics, and more.
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The plan would improve our classroom spaces to support our students and staff. This includes upgrades to our current science labs, such as casework, countertops, sinks, and work surfaces. The art room across from our science labs would be repurposed into a science lab, and our art room would be relocated near our cafeteria/commons area, providing access to a pottery kiln and natural light. The classroom near our auditorium would be repurposed to serve as a flex classroom for various uses. An additional classroom would be added near our Pre-K/1st grade wing to support our youngest learners, along with additional storage and a toilet.
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The plan would create collaborative Special Education (SPED) suites for both high school and elementary students, providing improved spaces that enhance student support and staff collaboration. At the high school, Special Education spaces would be centralized and updated to better serve student needs. At the elementary school, improvements would include dedicated Special Education classroom space, a new shower area to support student needs, additional storage, and enhanced learning environments designed to provide more effective and coordinated services for students.
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The plan would build a new space near our current auditorium to support band and choir, including right-sized rooms for each program, practice rooms, office space, a commons area, instrument storage, and more. This central location would support all grade levels well, and restrooms would be added to support this addition.
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The plan would address several deferred maintenance needs, including replacing deteriorated flooring throughout the building, replacing aging exterior doors in various locations, replacing our aging elementary windows, replacing the outdated wood windows in our dedicated Special Education area near our elementary classes, improving site drainage issues, completing building envelope repairs, completing parking lot upgrades such as sealcoating and striping, and more.
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The plan would improve all three entrance points in our building to ensure all visitors check in through the office before being let into the rest of our building. In addition, our administration offices in these areas would be renovated to streamline visitor check-in procedures.
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The plan would remodel our elementary school restrooms to meet ADA requirements, including updated layouts and new plumbing fixtures and finishes.
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The plan would make improvements to our kitchen area, including renovating the existing maintenance office into an expanded prep area, improving overall flow and efficiency. Our concession stand would be renovated and expanded to improve flow and provide additional storage space.
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The plan would create a dedicated delivery, receiving, and storage area to separate food and supply deliveries from bus traffic and parking lot circulation. This space would also provide a maintenance office, and additional parking would also be added as part of this improvement.
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The plan would expand, renovate, and right-size our current spaces that support physical education, fitness, and wrestling programs. The plan would provide a larger fitness and weight area, expanded athletic storage, renovated home locker rooms and upgraded showers, a visitor locker room, a dedicated space for our athletic trainer, storage, new restrooms, a hallway, and a dedicated entrance for that area.
Our current wrestling room would be replaced to provide space for our athletic trainer, a visitor locker room, storage, and a hallway that allows students with access to and from classes. We would replace that wrestling room with the same-size space to the west of the expanded weights room and provide one additional wrestling room that would have enough room for one mat. These flexible spaces would support both our boys’ and girls’ wrestling programs and be used for practices, training, and competitions.
New batting cages would be provided in our activities center, along with space to store wrestling mats. Both the batting cages and wrestling mats would be stored with hoists. Wrestling mats would also be stored in our main gymnasium. In addition, the sound system in our Sports Center would be improved, along with some acoustical treatments in that space.
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In addition to the proposed building improvements listed above, Question 1 proposes a 10-year capital projects levy expected to generate approximately $200,000 annually. These funds would support ongoing operational needs, including new technology devices and replacements, improved classroom technology and network infrastructure, cybersecurity improvements, curriculum updates, technology training and staffing, buses, curriculum, facilities, equipment, furnishings, and more. This is included in Question 1, and is not a separate question on the ballot.
Question 2 — Media Center, Auditorium, and Bus Garage Improvements
Question 2 proposes a building bond referendum that focuses on enhancing student learning and activity spaces with improvements to our high school media center and auditorium, while also addressing deferred maintenance needs at our bus garage. This question is contingent on Question 1 also passing.
Here are additional details about Question 2.
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The plan would improve our high school media center, including creating a dedicated learning commons space, small group learning and collaboration rooms, and updating finishes to support our students and staff well.
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The plan would improve our current auditorium, including replacing the sound system, rigging, stage and house lighting, and completing interior finishes such as curtains, drapery, wall finishes, soffits, painting the existing floor, and more.
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The plan would make improvements to our bus garage, including replacing deteriorating exterior siding, repairing structural and concrete damage, upgrading both interior and exterior lighting, and installing a modern exhaust ventilation system in our maintenance shop.
Question 3 — Outdoor Athletic Facility Improvements
Question 3 proposes a building bond referendum that focuses on creating safer, more functional outdoor athletic facilities that support our students, athletes, school activities, youth programs, and community use. This question is contingent on Question 1 also passing.
Here are additional details about Question 3.
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The plan would relocate our current football field to our main campus, and include a new football field, an eight-lane, 400-meter competition track including adequate space for all field activities, including high jump, pole vault, horizontal jumps, shot put, and discus, improved spectator amenities such as a grand stand and press box, a plaza area, and space for a concession stand and toilets.
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The plan would include relocating our current baseball and softball fields to where our current football field is, which would be near the city’s primary baseball field. These fields would provide improved playing surfaces, better site functionality, and support for student athletes and our community.
How the Plan Impacts Our Students, Staff, and Community
Our proposed referendum addresses a variety of items, supporting both our facility and educational needs. You might be wondering, how will the plan impact our students, staff, and community. Here’s how:
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Improvements to our Career and Technical Education (CTE) areas would provide enhanced space for students to have hands-on learning for future careers.
Improvements to our science labs would provide greater collaboration between students and our staff while creating an enhanced learning environment to learn in.
Centralizing our Special Education areas will help provide greater student support and foster staff collaboration. In addition, providing more space for those needs will help our students continue to grow.
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Addressing these needs now helps reduce the risk of more costly repairs in the future while extending the life of our building, including flooring, building envelope, restrooms, accessibility, parking, windows, and more.
Improving the security in our entrances will ensure all of our students and staff are safe throughout the school day.
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Dedicated band and choir spaces would provide opportunities for music instruction, collaboration, rehearsal, storage, and performance preparation.
Providing additional space for fitness, physical education, and our weights programs would provide more functional spaces throughout the school day and beyond.
Providing a central location for football and track and field near our current campus helps improve accessibility and provides a safe location for student athletes.
