Senators say Minot should build new middle school

Aug. 10, 2011
Tour convinces them that flood-damaged Ramstad Middle School should be replaced

From The Minot Daily News: The two U.S. Senators from South Dakota say the Minot school district needs to replace the flood-damaged Erik Ramstad Middle School. Senators Kent Conrad John Hoeven gave their views after visiting Ramstad and other sites in the flood-damaged city. School superintendent Mark Vollmer estimated that replacing Ramstad would cost $28 million to $30 million. The middle school had floodwater up to the ceilings for about a month and resembles a bombed-out wreck with windows knocked out, countless walls caved in, and mud and silt caking the floors. The Federal Emergency Management Agency hasn't determined whether it thinks the schools can be salvaged.

JULY 2011 from The Minot Daily News: The Minot (N.D.) school board has approved a later school start date--Sept. 6--to give the schools more time for flood recovery. Erik Ramstad Middle School, Longfellow and Lincolnelementaries, Central Campus Plus, the Minot Head Start and the Adult Learning Center all sustained flood damage. The district says Ramstad students will attend classes in the Minot Municipal Auditorium and in portable classrooms; Lincoln students will attend classes in First Presbyterian Church; Longfellow students will attend classes in portable classrooms on the grounds of the school; Head Start children will attend classes in portables on the grounds of Jefferson Early Childhood Center; Central Campus Plus students will be on the grounds of Quentin Burdick Job Corps Center. Vollmer said the district is still searching for a site for the Adult Learning Center programs. Other schools affected by flooding, including Perkett, Sunnyside, Roosevelt and McKinley elementaries, should be ready for school this fall. From The Minot Daily News: Minot (N.D.) School Supt. Mark Vollmer is asking the school board to delay the start of classes until after Labor Day to provide more time for recovery from this summer's flood. Many of the district's facilities sustained severe damage. Vollmer has asked the city to condemn Erik Ramstad Middle School. The roof is caved in on the south side of the building and more than 30 walls in the building are caved in. The district also will ask the state to allow Minot to shorten the school year by five days--180 instead of 185.

JUNE 2011...from The Associated Press: Public school officials in Minot, N.D., must decide soon where to find classrooms for more than 1,000 elementary and middle-school students whose buildings have been swallowed by floodwaters and probably will be unfit for occupancy when classes are due to resume. The flooding of the Souris River has swamped 4,100 homes and hundreds of businesses in the city. Two of the Minot district's elementary schools—Lincoln and Longfellow—are believed to have severe water damage, and Ramstad Middle School is submerged to the roofline. Together, they account for 1,028 students, about 15 percent of the district's enrollment. Another elementary school with 281 pupils had a sewage backup in the basement, but has been pumped out and appears in good shape. Perkett Elementary, where 248 children attend, is protected by a dike and is dry for now, though the neighborhood where the school is situated had become a lake. Also flooded was the Little Flower Catholic School, with 170 pupils in preschool through fifth grade.

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