RUSHFORD, Minn. (KTTC) -- With a new Rushford-Peterson High School missing the bid for a piece of the state's economic development grant, the financing for a new school falls back onto the community.
The school district still wants to build, but now they are forced to scale back and focus their efforts where they need it the most. "We came to a realization we couldn't handle it all as a large project which is in excess of 30-million," said R-P Superintendent Chuck Ehler.
The plans for a new school did not rank high enough to earn a piece of the state's $47.5 million dollar grant.
Now it's on to Plan 'B'.
"Plan B is that we are going to build an early childhood through fifth grade center and then within five to seven years, hopefully build the middle school/high school portion of the building," said Ehler.
The school district has created a proposal it believes will help solves just some of its current issues. "We're at capacity right now," said Ehler. "And, in fact, we have students and families that we've placed on a waiting list."
Other issues include how spread out the grades are within the building. The elementary school it is home to grades Kindergarten through third. Fourth and fifth grades are located at the other ends of the building. The hopes of this new proposal is to at least get them consolidated into one general area."
The other issues remain inside the old weather-worn building. If the proposal passes, the new school would still be built on the north end of town. "When I had first came here in 2007, I had been here just a short while, the community was flooded. And they took on the attitude of 'we're not going to wait for somebody to come and help us, we're going to roll up our sleeves, we're going to get our community back on their feet'," said Ehler.
The proposal for the new early childhood through fifth grade school will go up for a vote this December.
