NEW BREMEN – Following a New Bremen Board of Education, Superintendent Jason Schrader said Monday he felt the school district was developing a clear master vision that involved both the public and private sectors of the community. He cited the district’s new K-8 building plans as well private fundraising goals for a new grade 6-8 training center as evidence of this cooperation.
Since the posting of Garmann/Miller architectural concept drawings for the new K-8 building on the school’s website last week, Schrader said public interest has “caused quite a stir.”
“As of today, we have reached over 10,500 people and our 3-D plans have been viewed 8500 times,” he said.
Schrader added he is pleased with the many positive comments they have had as well.
The $20 million K-8 building is to be built adjacent to the current high school. The state will cover 28 percent of the project cost, approximately $5.6 million, with the balance of $14.4 million funded locally. Completion is expected by December 2020.
At the same board meeting, Schrader said he was also glad to hear that the Cardinal Campaign decided that building a new Cardinal Booster Center for grades 6-8 would be Phase 1 of their plans. Cardinal Campaign representative Jon Wells told the Board that evening that the New Bremen Cardinal Campaign vision had three phases which will ensure a safe and walkable campus for grades K to 12. Phase 2 of the campaign would build new baseball and softball fields on the property east of school. Phase 3 is a 7- to 10-year plan to address long term press box needs and recovering of stadium seats.
The superintendent said preparation of the K-8 building site is almost complete. Besides completion of drainage work, the title search, environmental study, and site study had already been done. Paperwork on a land swap with Crown Equipment for the site for the new elementary school was almost complete as well. In exchange for the land by the school, Crown will take possession of the grounds of the old elementary school once new construction is completed in 2020.
Other possible actions the school may pursue is the possible vacation of Cardinal Drive to facilitate traffic flow.
The plans for the new K-8 building can be found at https://bit.ly/2wh23WN. The plans for the CBC can be seen at the Cardinal Campaign website http://www.cardinalcampaign.com/phase1.aspx.
Other items on the agenda of last week’s the Board of Education meeting were recognition of the athletic volunteers for the 2018-19 school year. They are Tony Holdren for golf, Zach Fry for junior high football, and Jeff Thobe, Cody King and Jason Wells for high school football.
It was reported that transportation costs went from $178,040 in 2016-17 to $197,146 for the 2017-2018 school year due in large part because of an aging bus fleet.
The board heard that the number of Tri-Star students remained the same as last year at 22 students. They also learned that district has assigned new high school principal Marcus Overman with oversight of grades 7 to 12, with elementary principal Diane Kramer in charge of grades K to 6. In the past, the elementary principal had oversight of grades K to 8.
