Sioux Falls School District shares big ideas for Whittier middle school and other projects

Morgan Matzen, Sioux Falls Argus Leader
·3 min read

The Sioux Falls School District shared two options for new elementary school sites, an idea for the future of the community campus and information about the future of Whittier Middle School in a planning meeting Monday afternoon.

Two potential elementary school sites include a spot just southeast of McGovern Middle School where the school district already owns the land, or a potential for a site on 266th Street.

That site would require a nearly 20-acre land purchase by the school district, Jeffrey Kreiter, director of operational services for the district, said. It would be several blocks to the west of Discovery Elementary School. Kreiter noted the district is in communications with the developer of that land.

Funds for a future elementary school at one of these two sites are contained in the $190 million bond that voters passed for the district in 2018, and which helped build both Jefferson High School and Ben Reifel Middle School.

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Choosing an elementary school site will require enrollment projections, finalization of a site, determination of an architectural approach — with the potential to replicate the look and floorplan of Sonia Sotomayor Elementary School — and more. The timeline would also include construction, an elementary boundary setting process and a transition plan for students switching schools.

Board president Cynthia Mickelson noted stakeholders will be informed as the process continues.

Kreiter shared other future potential uses for city land in the 3 p.m. planning meeting Monday, including for a project at the Instructional Planning Center and for the Whittier neighborhood.

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The grass lot just south of IPC could be the future site for the community campus, Kreiter said, noting it's just an idea at the moment. But, he said it's land the district owns already, and construction could be completed either with the district's capital outlay funds or potentially a bond.

The Sioux Falls School District administration office, the Instructional Planning Center, is located at 201 E 38th Street, shown here Thursday, June 13, 2019 in Sioux Falls.
The Sioux Falls School District administration office, the Instructional Planning Center, is located at 201 E 38th Street, shown here Thursday, June 13, 2019 in Sioux Falls.

Community campus is a program for students with disabilities 18-21 years old who've graduated high school and helps them bridge the gap between high school and adulthood while teaching them job and life skills. The program was previously housed at the Western Mall, where the district rented space for it, but the program has since outgrown that space and has overflown into the Axtell Park building.

Kreiter also shared plans for the Whittier Middle School site. The district currently owns eight lots in the area, of 41 potential lots for a new middle school.

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The district's plan is to buy lots to the north of the school so that a new middle school could be built on that land while learning continues at the current, or old, middle school site. Plans to buy and demolish lots in the area were included in the 2018 bond election and district presentations about the bond.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls School District plans for changes to Whittier, IPC & more