New Rogers City Area Schools? master plan ready for approval
by Peter Jakey– Managing Editor
After more than a half year of receiving input and gathering information, an ad-hoc committee of the Rogers City Area Schools presented a new master plan to the Board of Education June 11 for a first reading. If there are no revisions, it will be back on the agenda for possible adoption in July. ?Just like any good business, you want to plan for the future,? +said ad-hoc committee chairman Scott McLennan. ?If you are going to be putting some building blocks in place, you want to know how they are going to fit in an overall plan.?
A few years ago, board members encouraged the establishment of a master plan, because it would serve as a flexible template for future decisions regarding school facilities. ?This is our best guess as to what our needs are going to be for moving forward,? said McLennan.
THE COMMITTEE prioritized the needs of the district, and interestingly enough, even before the master plan is formally accepted, one is already being addressed with the renovation of Rogers City Elementary School. The summer-long project will provide for the removal of asbestos, improve the heating system, weatherize the building, and make it more handicap accessible. Other projects high on the master plan priority list are the relocating of the football field to the main campus, upgrade the track, improve technology, and the expansion of the high school.
The ad hoc committee started its work late last fall. After discussion took place among board members, administration, and staff, the issue went to a well-attended public forum so the committee could ?see what the community had to say about perceived needs in terms of the facilities and grounds.? And all along, McLennan said the committee stayed focused on the fact that resources and funding are limited. ?WE PUT together a lot of information, a lot of data,? said McLennan.
The committee met formally three times, but also kept the facilities and grounds committee apprised of their findings. ?In our overall master plan we said, gee, there are some needs here, as we move forward, we are going to have to meet, once our priorities of upgrading our current schools are finished,? said McLennan. ?Then we put together this master plan, which details some of those things.? ?Some of the bigger items would be things like moving our football field up to the area just west of
THE MASTER plan also calls for upgrades and improvements to the track. ?The track at this point is just asphalt,? he said. ?It?s not a real track. It looks like it, but it?s not.? The document also covers a ?need to provide for technology, as those expand in the future.? He said another significant item would be the expansion of the high school on the west side of the facility; coupled with the establishment of a community wellness center. ?We talked about that being a big need in the community, where people can meet people,? said McLennan.
?There are some really good things that we are putting in and we are doing with an eye on the future, but also being as economical as possible, putting in a plan so it doesn?t all have to be done at once.?