Prescott School District closes property deal

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PRESCOTT--Prescott School Board President Mark Helmer signed paperwork completing the land purchase approved at the district’s annual meeting in August.

At the Jan. 15 closing, the school district officially sold the 38 acres of district property at CTH F/Hwy. 29-35 and purchased 90 acres of land in the city limits just east of Dexter Street. The property at CTH F/Hwy. 29-35 sold for $423,000, which covered a large portion of the $685,000 property purchase from Royal Oaks.

“This is exciting for the Prescott area,” said School Superintendent Roger Hulne. “With this new property, the district is in a much better position to provide solutions for space needs in a manner that will benefit the entire community.”

Since the August annual meeting, the school board reviewed prior facility recommendations in regard to the new land option. The facility committee made a recommendation to the board in December, which was approved by the school board.

“The heart of the recommendation is to redistribute grade levels to better fit the space and purpose of our existing buildings,” explains Hulne. “In order to do that, some type of building solution is necessary.”

In the facilities committee report to the school board, options for expanding existing facilities were considered unfeasible based on building or land limitations, as well as the impact on other resources, such as the transportation facility and athletic fields. The final recommendation is to implement a campus-wide solution that will reconfigure grade levels as follows: Malone Elementary would be grades K-3, the current middle school would be grades 4-5, the current high school would be grades 6-8 and a new high school would be built for grades 9-12 on the new property the district purchased. Building design and cost estimates are being developed to determine feasibility of the recommendation.

Hulne emphasized community support is key to any space solution.

“It is important to the school district that a solution eases the space constraints in our schools and also provides a resource that all district residents can proudly utilize and support.”

The school district will conduct a survey with a representative sample of registered voters in the community to measure district voter support. That data will help the district determine the next steps in the process of strategically planning for district facility needs.

Additional information, including the full facilities committee report, can be found on the district website at www.prescott.k12.wi.us.

Tags: communities, education, prescott