School Board Hears Plans to Address Overcrowding at Liberty Ridge

For parents with children at in Woodbury, it might seem like students are packed in the building like sardines in a can.

That comparison is actually fairly apt, according to District 833 officials. 

Mike Vogel, assistant to the superintendent for operations for South Washington County Schools, said current enrollment at the school is 980 students. Just two years ago, 220 fewer students attended the school.

“Housing starts in the next several years are expected to equal or exceed those of the last two years,” Vogel said at the Dec. 1 school board workshop meeting.  “There are in excess of 400 platted lots available for construction in the Liberty Ridge attendance boundary.”

As a result of the coming housing, the influx of students expected to enroll at Liberty Ridge over the next few years will likely dramatically increase.

“We do anticipate that enrollment will grow,” Vogel said. “We expect it to grow to about 1,050 students in 2013-14.”

District officials expect that number to increase by another 200 students the following school year.

Vogel presented the school board with two possible solutions to address the problem.

The first was to make attendance boundary changes that would reduce the number of students going to Liberty Ridge. Subsequently, surrounding elementary schools would take on some of Liberty Ridge’s population.

The second would be to purchase space at “Liberty Ridge Site 2,” where the district currently has three kindergarten classes, and expand the site to accommodate the growing number of students. The proposed site is located on the southwest corner of the intersection of Settlers Ridge Parkway and Eagleview Boulevard.

“(The district) would expand that from a 10,000-square-foot building to a 22,000-square-foot building,” Vogel said.

He noted the school district has the financial resources to purchase the site and finance some of the expansion, but would need to find additional money to finish about 10,500 square feet of the expansion.

The estimated expense to purchase Liberty Ridge Site 2 and add the proposed 12,500-square-foot addition is about $4.5 million.

Vogel also said he doesn’t feel an attendance boundary change could be implemented in time for the 2012-13 school year.

When given the opportunity to comment on the proposals presented by Vogel, board member Jim Gelbmann said he was concerned about the cost to build another elementary school, and added that he supports adjusting attendance boundaries instead.

Board member Leslee Boyd, meanwhile, said the district needs to address the enrollment issues at Liberty Ridge, because the recent influx of students is not simply a “spike” in enrollment, but a trend that is likely to continue.

Board member Ron Kath said he’s in favor of either plan, as long as something is done, but noted that if a boundary shift is approved, it should be done all at once, so neighborhoods don’t have to go through the process over multiple years.

The board is set to discuss the proposals again at the Dec. 15 regular meeting and possibly come to a decision about how to address the overcrowding at Liberty Ridge. 

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