Almost two months after “FPS Plans for the Future,” it’s time for an update on Fargo Public Schools’ long-range facility plan. If you need a refresher, the long-range facility plan is “an ambitious and forward-thinking initiative designed to transform and enhance the educational landscape within the district over the next 50+ years.” According to the Fargo Public Schools’ website, “By focusing on increasing overall utilization to around 85%, improving educational adequacy, and ensuring financial sustainability, the plan outlines strategic goals to consolidate schools, thereby creating more cohesive, equitable, and modern educational facilities.”
The long-range facility plan first kicked off on Aug. 23, 2023, and was originally supposed to have its final report on Mar. 26 of this year. The final report has been delayed and is now set as “to be determined” due to community feedback. Fargo’s community was concerned about the timeline of the plan and how it would affect boundaries. And if it were to change, what would happen to the students who are used to their school and have to move now? While we now know the timeline of the plan is five to ten years (dependent on many factors and may take longer) FPS has not answered how it would affect students. The last time FPS implemented boundary changes was in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years for middle and high schools. Elementary school boundaries, specifically for the Centennial and Bennett Elementary Schools, changed in the 2022-23 school years.
Fargo Public Schools has its current draft on its website but doesn’t show how much it is going to cost. It just has the current replacement value of all the schools, which is $1.53 billion. Now onto the proposed major actions: warning — it’s going to be a big change. First on the agenda is to build a new middle school on the current McKinley Elementary site to replace Ben Franklin Middle School. Keep in mind that Ben Franklin was always going to need to be rebuilt as it’s 72 years old. It was between building the new middle school on the McKinley grounds and on the Madison grounds, which are both 65 years old. Next is to rebuild Washington Elementary and consolidate McKinley and Washington Elementary School. This would mean McKinley students would live a greater distance from the school but would reduce energy consumption by $50,000 annually.
FPS also wants to remodel/add to Clara Barton while consolidating Clara Barton and Hawthorne Elementary. According to the website, while both schools aren’t in critical need of repair, they will be in the years 2026-28. Another step is to rebuild Dakota High School/Adult Learning on the Agassiz site. This decision was almost unanimous in the steering committee with 34/35 voting yes. Agassiz is the oldest building in the district at 109 years old and currently faces critical infrastructure challenges that make it infeasible to reasonably renovate most of the building. The next step of building a new Elementary School along with consolidating Horace Mann, Roosevelt, and Madison resulted in a tie. It’s unclear if it will happen, but if it did, Roosevelt and Horace Mann neighborhoods would lose their elementary schools. The last action of the facility plan is to rebuild Lewis & Clark and a new Early Childhood Center on the Lewis & Clark Site. The steering committee voted yes 33 out of 35, with no other information provided on the final draft.
Keep in mind that the final long-range facility planning report is not a final decision about future projects. Once the final report is approved and before any future projects can move forward, the School Board has a formal process used to approve projects and the financing of projects. A transparent public-facing process is in place to inform the public and give them an opportunity to provide input.